Sound Strategy
Ten Ways to Improve
Your Web Site's Usability
- Aim for page loads of less than 5 to 6 seconds. The most popular sites
load twice as fast. Web users rank slow download as their greatest annoyance.
- Keep your page download sizes to 32KB or less. That includes unique graphics.
Research indicates that pages under 32KB have a bail-out rate of 7% to 10%
and over 40KB, 25% to 30%.
- Be consistent in page sizes. If some are small/fast and others large/slow,
your visitors will lose confidence in the site. They won't know what to
expect and they want to be in control.
- If you use graphics, make them small but decipherable. Try to re-use the
same graphics from page to page. Once downloaded into the visitor's browser,
they won't need to be downloaded for subsequent use.
- Be aware of screen real estate. The visitor's browser and operating system
consume a significant percentage of the available screen area, so make sure
you use what's available effectively. Pages should be dense though easily
scanable. The page is for your visitor's benefit. The visitor wants information
and isn't interested in your artwork. Keep your links visible at the top
of the screen.
- Respect the variety of browsers (and versions), hardware platforms, and
bandwidth your visitors live with. Many of your visitors will be consumers
logging on from home. They may use Opera, Macs, WebTV, 800x600 monitors,
or 56Kb lines.
- Avoid using frames. It's tempting to provide scrollable regions on your
pages, but ultimately frames confuse visitors, search engines, and the bookmarking
process.
- Apply Occum's razor to your Web pages. If the page works without at item,
leave it off. (Occum suggested that all things being equal, the simplest
hypothesis wins).
- Leave out advertising. It takes up space. It isn't why your visitor showed
up. It won't make you any money.
- Don't try to hold your visitor captive on your site. It's not polite and
won't work anyway. When you include outgoing links (and you should, you're
part of a larger community) make sure you make it clear where they lead
- and that it's off your site.
Source: Via condensation and addition, from Jakob Nielsen's Designing
Web Usability.
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