Category: Usability

If you’re a web designer or web content writer, usability is something you need to constantly keep in mind. As we all know and have experienced, if a website is difficult to use, either in terms of the design/functionality or in terms of the content, visitors will leave. Keeping in mind the specific components of [...]

Say a new visitor to your website finds you through a search engine. They’re impressed with your content, which was written to get their attention. They like your professional design, which establishes that you’re a trustworthy brand. So then what? Give them a call-to-action and tell them what they should do, that’s what!

We all know that different types of people use and read websites differently. Most of the time when you think of who the target audience is, the answers are in broad demographic categories: gender, age, people who have an interest in this particular topic, etc. Add to that category higher vs. lower literacy users.

Dark websites seem to be growing in popularity lately. If done properly, they can convey a sense of elegance, sophistication, sleekness, and/or professionalism. But in order to create a great dark website, web designers need to pay attention to some special usability concerns that come with the unique territory.

No page on your website is more important than your homepage, which is why it needs to make a strong first impression on your visitors. To make sure that happens, you need keep in mind some of the unique usability concerns when it comes to writing content for your website’s homepage.

Hosted search engines allow you to easily incorporate a search function onto your website. Almost all of them give you some form code to put on your website, but you don’t have to use that code as they give it to you – you can customize it in order to improve its usability.

Drop-down menus are one of those “love ‘em or hate ‘em” elements in web design. Many designers or developers shy away from using them, and I used to be no exception to that. As I’m learning more about them though, I’m coming to embrace them – as long as they meet my “3 W’s” criteria.

From a usability standpoint, long forms with plain-text labels can be quite boring visually. One way to avoid this problem is to use icons within your input fields to visually indicate what the field is asking for. It’s a nice design touch that you as a designer can do to help make your forms a [...]

HTML forms are always a contentious subject in web design. As a designer, whether you like them or not, forms are important to understand -  especially so since how they are designed has important implications for whether they achieve your intended results.

In the Brothers Grimm fairytale, Hansel and Gretel get lost in the woods, yet are able to find their way home because they left a trail of breadcrumbs on the path.  Web designers use breadcrumbs for the same reasons – in fact, the fairy tale is where the term came from.