Web usability is about making your website work so that your users can find what they’re looking for quickly and efficiently. A usable website can reap huge benefits to your website and your company.

We read web pages in a different manner to how we read printed text. We generally don’t read pages word-for-word – instead we tend to scan web pages. When we scan web pages there are certain things

• HEADINGS
• Link Text
• Bold Text
• Bulleted Lists

Have you noticed that there are no pictures in this article? This is because unlike printed matter, we tend to see text before we look at images on the internet. For optimal website usability avoid putting important information in images as it may go unnoticed.

Users have gradually become accustomed to particular layouts and phrases on the internet, for example:

• Organisation’s logo is in the top-left corner of a page and links back to the home page
• The term ‘About Us’ is used for organisations information
• Navigation is in the same place on each page and is adjacent to the content
• Anything flashing or place above the top logo is often an advertisement

These may seem obvious, but don’t underestimate the importance of these conventions – as the internet matures, we are getting more and more used to things being a certain way. Break away from these conventions and you may be left with nothing but a website with poor usability and a handful of confused visitors.

There are many other conventions that you may or not be able to pick, luckily for you our web development team are well practiced and highly aware of what your website needs to achieve the best results for you. So what does this mean for you? More goes into the website that we design and build for you. More science, more testing and more results. Our websites convert visitors into enquirers at high rates because usability is our priority.