Your Friendly Philosopher & Guide

I had an opportunity to attend a presentation given by Usability Expert Muthu, and it was indeed an eye opener.

There are few important factors most people love to ignore before they create their websites….

Elementary Factors

Content
Design
Size of the page
Size of the images
Navigation

Bit Serious Factors

Time consumed by the browser to register
Time consumed to browse the sight
Time taken to find the information the user is seeking for
Time spent on the keyboard and mouse
Time spent on understanding the feature

The Most Serious factors

The good/bad memory the user takes with him/her
Will he/she come back to your site?

ELEMENTARY FACTORS

Content – is, was and will remain the KING

Content rules the Internet and the scenario will remain the same in the future too. So, take time to decide on what you want to be known to the world – a news site, a car site, a net access site, a shopping site or a community site. If you are a portal that has it all, try knowing your strength and weakness and concentrate on them rather focusing on everything your competitor has to offer.

Design

Presentation matters a lot in the modern world, but then there is no point in serving foul food with carrot and cucumber all around. You can bring the user to your site once based on the design, but next time design won’t matter him much – it will be the quality of content that will pull him, and keep him busy. Design should be based on the content you are projecting, hence better to brief your designer about what the content is about.

Size of the page

‘Size does matter’ but it isn’t true on the Internet. There are two ways a person can land on your page - one by typing the URL on the address bar directly and secondly by referrals (reference could be by ad banners, links or search).

If he reaches your homepage by typing the URL, needless to say, he knows where he is coming and what he is coming for. So no point in impressing him through colorful links & images rather you can help him get what he wants at the earliest. Most people BROWSE in leisure time, rest come to the Internet with a purpose - let him finish the purpose first.

For instance if you are a portal who ALSO provide a mail service, and you also know that most people come to your site to check mails (and you want it to remain that way) then don’t try to load your page with a woman in a bikini. It will only irritate the customer, and infuse him to go for another mail service.

Size of the images

Normally people presume that the webpages fly from the server to your computer, and each time you click on a link a new page flies across. The truth is it is only the HTML code that flies from the server to your PC, and the page is CREATED in YOUR machine for you to view. Codes reach faster than pictures hence if you notice it takes more time for the image to load. So try to use more of HTML codes to create colours on the webpage than images. And use images only where it is absolutely necessary. Of course you cannot create a Vajpayee’s pic in HTML code but of course the buttons can be created using HTML.

Navigation

Surfing a new site is like finding a new address. Life becomes easier if you guide the surfer visually at every step and nowhere should he feel that he has missed the way. People when lost tend to come to the page where they started from, and that basically remains your homepage. Remember when your site breaks into tertiary links, see to it the primary links are still accessible.

BIT SERIOUS FACTORS

Time taken to register

No user is fanatic about your site. He spends both time and money to come to your website, so respect him for that. Don’t throw a registration form like a school application form asking him about his father’s name, mother’s name, native place, nationality all that. Keep it simple with some basic information you need at present. You can get other information later when you can ask him to update his profile.

I have been to site where I wanted to post my view on a particular topic. And I just wanted to type YES. I panicked and closed the window seeing a huge registration form, which would take at least 5-10 minutes. I kept my view to myself.

Time consumed to browse the site

On an average a person won’t be there on your site for more than 30 mns…that is the MAXIMUM (5-10 minutes is ideal)! That is true even with porn sites. So try to give what he seeks upright, and don’t try to snatch his attention by throwing few useless ad banners.
Ever veteran users don’t remember the 5 top ads they have seen as pop-ups!

Don’t keep changing the position of sections and features. This will adversely affect the people who are your regular users. Compare your website with a shopping mall. There could only be confusion and chaos left if you keep changing the positions of each store every week.

Time taken to find the information the user is seeking for

As a website, you should know who your target audience is. Don’t try to make all those strangers who bump into your side accidentally through search engines. They might bookmark your site but would never come back. Concentrate on the users who are dedicated to your site, and try to keep them happy – a bird in hand is always worth two in bush.

See to it that it doesn’t take more than 5 seconds for a user to find what he wants on your site. If you are a sports site, and if the latest event happening is Euro Cup, the user should be able to spot Euro 2004 on your home page in 5 seconds. If not, then forget him he is gone forever.

Time spent on the keyboard and mouse

This is yet another interesting factor that puts enough light on the surfing behaviour of a user. As far as possible, incorporate functional features in the webpage itself. Don’t presume that the user is adept at using all the browsers.

Once in one of the leading mail services, I saw the cursor missing in the text box where you type your user ID. This of course is a small error, but then it takes few seconds more for the user to bring the cursor there, click, and then type the user ID.

Also provide next, back and close buttons wherever necessary. Don’t make the user drag his mouse to the browser buttons.

Time spent on understanding the feature

Most Indian sites are direct replica of foreign sites without a credit line. Right from music to movies, and from blogs to messenger services all are copied. Foreign sites are created keeping their locales in mind, which might not necessarily work for Indian audience. Most Indians are highly talented, but are a bit bad at communication when it comes to using a foreign language like English!

Before creating a website or any other interactive feature, keep the Indian audience in mind and use the language accordingly. Internet isn’t the place to prove your vocabulary skills – it is the place for people to interact and communicate - so keep your language simple and lucid.

Even today, most people scan the information on the Internet and they don’t read. Avoid explaining your features with lengthy compositions. Keep it short, and sweet.

THE MOST SERIOUS FACTORS

The good/bad memory the user takes with him/her

Internet audiences are the most disloyal of the lot. If Doordarshan showed ‘Sorry for the interruption’ message for some 15 minutes at a stretch in 1980, there was none who would shut down his TV and decide not to watch DD again. He kept gazing at the idiot box, and kept praying the God that the TV station should be all right soon so that he doesn’t miss the movie. The scenario isn’t the same today. A customer gone once is gone forever. So keep your site clean, see to it your functionalities works perfectly, and inform the users in case of discrepancy.

Will he/she come back to your site?

This is one area, which creates fright among all the top guys of a dot com. You put up ad banners, you insert a TV ad, you invest crores in promotions and you follow all the Philip Kotler’s marketing fundas to get people on to your site – for the first time. What about bringing them the second time?

Nothing other than classy content will pull your users back to your site. So try having something new on your site everyday, don’t fool your users with an old content with a new heading, and don’t keep changing your design every fortnight.