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Websites are published to be used!
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by K.E.Lubrecht
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Websites are not published to take up space and provide a presence. They are published to be used! Companies are beginning to understand the importance of having a website, but as sites are designed, it is important to watch a growing list of usability issues. This article will address one, navigation, movement through the site.
Time is important to everyone. Consider whether your splash page, the "welcome" page that usually appears as a logo or animated graphic with a "click here to enter", is necessary, or just adds another click and more wait-time while the pages load. Think about your target market. Are they all on high-speed connections? If you have a splash page with an animation, be sure to include a button to by-pass it.
The old 3 click limit to reach any part of the site is still important. Categorize the pages. Sitemaps improve visitor usability as well as facilitate the crawling of search engines' spiders as they attempt to gather information to rank your site. If your visitors have JavaScript disabled, are they still able to negotiate their way through your site? Be sure to include text links to your pages on each page even if you have a script-driven navigation as your primary technique.
Make sure that the navigation, links between pages and topics, is easy to find and follow. People expect to find navigation in the same place as they go from site to site, but more importantly, they need to find it in the same place as they go from page to page in your site. "Help", "Search", "Home", "Contact Us" and "Login" are frequently found in the upper right corner. Main categories may be listed across the top or down the left side. A creative layout is fine as long as links are clearly identified.
Breadcrumb navigation provides a visual that allows users to see their path from the home page and facilitates rapid jumps backwards. For example:
home > pools > in-ground > opening
might appear on the site of a store that sells pools and provides instructions for opening an in-ground pool for the season. If the user clicks on the word "pools," the page describing the various types of pools would appear. Anyone arriving from outside the site can see the structure of the site and know where they are. Breadcrumb navigation can be build in PHP which sits on the server and is not blocked by the client (user). Unlike the story of Hansel and Gretel in which the breadcrumbs in the path were eaten, the computer breadcrumbs allow the user to find their way home, but an organized file structure (architecture) is very important!
Remember the visitors that are visually challenged or have the graphics turned off. Text readers read from left to right down through the code in a web page in the fashion that you would read a book. Include an internal link at the very beginning of the page that connects to the beginning of the main content of the page. (http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/1194.22.htm#(o), June 21, 2001) This can be hidden behind a transparent graphic. Mark the "alt" tag with a statement letting the user know that clicking on the link will bypass the header, navigation, and other repetitive information, and move directly to the main content of the page. The user may choose not to use the link and read through the options in the beginning of the page, but if this material has been repeated at the top of each page, you have provided a technique for the user to spend more time on the most important material on the page.
Words internal to the content can be turned into links to the related page. Assist your visitor and use the change of color you use on your other links, or the universal underline to indicate that the phrase is a link. Resist the "click here." Consider phrasing that allows you to use the terms such as, "Contact us in order to express your interest.", where the phrase "contact us" would link to a form or email.
Customer service continues to be important to a company's success. A website should provide a view of your company's offerings. You want people to be able to check your website to learn more about what you can do for them. Very frequently it is their first impression. Remember, the consideration you show toward your customer by watching load time and easy of use conveys your attitude toward them. Make it easy for them to find and communicate with you. Show them that they are important!
K.E. Lubrecht is the proprietor of cKc Consultants, providing website development, business marketing and seminars. She is a member of the IT Committee of the Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Comments and questions about this article are welcome and may be sent to me. In order to facilitate a reply, please be sure to include your email address.
This article was first published in the the August 2004 issue of The Daily Item's "The Voice of the Valley" on page 6.
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