42244

econsultancy_xml

<ul> <li> Slow loading pages Slow loading pages are a killer - incredibly frustrating for the user and virtually guaranteed to have them clicking the back button. Webpages should load within a second ideally, or users will start to wonder what is going on, and think about finding a competitor with a better site. Most well known sites are pretty quick to load, but I have encountered a few problems with National Express's site, which was slow to load, while <a href="http://www.currys.co.uk/">Currys</a> can be a bit too leisurely at times - getting from the homepage to the LCD TV section took more than eight seconds: <img alt="Currys slow loading" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2194/2245642581_726af7828c_o.jpg" /> </li> <li> Poor navigation Navigation should be intuitive and easy to use, and should follow convention, especially on e-commerce sites. There should be no room for confusion. In the example below, a <a href="http://www.usabilitynet.org/home.htm">site </a>which has been set up to 'promote usability and user-centred design' has committed the sin of using Flash-based navigation: <img alt="Flash navigation" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2069/2248482630_305e2af4fd_o.jpg" /> </li> <li> Dropdown menus Dropdown menus are useful for web designers as, by hiding navigation options in this way they save space. However, they are likely to get on users' nerves. <img alt="Next drop down menu" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2108/2247664601_8eacce5251_o.jpg" /></li> </ul> <blockquote> Users have to point the mouse precisely to get to the section they want and, if the cursor leaves the menu, they have to start all over again. Very frustrating. </blockquote> <ul> <li> Clutter With the aim of increasing monetisation, some websites tend to add too many ads, social bookmark buttons, widgets etc, until it becomes very confusing visually. This is something a lot of newspaper websites are guilty of, though most will get away with this because of the quality of the content: <img alt="NYT" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2120/2247701163_447ecbaecb_o.jpg" /></li> </ul> <blockquote> This would be much more of a problem for online retailers, as such clutter could distract customers from vital links. </blockquote> <ul> <li> Poor checkout design Having got them this far in the process, a poorly designed checkout can cause customers to <a href="/blog/1459-why-do-customers-abandon-the-checkout-process">abandon their purchase</a>. Sources of frustration for users include an overlong registration procedure, unclear checkout buttons, and any unnecessary distractions. </li> <li> Use of colours Colour schemes are very important and, if you are going to deviate from the standard black text on white background model, then you need to be careful. This is also an accessibility issue, so avoid colour combinations which cause difficulties for people with colour blindness and ensure high levels of contrast between text and background colours. Here is one (extreme) example of how not to use colours: <img alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2176/2248521894_6d9f058c7c_o.jpg" /> </li> <li> Accessibility Many websites contain significant barriers to access by not considering disabled users in the design phase - for e-commerce sites especially, this is madness, as it excludes a significant portion of the population (more than 2m people) from buying anything. The most obvious example of this is River Island, which launched an all Flash e-commerce site in March 2006. Despite complaints, River Island has yet to rectify these issues, and just displays an apology to its disabled customers, if it still has any that is: <img alt="River Island apology" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2382/2247719725_d446801284_o.jpg" /> </li> <li> Poor site search While most customers will use the main navigation, some know what they are looking for and use the search toll as a shortcut. This means that it is important that the site performs well for the kinds of products your customers will be searching for. Avoid returning 'no results found', or incomplete results for popular searches, such as the Tesco example below: <img alt="Tesco" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2075/2257713298_691e9f32cf_o.jpg" /> </li> <li> Visual noise Visual noise, as in the example below, can distract users from what they are looking for, and cause them to miss important areas or links on a website. <img alt="visual noise" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2250/2246205959_07f025dbd1_o.jpg" /> </li> <li> Complex forms Complicated forms, for registration, checkouts etc are a surefire way of annoying users. It's best to keep forms as short as possible by avoiding asking for too much information, and stick to what is necessary to register, or complete a transaction. Other things that annoy users include the loss of inputted data when the back button has been pressed, making them start all over again - something I noticed recently on the <a href="/blog/2069-whistles-a-user-experience-review">new Whistles site</a>. </li> </ul> Have we missed out any obvious usability issues? Let us know what annoys you... Related research: <a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/web-design-best-practice-guide">Web Design Best Practice Guide </a> Related stories: <a href="/blog/1997-top-10-most-common-e-commerce-mistakes">Top 10 most common e-commerce mistakes </a>

<FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <List Type="Disc"> <ListItem> <Emphasis>Slow loading pages</Emphasis> <LineBreak /> <LineBreak />Slow loading pages are a killer - incredibly frustrating for the user and virtually guaranteed to have them clicking the back button. <LineBreak /><LineBreak />Webpages should load within a second ideally, or users will start to wonder what is going on, and think about finding a competitor with a better site. <LineBreak /><LineBreak />Most well known sites are pretty quick to load, but I have encountered a few problems with National Express's site, which was slow to load, while <Link URL="http://www.currys.co.uk/" Window="Self">Currys</Link> can be a bit too leisurely at times - getting from the homepage to the LCD TV section took <Emphasis>more than eight seconds</Emphasis>: <LineBreak /><LineBreak /><Image AlternateText="Currys slow loading" Source="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2194/2245642581_726af7828c_o.jpg"></Image><LineBreak /><LineBreak /></ListItem> <ListItem> <Emphasis>Poor navigation <LineBreak /><LineBreak /></Emphasis>Navigation should be intuitive and easy to use, and should follow convention, especially on e-commerce sites. There should be no room for confusion.<LineBreak /><LineBreak />In the example below, a <Link URL="http://www.usabilitynet.org/home.htm" Window="Self">site </Link>which has been set up to <Quote>'promote usability and user-centred design'</Quote> has committed the sin of using Flash-based navigation: <LineBreak /><LineBreak /><Quote><Image AlternateText="Flash navigation" Source="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2069/2248482630_305e2af4fd_o.jpg"></Image><LineBreak /></Quote><LineBreak /></ListItem> <ListItem> <Emphasis>Dropdown menus</Emphasis> <LineBreak /> <LineBreak />Dropdown menus are useful for web designers as, by hiding navigation options in this way they save space. However, they are likely to get on users' nerves. <LineBreak /><LineBreak /><Image AlternateText="Next drop down menu" Source="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2108/2247664601_8eacce5251_o.jpg"></Image></ListItem> </List> <Block> <Paragraph>Users have to point the mouse precisely to get to the section they want and, if the cursor leaves the menu, they have to start all over again. Very frustrating. </Paragraph> </Block> <List Type="Disc"> <ListItem> <Emphasis>Clutter<LineBreak /></Emphasis> <LineBreak />With the aim of increasing monetisation, some websites tend to add too many ads, social bookmark buttons, widgets etc, until it becomes very confusing visually. <LineBreak /><LineBreak />This is something a lot of newspaper websites are guilty of, though most will get away with this because of the quality of the content: <LineBreak /><LineBreak /><Image AlternateText="NYT" Source="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2120/2247701163_447ecbaecb_o.jpg"></Image></ListItem> </List> <Block> <Paragraph>This would be much more of a problem for online retailers, as such clutter could distract customers from vital links. <LineBreak /><LineBreak /></Paragraph> </Block> <List Type="Disc"> <ListItem> <Emphasis>Poor checkout design <LineBreak /><LineBreak /></Emphasis>Having got them this far in the process, a poorly designed checkout can cause customers to <Link URL="/blog/1459-why-do-customers-abandon-the-checkout-process" Window="Self">abandon their purchase</Link>. <LineBreak /><LineBreak />Sources of frustration for users include an overlong registration procedure, unclear checkout buttons, and any unnecessary distractions. <LineBreak /><LineBreak /></ListItem> <ListItem> <Emphasis>Use of colours</Emphasis> <LineBreak /> <LineBreak />Colour schemes are very important and, if you are going to deviate from the standard black text on white background model, then you need to be careful. <LineBreak /><LineBreak />This is also an accessibility issue, so avoid colour combinations which cause difficulties for people with colour blindness and ensure high levels of contrast between text and background colours.<LineBreak /><LineBreak /> Here is one (extreme) example of how not to use colours: <LineBreak /><LineBreak /><Image Source="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2176/2248521894_6d9f058c7c_o.jpg"></Image><LineBreak /></ListItem> <ListItem> <Emphasis>Accessibility </Emphasis> <LineBreak /> <LineBreak />Many websites contain significant barriers to access by not considering disabled users in the design phase - for e-commerce sites especially, this is madness, as it excludes a significant portion of the population (more than 2m people) from buying anything. <LineBreak /><LineBreak />The most obvious example of this is River Island, which launched an all Flash e-commerce site in March 2006. <LineBreak /><LineBreak />Despite complaints, River Island has yet to rectify these issues, and just displays an apology to its disabled customers, if it still has any that is: <LineBreak /><LineBreak /><Image AlternateText="River Island apology" Source="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2382/2247719725_d446801284_o.jpg"></Image><LineBreak /><LineBreak /></ListItem> <ListItem> <Emphasis>Poor site search</Emphasis> <LineBreak /><LineBreak />While most customers will use the main navigation, some know what they are looking for and use the search toll as a shortcut. <LineBreak /><LineBreak />This means that it is important that the site performs well for the kinds of products your customers will be searching for. Avoid returning <Quote>'no results found</Quote>', or incomplete results for popular searches, such as the Tesco example below:<LineBreak /><LineBreak /><Paragraph><Image AlternateText="Tesco" Source="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2075/2257713298_691e9f32cf_o.jpg"></Image><LineBreak /><LineBreak /></Paragraph></ListItem> <ListItem> <Emphasis>Visual noise</Emphasis> <LineBreak /> <LineBreak />Visual noise, as in the example below, can distract users from what they are looking for, and cause them to miss important areas or links on a website. <LineBreak /><LineBreak /><Image AlternateText="visual noise" Source="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2250/2246205959_07f025dbd1_o.jpg"></Image><LineBreak /></ListItem> <ListItem> <Emphasis>Complex forms</Emphasis> <LineBreak /> <LineBreak />Complicated forms, for registration, checkouts etc are a surefire way of annoying users. <LineBreak /><LineBreak />It's best to keep forms as short as possible by avoiding asking for too much information, and stick to what is necessary to register, or complete a transaction. <LineBreak /><LineBreak />Other things that annoy users include the loss of inputted data when the back button has been pressed, making them start all over again - something I noticed recently on the <Link URL="/blog/2069-whistles-a-user-experience-review" Window="Self">new Whistles site</Link>. </ListItem> </List> <Paragraph> <Quote>Have we missed out any obvious usability issues? Let us know what annoys you...</Quote> </Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>Related research:<LineBreak /></Emphasis> <Link URL="http://econsultancy.com/reports/web-design-best-practice-guide" Window="Self">Web Design Best Practice Guide </Link> </Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>Related stories:<LineBreak /></Emphasis> <Link URL="/blog/1997-top-10-most-common-e-commerce-mistakes" Window="Self">Top 10 most common e-commerce mistakes </Link> </Paragraph> </FormattedContent>

2008-02-06T10:57:00+00:00

econsultancy_xml

Online retailers and other website owners still have plenty of room for improvement, as some are still guilty of some avoidable usability problems. Jakob Nielsen recently said that terrible websites are less common now, but an investment in improving user experience can still pay off, with <a href="/blog/2099-horrible-websites-becoming-less-common">average ROI around 83</a>%. We list ten common usability problems found on all kinds of websites...

<FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>Online retailers and other website owners still have plenty of room for improvement, as some are still guilty of some avoidable usability problems. </Emphasis> </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Jakob Nielsen recently said that terrible websites are less common now, but an investment in improving user experience can still pay off, with <Link URL="/blog/2099-horrible-websites-becoming-less-common" Window="Self">average ROI around 83</Link>%. </Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Quote>We list ten common usability problems found on all kinds of websites...</Quote> </Paragraph> </FormattedContent>

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Refer also to Econsultancy's <a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/user-experience-buyers-guide">User Experience Buyer's Guide</a> and <a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/effective-web-design-best-practice-guide">Effective Web Design Guide</a> for more information about best practice in these areas.

365012

Do you make these user experience mistakes? false

2008-03-11T11:00:00+00:00

do-you-make-these-user-experience-mistakes

2009-04-30T01:37:00+01:00

2009-10-13T09:33:31+01:00

363