This presentation first introduces website usability and why it is important for anyone who designs, develops or even owns a website. It then provides practical usability guidelines and examples. It concludes with a quick usability evaluation of a website.

1. Practical Usability Guidelines
For Your Website
Justin Mifsud

2. About Me
Personal
 Justin Mifsud
 Core expertise: Usability, User Experience (UX), User Interface Design, Marketing
Education
 Marketing Graduate with the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK)
 BSc (Hons) Computing & Information Systems (Goldsmiths, University of London)
Occupation
 Head of Marketing at Holistic Group
 Usability Blog – www.usabilitygeek.com
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3. What is Web Site Usability?
“The ease with which users learn to use a web
site, how efficient they are when using it, how
easy it is for them to remember how to use it
and how satisfied they are when they use it “
(Nielsen & Loranger, 2006)
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4. Why is Usability Important for My Site?
Users Achieving Goals (Theirs & Company)
Inc. Customer Satisfaction, Retention & Loyalty
Importance inc. In Competitive Environments
83% Avg. Improvement in KPI after Usability Redesign
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5. The Benefits are Obvious ….but
90% of all websites ...or approximately
331million websites have poor
usability (as at December 2011)
97% of top 100 websites from 20
countries did not achieve Single-A
accessibility
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6. Luckily for us, we have Guidelines
Used for Usability Inspection Methods – to
identify usability violations
Based on extensive studies
from various fields
Adherence to usability guidelines effectively
improves website usability
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7. What are the Main Usability Problems?
1. Findability (27%)
2. Information (19%)
3. Search (15%)
4. Page Design (7%)
Total = 68% of all Usability Problems
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8. 1. Findability
How easily users can locate the content they are looking for
Information
Category Names
Architecture
Findability
Navigation Links
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9. 1. Findability violations
No Info Scent Mysterious Navigation Clutter
Multi-level menus
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10. 2. Information
Text, images and other media presented on your website
Product
Content
Information
Information
Corporate
Prices
Information
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11. 2. Information Violations
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12. 3. Search
18.2 billion monthly searches using Search Engines in the U.S. alone
Users expect your search interface to look like and
=
behave like that of major Search Engines!
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13. 3. Search Usability Guidelines
Textbox &
Button
Search Site
but Not Top Right
Outside Hand Corner
Button Must
Present on
be Called Search All Pages
Search
Textbox
Must Be Not a Search
Empty Link
20 Char
Textbox
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14. 3. Search
GOOD
BAD
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15. 4. Page Design
The User
Readability
Interface (UI) of
your Website
Graphics Layout
Page
Design
Amateur Scrolling
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16. 4. Page Design
GOOD
BAD
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17. Even the Big Guns Fail!
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18. Even the Big Guns Fail!
Logo
Positioning
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19. No Search?
Even the Big Guns Fail!
Logo
Positioning
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20. No Search?
Even the Big Guns Fail! Menu
Disappearing
Logo
Positioning
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21. No Search?
Even the Big Guns Fail! Menu
Disappearing
Logo
Positioning
POPUPS !!!
Seriously??
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22. No Search?
Even the Big Guns Fail! Menu
Disappearing
Logo
Positioning
POPUPS !!!
Seriously??
Low
Contrast
Text
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23. No Search?
Even the Big Guns Fail! Menu
Disappearing
Logo
Positioning
POPUPS !!!
Seriously??
Low
Contrast Too much
Text importance
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24. No Search?
Even the Big Guns Fail! Menu
Disappearing
Logo
Positioning
POPUPS !!!
Seriously??
Low
Contrast Too much
Text importance
Bad convention for links
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25. No Search?
Even the Big Guns Fail! Menu
Disappearing
Logo
Positioning
POPUPS !!!
Seriously??
Low
Contrast Too much
Text importance
Bad convention for links
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Utility Navigation badly placed Page 25

26. No Search?
Even the Big Guns Fail! Menu
Disappearing
Logo
Positioning
Too
Large
POPUPS !!!
Seriously??
Low
Contrast Too much
Text importance
Bad convention for links
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Utility Navigation badly placed Page 26

27. No Search?
Even the Big Guns Fail! Menu
Disappearing
Logo
Positioning
Too
Large F
L
POPUPS !!! A
Seriously?? S
H
Low
Contrast Too much
Text importance
Bad convention for links
Justin Mifsud - Practical Usability Guidelines for your Website
Utility Navigation badly placed Page 27

28. Even the Big Guns Fail!
RESOLUTION
1024 x 768 (14% Still use it!)
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29. Even the Big Guns Fail!
RESOLUTION BROWSER RENDERING
1024 x 768 (14% Still use it!) I’d Rather Avoid This!
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30. Even the Big Guns Fail! DEVICES
iPhone iPad
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31. Where Do We Go From Here?
Books, Blogs, Journals
Social Networking Sites – Twitter, LinkedIn
Conferences
Malta Usability & User Experience Group
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32. My Blog - UsabilityGeek
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33. Thanks For Your Attendance!
info@usabilitygeek.com
@justinmifsud
http://mt.linkedin.com/in/justinmifsud
http://usabilitygeek.com
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