Expanding
on Usability
By Jim Hedger, StepForth News Editor, StepForth Placement Inc.
August 24, 2005
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Two weeks ago, I used this space to write about the importance of usability
in website design. The article was supposed to act as a lead-in to
a short series of articles on the basics of search engine optimization and
as
a gentle suggestion for webmasters concerned with converting visitors
into buyers. As it turned out, the article was long on style but short
on substance, a fact that was quickly pointed out by Kim Krause Berg
in a blog entry entitled, “Don't
Tell Me I Need Usability Without Explaining How”. Kim Krause Berg, for those unfamiliar with her, is one of
the leading usability experts in the United States.
To quote Kim’s post, “This article, by StepForth Placement's
Jim Hedger, is getting a lot of exposure - Website
Usability Leads to Conversions,
though its another one of those articles that says, essentially, "You
have to make your web site more usable but I'm not going to give you the
exact details on how to do this."
Kim was right, the article unintentionally short-changed readers interested
in usability issues. Last week, Kim kindly agreed to an email interview,
the full text of which can be found
here. It provides a detailed look at
Kim’s views on usability. At the end of this article and sprinkled
throughout the full interview, there are links to a number of sites where
those interested can find a wealth of information about the multiple aspects
of website usability. Ironically, by the end of the interview, (which stretched
eight pages long), I was left with the firm conviction that it takes tens
of thousands of words to literally scratch the surface of website usability.
That’s why we have specialists and experts.
Kim is a usability expert. A keen observer of websites and design, she
cut her teeth in search engine optimization while working as a site designer
in Pennsylvania for Unisys and Verticalnet before the dot-com crash of 2000.
Kim became frustrated with an inability to help her clients beyond making
their sites visible on the search engines. When Verticalnet shifted her
to the Quality Assurance Testing department, Kim’s new supervisor
mentored her in usability issues. The dot-com crash forced a quick career
change and Kim found herself sub-contracting for a Verticalnet client that
performed QA surveys. Five years later, Kim is the usability expert referred
to by many in the SEO field including Jill Whalen, Christine Churchill,
Kalena Jordan, Rand Fishkin and Barry Schwartz.
Kim likens usability to an act of kindness, one that pays huge rewards
in customer satisfaction by creating a positive user experience for everyone. “Those
of us who work on the Web, whether it be in design, programming, SEO, copywriting,
search engines, whatever – we have this amazing opportunity to do
really humane things for and with one another. By building web sites that
everyone can use, we’re generating an act of kindness and consideration”,
she says in the email interview.
Usability is often confused accessibility (making a site fully accessible
to people with physical disabilities) however Kim sees accessibility as
a critical element in site usability. “The more I learn on this topic,
the more I understand how many people aren’t being serviced properly
on the Internet.” she writes. “At Cre8asiteforums, we’ve
been lucky enough to have several people kindly teach us and provide resources.
One example is provided by “Webnauts” in this amazing
post.
Adrian, one of our Site Administrators is passionate about the topic as
well as CSS, as is our forums blog editor, Elizabeth (aka “ablereach”).”
Kim added a note of caution to SEOs who use techniques based on site attributes
like alt-tags originally designed to assist screen-readers for the visually
impaired. “There are some search engine optimization techniques used
to enhance content that wreak havoc on end users who require screen readers.
Matt Bailey, of The Karcher Group, illustrated this at the Search Engine
Strategies Conference in New York this year by letting everyone listen to
an optimized page using JAWS. The mechanical voice kept repeating keywords
over and over again. It was enough to chase off even the most patient of
visitors.”
Like the SEO sector, there is no agreed upon definitions in the usability
profession. In her definition, Kim takes the goals and needs of both end
users and site designers into account. “For the end user, usability
is the ability to successfully, comfortably and confidently learn or complete
a task. For the web site designer or application developer, it's the mechanics
of designing and building a web site or Internet-based application so that
it can be understood and easy to accomplish any task.”
Usability is a factor that should be worked into the design of websites
from the onset with conversions and customer/visitor satisfaction being
the primary benefit. “Web sites are co-dependent on the visitors who
search for them and then stop by,” Kim says, however, “Web sites
can't do anything you didn't design them to do.”
The initial design phase and the planning that goes into how and what a
site will do is key to creating a site that meets professional usability
standards. “The primary hallmark of a usable web site is that it meets
its primary goal and every element, link, page, image, ad, and form can
be traced back to and meets the requirements of that original goal.”
That’s often the place where the differing goals of various corporate
departments crash, clash and coalesce into what ultimately becomes a poorly
designed site.
“You'd be amazed at the number of sites or web applications that
have a completely different primary goal,” Kim wrote, “Some
of these include "Make our investors happy.” This will dictate
everything from content placement to the order of navigation links. Other
common lead objectives are ‘Get as much personal information as possible
up front and then sell them something’, ‘Meet the CEO's drop-dead
deadline, even with 35 mission-critical defects’, and ‘The marketing
department stakeholders insist that their stuff go above the page fold on
every page’. These are things end users notice. When you play them
for invisible, dead or stupid, you'll pay the price, eventually.”
In her perfect world, Kim would see usability specialists involved in all
design team meetings. Usability specialists have, “…valuable
input from the get-go on information architecture and the needs and habits
of target markets. They may have case study findings dancing in their heads,
ready to bolster a designer’s suggestion or adjust a programmer’s
method of coding a form.”
Not only can a person well versed in usability issues help in the design
process, they can also aid overall site development by communicating with
various and often competing departments in an organization. “They
can aid in documentation of requirements and help gather valuable information
for stakeholders, as well as developers.”
Kim also notes that usability specialists have skills generally missing
from most smaller website development teams. “User testing with real
people during the wire frame and/or staging process adds enormous value.
It’s not done in situations where cost is an issue, or time. It takes
longer to build and test as you go. But, the advantages to a process that
includes usability along the way, is less defects at the end and increased
customer satisfaction on roll out.”
Usability is critically important to online success. In a virtual world,
your business website is your commercial representation, a storefront of
sorts open for universal access. Being assured all aspects of it work properly
and meet your corporate, business or social goals in a friendly and helpful
manner, before spending thousands of dollars marketing it is simple common
sense. From the early planning stages to ongoing tests of site functionality
to informing and communicating with various departments involved in site
creation, website usability specialists set truly professional sites apart
from their competitors.
It all comes down to the end-user experience, the ultimate test of the
success of an online venture. “The majority of my clients are interested
in two things – search engines and what happens after somebody finds
their web page.” Kim says.
For more information on the vast topic of website usability, please reference
one or more of the following documents, sites or forum threads:
General Information:
•
What is usability in one word?
•
Jared Spool’s User Interface Engineering
•
The Usability
Professionals' Association
•
Human Factors International
•
Ben Hunt’s
Web Design From Scratch
•
Usability.gov
Information for SEOs, Webmasters and Designers
•
UsabilityEffect.com (Blog)
•
WebWord
•
Donna Maurer
•
Matt Bailey (Accessibility)
•
Creating Passionate Users
Forums on Usability
•
Cre8asiteForums
•
High Rankings Forums
•
QA Forums (software testing)
•
Sticky Minds
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