> Usability Basics

Glossary Usability Terms (33)

404 Error Pages & Usability
Error pages are a necessary part of all websites and they should not be forgotten when building or designing a website. Here you can learn more about these types of pages as well as tips on how to improve their usability.

The best way to get feedback on your website
One of the best ways to improve a site is get feedback on what works and what needs to be improved. There are several options for this which this article covers but choosing which one is relevant is dependent on your circumstances, so learn about each and make your choice from there.

Tips for using Google Adwords
Google Adwords is a great tool for advertising as it can widely promote your website to all the key audience groups. Here you can learn more about methods to optimize its use, with tips and advice covering how to improve your click through and sales conversion rates.

Avoid the problems of large sites
As content grows managing and updating websites can become a problem. Here you can learn how to avoid this by planning and building usable and effective websites.

Importance of Image Size
One of the most common usability mistakes is how images are used in terms of their size. Here you'll find some requirements as well as tips on how to optimize images on your webpages.

Writing content for the web
Content is an important part of web usability as essential it is about the best way to communicate your websites message. Learn more about some tips and the best way to get your audiences attention.

Standards in Web Design
To help improve the usability of a site, key web standards should be followed during the design and build. Here you will find some of guidelines and examples of how they should be used to optimize their impact.

Presenting Relevant Search Results
Providing accurate and relevant search results is one of the most difficult concepts in web design and usability. Learn more about what's involved and how you can help improve your rankings here.

Building sites for the blind or visually impaired
If you are building your site to cater for the visually impaired or blind visitors of your site then key rules need to be followed. This article provides a starting point on some of these topics.

Optimum Screen Sizes for Websites
The screen size that a site will be built in is an important part of any website project, here we'll explore the standards and recommended approach on this subject.

Benefits of Site Maps
Site Maps are an important part of website usability. To learn more about these pages and why they should be used make sure you read this article.

Standards in web design: Bottom Navigation
Interface design standards are one of the most important concepts of web usability. Today, page elements follow conventions adopted by most websites, click here to learn more about content organization and placement.

Standards in web design: global and related content.
Global and Related Content: Interface design standards are one of the most important concepts for web usability. There are important web standards in global and related content that can increase Website usability if observed.

Standards in web design: Logo
Interface design standards are one of the most important concepts for web usability. Today, page elements follow similar conventions, click here to learn why the logos are always placed on the upper left corner.

Standards in web design: breadcrumbs
Interface design standards are one of the most important concepts for web usability. Today, page elements follow conventions adopted by most of the websites. Click here to learn about the importance of breadcrumbs and where to position them for optimum usage.

Standards in web design: The Search Bar
Interface design standards are one of the most important concepts related to web usability. Today, page elements follow conventions adopted by most websites, click here to learn more about where the search bars are usually placed.

How light should pages on your site be?
The importance of light pages for improving website usability is explored along with helpful tips to acheive an optimum size such as meaningful content, caching and more.

Introduction to Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization - A discipline that uses techniques to maximise traffic to a site and improve user experience and usability by quickly and effectively guiding users to the information they need.

Designing a Usable Website with Flash
Websites with Flash- Designing a usable website with flash can be difficult. Usability can be increased by restricting flash within a traditional site. Article also discusses helpful tips for increasing usability of a website made entirely of flash.

How Important are Site Maps?
Site maps, Sitemaps, Improve Website Navigaton, Increase website usability

Web Analytics and Website Usability
Web Analytics- Analytics are a great way to judge how usable a website is. To optimize your analytics data identify what you want to measure and an analytic solution that works best for you. Some helpful analytics definitions and descriptions to better understand what your data means and how it works.

Increasing Traffic to Your Website
Website Traffic- Making your website accessible and easy for users to find is part of the usability effort. Tricks to bring traffic to your website included trading links to your website with other websites of related topics, optimize for search engines- pay attention to SEO standards, and making your users want to return by offering online deals or encouraging users to interact with the site.

5 Quick Visio Tips
Visio Tips- Visio is frequently used while creating wireframes for a website's design. There are a number of tricks, hints, and shortcuts to help as you use Visio and to help you to create better wireframes.

Quick Keyboard Shortcuts in Visio
Keyboard shortcuts in Visio- These are hints about shortcuts using the keyboard that will help make your work easier and move quickly. These tricks are particularly helpful when creating complicated wireframes for your website.

Creating Groups in Visio
Groups in Visio- Grouping in visio is very helpful while creating wireframes. Grouping allows you to resize and move multiple objects together. This tip contains simple instructions on how to create groups in Visio.

Using Shapes in Visio
Shapes in Visio- The visio Shapes library is a great resource for designing a web page. The common controls shapes palatte is the most useful for creating website wireframes. There are also some convenient ways to customize the various shapes.

Inserting a Field in Visio
Inserting a field in Visio- Adding fields to Visio among text is a great way to allow for certain information in you document to be updated automatically. For example inserting a field in Visio can allow for the date to current everytime you open the file.

Using Backgrounds in Visio
Backgrounds in Visio- How to create backgrounds in vision that can be used on wireframes and other presentations. The background allows you to create a sheet with information you wish to appear on every page like dates and a project name or title.

Use Outbound Links Strategically for Maximum Results
Outbound Links- outbound links can be used for search engine optimization and to increase your website's usability. Users look to you site as a source of information. The more information you can give them on your particular topic the more often users will return. Help usability by keeping your outbound links limited to relavent information.

Does the Number of Clicks to Web Content Affect Usability?
Number of clicks to web content- For optimal website usability a website should require that users have to click as few times as possible to find their desired web content. But, at the same time, one does not want to decrease the number of clicks to content at the expense of presenting the user with too much information at once and decreased usability. Striking a balance is the secret to increasing usability.

When and How to Use Icons
Icons and website usability- Almost all websites have icons, but learning how to use them correctly will improve website usability. This article describes when and how to use icons appropriately to increase website usability.

The Basics of Visual Design: Gestalt Theory for Website Usability
Website Usability and Gestalt Theory- Keeping the basic principles of Gestalt theory in mind as you create the visual design of a website will help increase Website usability by ensuring the user views the site as you intended for them to. This article describes and defines some of the main principles of the Gestalt Theory including Continuity, Proximity, Common Fate, Similarity, and Closure.

The Pros and Cons of Breadcrumbs
Advantages and Disadvantages of Breadcrumbs- A discussion of the pros and cons of breadcrumb navigation and some rules of thumb that will help improve breadcrumb navigation and your website usability.

Breadcrumb Navigation
Breadcrumb navigation description- Explanation about about how to use breadcrumbs on your websites to increase website usability. An explanation of different kinds of breadcrumbs that will increase website usability

Show What is New on a Website
Show what is new- To increase usability on a website, it is important to communicate and show users what is new on the website. Listing new or updated features on the homepages, creating clear headlines, and always including dates or timestamps will help users find the updated information on a website.

How to Create a Usable E-mail Newsletter
E-mail newsletters- Description of how to make usable E-mail newsletters and hints about how often to send and how to organize E-mail newsletters.

Usability Tips for Businesses
Usability for Businesses- Top Hints for Improving Usability for business websites. Includes descriptions about adapting business material for websites and explaining the importance of usability to your company. Also gives suggestions about how to make marketing techniques like E-mail and blogs more usable.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Tagging
Tagging and Website Usability- Describes and Defines how tagging can be used to organize a website's structure and improve its usability. Also discusses the disadvantages to using tags and how they can add confusion to a website's organization

How to Set Up a Taxonomy
Creating a taxonomy for websites- Explains the steps to take when creating a taxonomy for a website to increase usability. Also explains some of the advantages and disadvantages of using taxonomies for wesbites

Selling Usability
You can sell usability and convince your company that usability is valuable. The key is to start with quick, inexpensive fixes, and to always make usability feel simple, accessible, human and necessary.

Adapting your Business Materials for the Internet
Bringing your business materials online is one of the fastest ways to get web content. Almost every business has brochures, pamphlets, newsletters, leaflets, manuals, and other content that can be used for the content of a web site. However, you should consider a few web usability issues when using your brochures, pamphlets, newsletters, leaflets, manuals and other business materials as content.

What is Usability?
Usability measures how easily a product or service is used. It can be applied to almost any kind of product or service: a web site, a software program or a physical product like a DVD player, microwave or hair dryer. Products and services with good usability let people quickly and easy accomplish their goals.

Why Usability Matters
There are innumerable sites on the web today offering a variety of goods, services, information and entertainment. The current challenge is attracting users and keeping them coming back to your site when they can easily browse to another site. Usability can help.

Usability 101: Introduction to Usability
Usability 101 is a one-page introduction to usability from Jakob Nielsen, one of the most prominent experts in the field. You may also want to check out the more in-depth Usability Basics section from Usability.gov.

Usability and ROI
Time and money invested in usability pays off. Usability First has an excellent straightforward section on Usability and ROI. The Usability Professionals Association offers a somewhat more technical article "The ROI of Usability" as well as one on "Business Benefits of Usability".

Usability in the Real World: Case Studies
The Usability Professionals Association offers some quick case studies of successful usability projects at Microsoft, Ford, and more. They've also written profiles for "Friends of Usability," professionals who have implemented usability practices in their organization.