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Usability: Web Design Blog

Design Drop-Down Menus According to the “3 W’s”

Drop-down menus are one of those “love ’em or hate ’em” elements in web design. Many designers or developers shy away from using them, and I used to be no exception to that. As I’m learning more about them though, I’m coming to embrace them – as long as they meet my “3 W’s” criteria.

How Text Links are Styled is Important

As a designer, I have to stop and ask myself, why bother styling text links? It’s done so that it is plainly obvious what is a link and what isn’t. That way, the user doesn’t have to spend any additional time than is necessary trying to get to where they want to go on your Continue Reading »

Your Website’s Call-to-Action is Its Central Purpose

Say a new visitor to your website finds you through a search engine. They’re impressed with your content, which was written to get their attention. They like your professional design, which establishes that you’re a trustworthy brand. So then what? Give them a call-to-action and tell them what they should do, that’s what!

Breaking Usability Down Into Its Components

If you’re a web designer or web content writer, usability is something you need to constantly keep in mind. As we all know and have experienced, if a website is difficult to use, either in terms of the design/functionality or in terms of the content, visitors will leave. Keeping in mind the specific components of Continue Reading »

How Visitors Assess Your Website’s Credibility

New visitors to the website of a small business look for one thing in particular when they’re looking at the website for the first timet. This thing is so important, in fact, that if it’s not there, all hopes for getting them to participate in some transaction of information with you can be thrown out Continue Reading »

Lower Literacy Users and Your Website’s Usability

We all know that different types of people use and read websites differently. Most of the time when you think of who the target audience is, the answers are in broad demographic categories: gender, age, people who have an interest in this particular topic, etc. Add to that category higher vs. lower literacy users.

4 Special Usability Concerns of Dark Websites

Dark websites seem to be growing in popularity lately. If done properly, they can convey a sense of elegance, sophistication, sleekness, and/or professionalism. But in order to create a great dark website, web designers need to pay attention to some special usability concerns that come with the unique territory.

Make Your Homepage Content More Usable

No page on your website is more important than your homepage, which is why it needs to make a strong first impression on your visitors. To make sure that happens, you need keep in mind some of the unique usability concerns when it comes to writing content for your website’s homepage.

To PDF or Not to PDF – That is the Question

Linking to PDF files on the web is an interesting issue in the web usability and accessibility world. It’s something I’ve come across more in my full-time job than with my Addicott Web clients, but it’s still worth taking a look at here.

Using the ALT and TITLE Attributes Properly

Web designers have two main ways to add descriptive text to page elements – the ALT attribute and the TITLE attribute. There is often some confusion about how these two attributes work, for they seem to work in similar ways. In reality, they have different purposes, so knowing what those differences are is important in Continue Reading »