Everybody and their grandmother should know that a Web site should be easy to use. You shouldn’t have to hunt for navigational links. You should be trying to guess if that is content, a trick or an ad. Over the past few years more and more Web sites have started to take the trickery out of Web site content. However there are still a few that are in the dark. Not all fools are bad fools though.
Some may have just not spent much time wondering how useable is their Web site content. Now is the time to wonder, are you one of those people or not? Which side of the fence do you sit on? Either way you may want to check out the following.
Meghan Whitmore, a contributing writer for The Dev Web, has written up a nice guide for any new folks in the proverbial house on the importance of Web site content usability.
When we say, “content”, we mean your website copy, your message. Web sites have a million different messages and a million different ways to say things, but there are some basic content usability guidelines that are appropriate for everyone.
First one should realize that when internet users “read” a web page, they do not read it as carefully as they would, say, a book. They scan. In a 1997 study by Jakob Nielsen and John Morkes, 79% of the people tested scanned pages, while only 16 % read word-for-word. For one reason, they aren’t sure if this web page even has the information they need. Another reason is that people are simply impatient and looking for where to click next.
For a few more resources on useability in the Web site creation world, check out these links:
Do-It-Yourself Usability Testing: Your Questions Answered
There is no doubt that content useability is an important issue. Content is the meat and potatoes of any Web site and should not be ignored. More times than not though it is overlooked, but not ignored. With the rush to get banner ads and click through rates, you can not forget that the reason a person is coming to the Web page if for what you have written within the walls of links, extras and ads.
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