Mon Dec 24 14:03:17 PST 2018

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That story clip was in the main content area of the Narcotics Anonymous
website. At the end of it there was another linear link to more stories.
The site also had a passive navigation menu.
A large part of usability is quickly connecting with people and then
making it easy for them to do whatever you want them to. In this
example it would be to perhaps read more stories, to see there were other
people like them, to find hope, and seek treatment.
A person is more likely to listen if they feel they belong on your site if they feel the
page was written just for them.
Good Usability
Take-with-a-grain-of-salt warning: Bear in mind that my own website does not
currently follow all of these examples, but most of them are worth following if you
can.
? Allow users to control their experience.
? Do not place excessive text inside images.
? Keep a consistent site design.
? Have clear navigation.
? Use alternative text tags with images.
? Use standards where applicable.
? Keep file sizes small.
? Have search or a link to site-level search on every page. On smaller
sites (where site search may typically leave visitors empty-handed
, a
link to a sitemap will work better than a link to site-level search.
Some large brands, like Amazon.com, may not follow some important usability
guidelines, but they have the scale, brand and customer loyalty necessary to get
away with making changes that offered poorer usability than some of their
previous designs.
Allow the User to Control Their Experience
While creating text elements, it is important to remember various people and the
means they will use to view your site. Some people are looking at the web through
a phone; some can hardly see; some have text read to them.
When specifying the text size or pallet size, it is best to use relative, not exact,
values. If you set the text at eight pixels and a guy has large text turned on, he will
see your site at eight pixels (which can be hard to see on larger monitors, especially
to a blind guy
. He will not see your site.
Setting the page width to 800 pixels might make a PDA user immediately switch to
another site. Setting width using percentages or keeping the page narrow makes
the content accessible on more devices. However, there is an exception to the rule.
If the bulk of your income comes from ads, or controlling the exact layout is
Some of the best
opportunities to improve
your bottom line are done
by improving conversion
rates, which can be done
by making your site easier
to use.