A big mistake many people make is to confuse accessibility and usability. The two are not only very different however, the general perception seems like one should be thought to be less significant in comparison to the other. Though both should be considered seriously, it's true that many of the concepts surrounding accessibility still apply to usability and vice versa.
Optimizing a website's usability can help to make it more accessible, or at a minimum, offer a stronger foundation to build from. If your target audience finds the site difficult to use It's likely to be a problem for people who have disabilities or difficulties with learning. In the same way, the degree of consideration that goes into addressing accessibility is the same in the context of usability.
Putting The User First
If you remove all the fancy elements from web design, websites are ultimately being built for users to use. Don't bother displaying every Flash gimmick you can muster from your repertoire or bombarding the users' browsers with ad-hoc images leaving you with offering the most efficient delivery of content that you could offer. Before you begin forming ideas or even thinking about firing up Dreamweaver you must make it in your head that usability means putting the demands of the users first. Remember that designing anything from websites to shoes is judged on how well the final product does.
This will then help you carry out one of the important phases in all design processes and software engineering in particular: requirements elicitation. Professional new media agencies will already be familiar with this process, and will employ it to develop a solid idea of what the user expects to see, with project success based on meeting that. When you're asked to develop a website for a specific customer or hope to launch something that will more directly attract visitors, it is crucial to know what the expectations of the user are.
The requirements for HTML0 are Elicitation
The most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to understanding user needs is that it's unlikely to be able to satisfy them first time. That's why a consistent flow of communications throughout the design process is essential to get the best results as possible. Talking to the users while recording their words and attempting to figure out the exact meaning of what they say is the only guaranteed method of meeting their expectations.
It's important to keep in mind that the people you're designing for are not necessarily familiar with the sort of "developer" language you might be comfortable using. This is where the production of diagrams using graphics or cases studies can be used to portray your vision of how the project is moving forward. Navigational flowcharts, example site maps, or even data flow diagrams that are used for eCommerce are all good methods of communicating complex information without bewildering others by using technical jargon.Similarly, there's no reason why a shared direction for the design of visual elements can't be achieved with mockups of pages. Flat digital drawings of possible templates can be presented and examined, before a period of developing more sophisticated elements for pages as well as interfaces and navigational designs begins.
Professional Help
if you're not overly interested in conducting large-scale usability research on your own, or perhaps realise that it isn't viable and you're unable to do it yourself, you can always count on the assistance of other people.
Professional consultancies or specialist agencies are typical, and provide full-service solutions that encompass all the major processes. Usually they will also give your site a preliminary review to determine if it truly requires the complete usability evaluation, and what the best approach to take. The next step is to identifying web design agency tampa the is driving the needs and objectives of the site's design or defining the objectives it is expected to reach. This will be followed by a detailed analysis of what the desired population will be, meaning an overview of the target audience could be researched.
A representative sample of "typical users' will usually be requested to attend a test session which will allow users to observe how they navigate the website. This can range from simply asking them to navigate through the website content at their own pace for a specified amount of time, or assigning them certain tasks and scenarios.
While encouraged to 'think aloud throughout the day Their feedback is constantly monitored and recorded either by the most sophisticated software for tracking or video. Designers are encouraged to join during the sessions to hear how users perceive the website, and any suggestions for improvement. At the finish, all participants are asked to share their opinions of the site during thorough interviews. The results are collected into detailed reports which will be the foundation of any future design updates and new projects that arise from the research findings.
Conducting User Surveys
If putting together a representative sampling of your users isn't a realistic option There are other methods of receiving feedback. Many sites will include email addresses or contact forms for users to submit their thoughts, but this doesn't ensure that you'll get the type of feedback you'd like to receive. it can be more useful to provide electronic questionnaires to better gauge the opinion of your users.
A specialist software will allow you to publish advanced interactive surveys swiftly and easily. The advantage is that the data are logged on the server, where the more thorough statistical analysis can be analyzed and then interpreted for any practical improvements. There are commercial software products which can provide remote analysis of user activities when they occur in real-time. This type of method should be disclosed to users prior to their participation in it, since tracking their actions secretly could compromise the provisions of the law on data protection, and certainly result in mistrust if it were discovered.
However, interesting information about the areas of your website or the interface would be revealed from the way different people use the site. By tracking the path of links or cursor activity you will be able to determine how navigation was perceived, and maybe how effective visual signs such as buttons, menus, and anchors are at controlling the actions of your audience.
This is one of the most accurate images of user perception, because the subject will behave in the same way as they normally do when browsing the Web. If they are under more rigorous 'lab' conditions they may feel a sense of pressure from the surroundings or having the attention of an examiner or be aware of the time they're spending to complete the task. It could also be an adverse effect when they are were expected to utilize hardware, peripherals operating systems, or browsing software that they may not have experience with.