Fundamental Concepts of Usability in Web Design

Websites play a significant role in connecting the target audience with your business. After all, many consumers (up to 75%) form an opinion about the company based on the company’s website. That’s why many businesses pay attention to website usability and user-friendly designs. Website usability is the best tool for optimizing your site for better engagement. Discovers some of the most important website usability guidelines in the following text.

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What is usability in website design?

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What is website usability? It’s one of the most important parts of web design. It refers to the way users can interact with a website or digital product. A site or app with good usability is focused on user needs. Ideally, they should be intuitive, easy to navigate, and provide a satisfying user experience. 

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UI/UX design projects and web design services always come with site usability in mind. After all, good usability is necessary for a satisfactory user experience. Web designers are not there just to make a website look appealing. They must also find a way to enable a smooth and effective user-website interaction. Achieving this goal, however, is not that simple.

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Why is the usability of a website Important?

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Great usability can benefit a business. First, it can significantly improve its conversion rate. When provided with a seamless user experience, visitors will stay engaged with a site longer. They are also more likely to complete a desired action, such as clicking a subscribe button or making a purchase.

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Following the main principles of web design usability can also allow businesses to:

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• Increase the customer base, 
• Improve user engagement, 
• Keep more users, 
• Gain loyal customers, 
• Improve business results.

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What are the 5 components of usability? Key Website Usability Principles

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Website usability implies a way of designing a website so it’s completely focused on users and what they need. To create user-friendly websites, skilled UI/UX designers follow 5 usability principles. Here’s what’s on their usability website checklist:

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Simplicity

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Simplicity is the first of the main usability principles. Every user comes to a certain site with some goal in mind. The website should be designed in a way to make achieving that goal easy. That way, even first-time visitors won’t have a problem navigating through it. 

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When the site is designed in a way to confuse visitors, they are more likely to abandon it. If the design distracts them from their goal, on the other hand, they may end up not completing a desired action. 

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Clarity

Your website's content should also be easy to read and understand. That’s why you should use materials that are concise and direct. The information you present, for example, should be organized according to its relevance.

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You should also utilize a clear font and an appropriate font size. Sufficient contrast between text and background is also advisable. In the end, it’s always a good practice to break up large blocks of text with headings, subheadings, and bullet points.

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Credibility and relevance

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While stunning web design with interesting animation can attract visitors, you’ll need a lot more to gain the trust of your users. It’s important to use information relevant to your service and product. They also need to be up-to-date and precise. Combined with social media proof or testimonials, it will help you become credible for your target audience.

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Consistency

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When it comes to usability, consistency is another of the important website design principles. Your website should have a consistent design. It implies a clear visual hierarchy and a consistent color scheme. This makes it easier for users to navigate and understand your site, resulting in a positive emotional response. A consistent design allows users to complete their tasks and goals efficiently and quickly. Simultaneously, it eliminates pain points that may cause frustration for site visitors.

Users shouldn’t spend large amounts of time learning how to navigate your websites. Therefore, simple and intuitive navigation is a must—and every notable UI/UX design agency knows it. It will help visitors promptly locate what they’re searching for and complete the desired action.

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Mobile-friendliness and fast loading times

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With so many users accessing the internet from mobile devices, it's important to have a website that is optimized for all screen sizes. It ensures a positive website user experience for all users, no matter which device they are using. To achieve it, the best course of action is to get prime-quality responsive web design services.

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On the other hand, optimizing your site's load times is also crucial. Remember—users expect websites to load quickly. A site with slow load times can lead to frustration and a negative user experience. It can also be responsible for lower conversion and higher bounce rates. 

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Common usability issues and how to fix them

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When making a website, your goal is to enable users to effectively interact with it. However, some usability problems can prevent it or make it more difficult. Moreover, they can lead to frustration and, therefore, lost users. Knowing what these issues are and addressing them on time can help you provide user satisfaction. If you want to achieve an optimal user experience and high web usability standards, here are issues you should pay attention to.

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Poor navigation

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One of the most important aspects of a usable website is clear navigation. As we pointed out, users should be able to find what they're looking for quickly and easily. This means having a well-organized navigation menu that is easy to read and understand. Navigation should be consistent throughout the site, and links should be labeled clearly.

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Cluttered design

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When a site has a cluttered design, it steals users’ focus from their (and your) goal. It complicates user-website interaction and makes their navigation more difficult. In most cases, it will result in users deciding to leave the site and not come back. The same goes for poorly implemented content elements. Large text blocks that users are unable to scan promptly can feel overwhelming, as do constant CTAs.

To avoid this, it’s important to prioritize your content hierarchy and use a clean design. On top of that, make sure that the most important information is easily available.

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Lack of accessibility features

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Your website should be accessible to all users. That being said, note that some of the potential users may have disabilities you need to accommodate. The best practice is to follow accessibility guidelines. For example, think about providing alt text for images and video captions. At the same time, make sure your site is keyboard-navigable. 

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User testing - the best practice for improving design usability

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One other important aspect to think about is website usability testing. It implies testing your website with real users to identify any issues and make improvements. User testing can be done through surveys, focus groups, or usability testing tools. The goal of this website usability analysis is to determine if (and how much) your site is easy to use.

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Even the best designers and developers can’t predict all usability issues that may occur. That is why real users are presented with usability tasks and the results are later analyzed. It allows designers to work on issues that they may have missed. The end goal of this testing is to create a highly usable website that ensures a positive user experience. It means delivering a product that can solve users’ problems and help them achieve their goals. 

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Focusing on user feedback

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User feedback is the best way of getting insights on how to enhance user experience. However, to complete the testing the right way, you need to: 

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• Understand different feedback types, 
• Use suitable feedback collection methods,
• Know the right website usability testing questions.

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That’s why the best choice is to go with a specialized web design agency with enough experience to carry out systematic user testing. This way, people specialized in website usability best practices will be responsible for the success of your site.

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Let us help you build a website focused on user experience.

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Usability is a website component that must not be overlooked. The way you implement it can greatly influence your website and, therefore, your business. That being said, note that the best way to ensure top-quality usability of a website is to get help from the experts in this field. 

Our design subscription agency has years of experience in creating highly functional websites that deliver a prime user experience. To guarantee user satisfaction, our skillful team is here to face all possible usability issues head-on. Therefore, if you’re searching for professionals capable of following website usability best practices, look no further. Contact us today and make your site captivating and accessible for every new visitor.

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