What good is a website if your users don’t understand how to use it? No good. Creating a user friendly website is very important to your success in the online world. If you want your online website or business to be successful, it is important to develop a site that is easy-to-use and is compatible on all sorts of web browsers.
When designing your website it is important to keep it user-friendly. Whether you’re using an Orlando web design firm or doing it yourself, following these few steps will keep visitors coming back for more.
1 ) Avoid Splash Pages:
– Avoid pages that contain splash. Splash pages are pointless. They are just an introduction with a “click here to enter” sign or banner. Splash pages create extra clicking and loading time for visitors. Without a splash page, your visitors can visit your site without the added wait time.
2 ) Easy Navigation:
– Make your navigation easy-to-use. Keeping your navigation simple will prevent user frustration. If you have a large website, people may find it difficult to navigate. If frustration sets in, people may just leave your website and find a site that they can actually find their way around. To keep your navigation simple, avoid using scripts and flash menus. This will ensure that your visitors get all of the pertinent information and your conversions are high.
3 ) Easy to read:
– Keep your website readable. Avoid long, lengthy paragraphs. If you have a lot of important content, avoid using long paragraphs to convey this information. Break up your content into small, easy-to-read sections. This will prevent boredom and keep your visitors on your site. Small bits of information will provide all the necessary information your visitors need to retain.
4 ) Use CSS:
– CSS style is an easy format to use and will ensure that all of your visitors will be able to view all the information your site has to offer. Ensure that your text is easy to read. Use a standard font. A standard font will ensure that it is compatible with all of your visitors’ computer systems. CSS makes it easy to adjust the font and style of your settings. CSS can easily change the book of your entire website by editing just one file.
5 ) Test with all browsers:
– Test your website in other browsers. What looks great in one browser may look terrible in another. People these days use a variety of different browsers… you may be surprised at just how many different browsers are out there. It is important to ensure that your messages look great to all visitors, regardless of what type of web browser they use. W3.org is a website that is designed to check the standards of your web design and it’s compatibility with different web browsers. This will help ensure compatibility. You can also try this web browser compatibility tool.
Image Credit :Laura Walker
26 comments
I would say the font, headings, structure, image quality and responsiveness everything is important.
Font and readability plays an important role on the website, Veronica has covered it well in the above tips.
You definitely want to make sure you are utilizing all the elements mentioned here but at the same time always focusing on the user. 😀 And you are right Zk Veronica did a great job!
Till then,
Jean
I agree, a lot has been said about the fonts and even about their size for that matter.
Simple, clear and very good list for design a friendly site. Veronica, I going to save this list.
It is always the simple points that can make the big difference, you forgot to mention to use Thesis! hehe. One point that you could add is to make sure you have a easy to see and clear call to action (if needed).
@Brad
I agree 100 % , you can’t blog without Thesis 🙂
Thesis Rock, unfortunately i realized it a bit late.
Navigation and fonts definitely have a high importance in keeping your visitors. I often leave website with a lot of contrasting color and unreadable one fonts.
A nice design also helps people come back and denotes professionalism, people always often return to website which they give high credibility (and professional designs help).
P.S. “an easily change the book of your entire” did you mean: an easily change the look of your entire ? 😛
Ease in Navigation is the most important factor to me, thats increases the time spend by visitor plus it give much needed comfort in browsing.
I’m with usability and cross browser compatibility.
i agree with this too.
Easy Navigation is very imp for any website, it’s imp for search engine and use as well..now most of the designers guys use css to make easy functions..
many time i have seen this error that many
website is not compatible with browser so plz
make sure it should run on all browser…
keep Cheers…
Hey Veronica …
Please tell us if any one wants to learn wordpress template design than what course and language he or she should learn.
Very good tips, ZK. People usually forget about this.
I guess how fast your website loads is also important point.
Unless we are targetting our audience from specific countries. I am from asia and the internet speed in Europe (where i am at) is 100x faster 🙁
Thats one of the important factor according to Google.
These are great tips. I don’t understand why people use splash pages anymore. The other thing I wish is that more bloggers would make their site more easy to navigate.
Hello Veronica, whenever I visit a site and I instantly see a “splash page” that I have to click through more than ONCE, LOL, just to get *off* the page, that’s when I know that I will probably not be visiting that particular site again!
Your tips are on point, most definitely…
Sincerely,
Erik Carlton
Hi Veronica,
Great points on making your site user-friendly. In particular checking your site in all major browsers. Just to add to that check it in different versions of a particular browser is important to.
I was working on a site once to find out a few weeks later that it was not displaying in IE version 7 (I was running IE8)…yikes. Luckily it was a quick fix, but definitely a bad first impression for those viewing it with the earlier version.
Thanks again!
Easy navigation, browser compatibility and site loading speed are important factors for the website.
The last point is a big issue for website visitors. They forget to test their website to at least the most commonly used browsers. In this way, they missed to adjust the some part that might fit to a specific browser, but not for all. Also, the loading time of every site. It’s the most important thing because not all visitors have lots of patience to wait for the site to load.
Great post. Very helpful, especially for those new to web standards.
Great tips Veronica. I couldn’t agree more about Not having a splash page, no need to make them waste their time clicking.
Great article but I know one advantage of splash screen that if your website is taking more time to load then you can you splash screen
5 simple tips, but I believe these are essential to keep in mind when designing a website.
Haha, can’t blog without Thesis? 🙂