On Friday (5th Sept) I went to a workshop given by Steve Krug. I think Steve wrote the best, certainly the most readable, book about Web site usability (Don’t Make me Think).
One of the most interesting and amusing things was watching the way he, with some input from the audience, analysed Web sites. Many of the attendees, including many from the big names in the Financial Services companies, submitted their Web sites for him to evaluate. Don’t worry; I will not name the companies...
Time after time the same problems keep emerging. The designers of the Web sites had not thought about how people will use them and instead were more governed by the corporate branding guidelines, than the convenience of the user. By watching an eye tracking camera, that recorded how people viewed Web sites, you could see that how little attention is given to most of the content on a site. We scan web pages we don’t read them.
50+ Web users are more effected by these design mistakes than the young, yet their needs are rarely taken into account. I have attempted to explain the principles of 50+ Web design in the article ‘making the Web 50+ friendly’. From Friday’s experience it looks as if more people should read it.
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