Article of Interest - Web Site Design
"Homepage Usability"
by Internet consultants Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir, which dissects the home pages of 50 of the Web's most popular destinations.
1. NAVIGATION. The book's study found that 30 percent of the top sites use a left-hand navigation column to help visitors find relevant pages, while an equal 30 percent use tabs across the top of the home page. Other interfaces include links across the top and categories in the middle. The only style that the authors don't recommend is pull-down menus "because they hide the choices most of the time."
2. SITE MAP. Only 48 percent of the sites provided a site map. If you use one, the authors recommend extensively testing it with real users to make sure it actually provides a workable interface for your visitors.
3. SIGN IN. Slightly more than half the sites studied offered registered users a way to log in on the home page. Significantly, none of the sites required registration before visitors could gain access to basic features. It's important to clearly separate the way new users register from the way existing customers log in.
4. ABOUT US. An "About Us" link (or "About Firm-Name") was a feature of 84 percent of the sites. The authors highly recommend having this, because it is "one of the most trust-enhancing features you can add."
5. CONTACT INFO. Almost every major site provides a way to find a mailing address or customer service telephone number for the business. This information was provided through a separate Contact Us link on the home page or as part of the About Us page 82 percent of the time.
6. PRIVACY POLICY. A total of 86 percent of the sites included a link to the company's privacy policy. The book's authors also recommend that a privacy statement accompany every spot where you ask for information (when requesting an e-mail address, for instance).
7. JOB OPENINGS. An explicit link for job seekers was provided on 74 percent of the home pages, with another 8 percent of sites offering this on their About Us page. Visiting a company's Web site to find ways to apply for employment seems common enough that a specific link for this function seems called for.
1. PICTURES. The writers say, "The days of bloated home page design seem to be over, because the median proportion of the home pages devoted to pictures was no more than 8 percent." The book reveals that the median number of illustrations on the home pages studies was three. The lesson drawn is that some sites work best with no graphics at all, while sites with more than 15 percent graphics are in danger of slow downloads.
2. "ALT" TEXT. Alternative or ALT text benefits visually impaired users, who often have their PCs read these labels aloud through a sound card. The authors found that, of those home pages containing graphics that would benefit from ALT text, only 42 percent included such text. Since it's so easy to include ALT tags, the book describes this as "a disgrace."
3. MUSIC. Thankfully, the study showed that only 4 percent of the home pages studied played music when visited by a user. Perhaps this will be enough to stamp out this stupid practice once and for all. (You can always provide a "play" button for visitors who want music.)
4. ANIMATION. Some form of animation was employed on 30 percent of home pages. But the authors comment, "Things seem to be moving just because the designers had the ability to make them move." Because users report that they tend to ignore things that move (they might be ads), the recommendation of the book is to avoid animation on the home page, as 70 percent of sites did.
5. ADVERTISING. Nearly half, or 46 percent, of the home pages contained ads for other companies and products. The median number of ads on the home page was three, which the authors say "seems to be an absolute upper limit from a usability perspective." Internal advertising (for features of the Web site itself) was carried by 84 percent of home pages. The median number of internal ads was 4.5, but the authors recommend no more than two or three.
6. BODY TEXT AND BACKGROUND COLORS. Black was used as the color of body text by 72 percent of the sites. A white background was used by 84 percent. As far as other colors, 8 percent used blue text (usually on a white background) and another 8 percent used gray text (always on white). The median font size was 12 points. Only 4 percent of sites used a serif typeface, such as Georgia or Times Roman, with the other 96 percent choosing a sans-serif face. The writers say sans-serif faces are more readable on today's computer screens.
7. LINK FORMATTING. The authors recommend using the color blue for links, underlining them, and changing the color once a link has been visited. They found that 60 percent use a blue link color, 80 percent underline link text, and 74 percent change the visited-link color.
