Website usability can be defined as the ease by which visitors are able to achieve specified goals.

The user experience of websites is becoming key for website owners in an increasingly competitive market. You want visitors to find it, use it, and be satisfied with it. You may also wish users to stay on the site and work their way through differrent levels, you may want them to purchase from it and return to it, recommend it or link to it. All of these depend on the visitor having a good experience, if they are frustrated or confused by the experience they have, it is likely they will leave and not return.

Potential Improvements

Content and page layout communicate what your site is about. Usability considerations include reviewing whether the text is clear, relevant and informative. Do the colours provide adequate contrast ? Is the site layout logical, and is it easy to find information?

Navigation is one of the primary mechanisms that allow users to move around a site and find information services. Are menus of services in the right place, and easy to use and consistent and can you navigate to another part of the site without problem?

User tasks should be important considerations for any website and range from finding information to filling in a form to purchasing products. Considering what your visitors will want to do should drive the design procedure.

Accessibility

Accessibility is concerned with the ability of different visitors being able to actually use a website. Is the site usable by the visually impaired or by people with impaired motor functions, is it screen reader compatible? Can the site be accessed by different devices?

There is increasing legislation in this area, and without doubt, poor accessibility is restricting the size of a market

Usability Analysis

We have a collective skill and knowledge which mean we are able to identify usability problem areas and create profiles of the typical users. We will look at the tasks visitors may perform on a particular site, and the typical routes they may take. We use 'test panels', who are briefed on specific tasks, then observed whilst they carry them out. Some issues may seem quite minor, but the combined effect of several small ones is often enough for a visitor to leave a site.

The problems we identify are often easily corrected, with minimal disruption and change to the design of the site, however, the impact can be dramatic