Web 2.0 has already achieved a cult status, and now Web 3.0 is knocking on our doors. Rich websites and applications are coming up. Social is the new mantra, every website and application wants to go social. Web 2.0 has greatly influenced the look and feel of the websites and applications. Earlier the websites used to be static HTML text with some tags, but now we have got rich and dynamic websites & applications with great emphasis on the look and feel. We can get astonished by just looking at them and “wow” is the word that first comes up on our mind. Use of rich colors, modern typography, massive banners, jazzy effects are already fascinating the common audience. But still I won’t call it a great design. Mostly these effects just add to the “wow factor” on the minds of the users of these websites and applications. So what do we call a great design?

Many dictionaries provide loosely coupled definitions and a glance at the design section in a book store confuses the reader even more. Although, we define it with a noun, design is not a ‘thing’. Instead, we should be more focussed in knowing what leads to great design? A great design is a continuous process. In the book “Bringing Design to Software”, [Terry Winograd] and other contributing authors emphasized and contributed to this answer by providing a perspective on what people do/ should do when they design. The attributes of a great design are: (1) Design is conscious; (2) Design keeps human concerns in the centre; (3) Design is a dialog with materials; (4) Design is creative; (5) Design is communication; (6) Design has social consequences; and (7) Design is a social activity. These attributes also hold true while designing websites and applications. With the absence of these attributes a good website/ application would fail in its objectives to make a bond with the clients and/ or users.

The internet is full of good looking, rich and dynamic websites & applications. Now, with the ever evolving technologies and platforms the design and development can happen much swiftly. And trust me; much better technologies and frameworks would be coming in the near future. But despite of having such technologies, we are forgetting one major ingredient that would make a good website/ application into a great one. The ingredient is ‘Us – the users for whom these websites/ applications are build’. How many times have you used a website/ application that looked good from outside (the look and feel perspective) but when it comes to using, it turned out to be a nightmare experience. I believe at least once a day. And what do you do in the end? You feel frustrated, distraught and helpless that you couldn’t able to use such websites/ applications to get your work done and finally you bounce out. It happens all the time. No matter how aesthetically a website/ application is build, if you (the user) can’t use it, then it doesn’t work. It is as simple as it is. A good design always keeps the human concerns at the centre i.e. it should be usable, provides enjoyable experience to the user and has utility. With the absence of these user oriented attributes, the website/ application would fail to achieve its business objectives as well. It’s the users for whom these websites/ applications are designed & developed. If we ignore the users in the process of making such aesthetically pleasing and rich websites/ applications then it will be termed as a piece of art with hardly any utility, user experience and usability. Because in the end it is the users for whom these websites/ applications are build and they are the sole audience who are going to use them.

Hence a good design would only look great when it is usable.

Thanks for reading!! Many more articles to follow.

References:
Terry Winograd, Bringing Design to Software [online], © Addison-Wesley, 1996
Available:
http://hci.stanford.edu/publications/bds/bds-intro.html [accessed 20th Feb, 2011]

We still try to define a process and it has held us in good stead over time. The presentation here shows our understanding of the UX process and our possible entry points into a project.

Click HERE to download our process document

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UXD PPT

At each stage in its extraordinary development, the internet has encountered skepticism and resistance in boardrooms and kitty parties alike. But today, the Internet is way too important. Far from being a frivolous distraction, the internet, the web and social networking tools can help both business and individuals alike is virtually every way.

Download The BIG Picture here

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THE BIG PICTURE ON SLIDESHARE

]]> http://uxdesignlabs.com/blog/2010/09/06/the-big-picture/feed/ 0 http://uxdesignlabs.com/blog/2009/08/30/10-golden-rules-to-build-web-credibility/ http://uxdesignlabs.com/blog/2009/08/30/10-golden-rules-to-build-web-credibility/#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:31:06 +0000 admin http://uxdesignlabs.com/blog/?p=4 Here is a compilation of 10 guidelines for building the credibility of a web site. These guidelines are based on three years of research that included over 4,500 people by the team at Stanford. Read on…

1. Pages that are ‘under construction’. Why?
2. Pages that scroll horizontally. Stick to 1024 resolution
3. Pages that use frames. It’s harmful to your Search Engine ranking
4. Auto-play sounds. If you have to use sound, let the user control it.
5. Too many animations, non-stop looping animations, blinking texts etc
6. Splash/ Intro pages. If you have to use them, make sure you have a ‘skip intro’
7. Failure to check cross-browser consistencies.
8. Reliance on e-mail links as against using a form. Most of the users would not have had an Email program configured
9. Opening up too many new windows. Instead, have a better navigational structure
10. Asking for a sign up/ registration when it is not actually necessary. Why waste his time?
11. Auto subscribing your visitor to your newsletter/ email list without his/ her consent
12. Using pop ups. There are too many pop up blockers out there.

Page title and tags

1. People forget to add the most important ‘title’ to their pages (A search of the keyword ‘untitled document’ on google fetched 44 million pages! You can try this out yourself.)
2. And when they do, they give the same title and meta tags for all the pages. Title all the pages with a ‘unique’ and descriptive title and other meta tags. This is extremely important for higher search engine rankings.

Site Navigation

1. Unclear, badly structured navigation. You can easily get lost on 3 out of 4 sites you see around. Important pages are tucked way down. Most sites do not clearly inform the visitor as to where she or he is! Some pages open in a new window without navigation/ links.
2. Using drop down navigation unnecessarily. Most sites use Java Script navigation while they have all the space to keep them open. For example, if you offer 5 services, why hide them under a drop down menu. Keep the navigation simple and consistent. Even if you are using images/ Flash/ JS for the menu, make sure to add HTML links on all pages.
3. Using only image/ Flash navigation. Use text navigation cause some people switch off images while browsing the web.
4. Not declaring explicitly what you are linking to, especially when you are linking to PDF/ Word documents
5. Not providing anchor text to links
6. Not including Alt and title attributes to images
7. Inconspicuous links. Make your links conspicuous in a different color and preferably underline them. Try not to underline the regular text. Make sure to change color of the visited links

Content

1. Useless, bad quality, outdated content is the most common and tragic mistake.
2. Typos and grammatical mistakes can cost you dear.
3. Very long or short pages, orphaned pages, alien pages too are very common.
4. Content that cannot be scanned easily. Make sure that the content is scan able. Use Bullet points, headers, sub headers, lists. Anything that will help the reader filter what he is looking for.
5. Not including your contact details or making it difficult to find
6. Not having a site search feature on a large website

Design

1. Harsh color schemes that can give you a headache
2. Pages that look alienated from the rest.
3. Too many fonts, tiny fonts, too many font colors, weights, styles etc