Usability refers to how easy a web site is to actually use. This does not mean how easy it is for the owner, designer, or programmer to use, but how easy it is for someone who has never been to the site before. Ideally, a site is tested for usability at various points along the way—don’t wait until the site is ready to upload before testing!

For smaller sites, a very simple and quick test is to sit down three or four people at your site and watch each of them navigate through it. Watch what they do (what they do is much more telling than what they say about your site.) Tape your mouth shut and sit on your hands—you will totally invalidate the test if you tell the user what to do! Don’t tell them what the site is about and don’t tell them where to go.

Drop several users into the middle of the site and see if they can instantly figure out who owns the site, what it’s about, what other sections are available, where they are in the site, where they can go from that page, and how to get home. Then have them do a task, such as buy an item, search for a particular piece of information, book an event, or whatever a typical user might do on your site.

If several users get stuck in the same place, it’s not their problem—it’s yours. Fix it. If several users take a convoluted route to a page, rather than the direct route, that means the direct route is not clearly marked. Fix it. If several users can’t quite figure out where they are in relation to the entire site, fix it.

The larger and more complex the site, the more important it is to spend time testing. For a small site, the designer might have to be the usability manager, but for large sites, it is typically a job for an expert.

Don’t expect that this testing is part of your design fee unless you have specifically requested it and have a written agreement to that effect. Discuss usability with your design team from the very beginning.

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Resources for more info:

The book Don't Make Me Think, by Steve Krug, available from his web site,
www.dontmakemethink.com

Jakob Nielsen's website on usable information technology
www.useit.com

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