Common usability Mistakes in Web Design



You can have a fantastic web design layout or rank in the first position of major search engines, but if users struggle to use your site then neither design nor rankings matter. Here are some lists of usability issues you want to avoid…

Tiny Clickable Areas

  • Hyperlinks are designed to be clicked so therefore should be easy to click, making them small means the user will not click them as they are hard to pinpoint

Incorrect use of Pagination

  • Should only be used for gallery images where loading time is a concern
  • Bad for SEO – when content is split into several pages, each page makes less sense on its own as it will hold less keywords

Duplicate Page titles

  • <title> title of page </tile)
  • A good title page communicates a lot of information to your viewers
  • People can figure if they are in the right place or not
  • Each title should describe the category and article of the page

Content that is difficult to scan

  • Webpage needs a good copy (all the text content on the site)
  • Have focus points: point out information with bolder or brighter colours, larger text or graphics if you need something to stand
    out for more visual pull
  • Information should be informative and concise
  • All text should be short and easy to digest: cut it down as much as possible
  • Create hierarchy of information

No way to get in touch

  • Need a contact form which appears right away after u click ‘contact us’
  • Contact form should be brief and quick as possible to fill out
  • Putting an email address with plug-in Enkoder allows robots to not be able to read the email address.
  • Creating comments boxes also allows for more interaction (like asking questions on a forum)

No way to search

  • Certain sites need a search for users to find products quickly: especially online shopping sites

Too much functionality that requires registration

  • Registration may decrease spam, but will also decrease number of comments
  • Registration should be quick and simple to do
  • Websites which send users to pages after clicking “post” after writing a comment is bad for user experience as it can frustrate  the user

Long registration forms

  • Make registration for short as possible as it will save more time
  • Only ask for necessary information
  • Optional fields like  don’t need to be there – they can be entered later on in the process in a profile.
  • If long forms are unavoidable, consider breaking up the form to multiple pages
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