Usability is one of the most important aspects of a good website, ensuring a great user experience. Website design that’s user-friendly is more likely to lead to happy customers. If a site’s difficult to get around, customers will probably become frustrated and leave. Read on to find out the top usability mistakes in web design.
Small clickable areas
Websites that have smaller hyperlinks and clickable areas tend to put users off. Users want links to be larger and more visible, so they are better able to interact with the site. You can use the padding technique to make links more clickable. If the website designer makes this mistake when creating a website, visitors are less able to engage and connect.
Pagination
Pagination refers to splitting up the content into several pages. Website designers sometimes apply this feature to increase ad revenues; however, it’s often a problem for users. They get annoyed with having to click onto new pages to find the content they’re looking for. What’s more, when they search for a topic on a website, a random page from an article might show up, with the information diluted and disorganised. Visitors don’t appreciate landing on a page from the middle of an article – it simply doesn’t make sense for them. As a result, pagination may cause a website to rank low for good reads and useful articles.
Duplicate page titles
Many websites use the same titles for every page, but this can be a big mistake. The title is extremely important for communication purposes, and each page should have its own distinct topic according to what it offers. This allows customers to relate and engage much more. They can quickly see if they are on the page they are looking for. Also, when people search on Google, they refer to the page titles to see what the page is going to be about. The search engines need to rank the results according to the tag word they found in the title. Therefore, it’s best to avoid duplicate titles not just for usability, but for SEO too.
Difficult to scan content
The most useful feature of a website is a copy of the website. This refers to the words, the content. It needs to be easy to read, catchy, understandable, and highly digestible for the user. Often, websites display sizeable chunks of information, however, this isn’t a good idea. If the content is too lengthy or complex for the user to easily take in, they are likely to get frustrated. Focusing on a few separate points at once is better. Keep in mind that the imagery, font style, and colour icons make the difference. Keep the content informative yet concise. Cut the excess down and make it user friendly.
No way to connect with users
One of the most common mistakes many web designers make is failing to focus on customer engagement – a key aspect of a website’s usability. There should be a way for customers to stay in touch with you. Customer satisfaction is essential for building a loyal customer base and failing to recognise this can seriously impact a business.
A website should make it easy for staff to answer customer queries as soon as possible whilst also providing easy feedback methods. Failing to provide options for customers to stay in touch with the company is a major usability issue.
Usability is all about making a website easy to use and accessible to visitors. Make sure you don’t make these usability mistakes when it comes to web design. Instead, focus on creating a website that gives users an exceptional experience and lets them achieve their goals successfully.