Usability

There are many other ways you can improve the usability of your website. We encourage you to also pay close attention to these methods and elements of page design.

General Tips

• Use headings, lists and consistent structure to convey document structure and use them according to specification. (Reference: W3C: 3.5)
• Use terminology that is familiar to your audience. Avoid acronyms and abbreviations!
• Choose color schemes that provide sufficient contrast between text and background.
• Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also available without color.
• Establish a primary navigation plan for your site and be consistent on every page. Your reader should be able to easily navigate your site.
• Include an easy path back to your site's home page.
• Try to keep line lengths from exceeding screen width.
• Format text using Cascading Style Sheets.
• Never use tables for layout.
• Do use tables to present tabular data.
• Pay attention to good graphic design issues such as use of "white space," use of graphics, rules, and fonts, minimizing clutter.  
• Minimize the use of large graphics. Try to keep the total of all images below 100k on every page.
• Avoid opening links in new browser windows unless you control the size of the new window to make sure that it does not cover any other windows.
• Use relative font sizes.
• Clearly label all non-HTML formatted documents such as PDF files, streaming video or audio files, multimedia files, MS Word and Excel documents, etc.
• Provide a link to adequate instructions for downloading necessary plug-ins and software for accessing this information. Example: “This audio clip may be played using RealPlayer. You may download this software for free at www.realnetworks.com to play this file. A text transcript of this clip is also available.”

Related links

• Useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website http://www.useit.com/
• Usability News http://www.usabilitynews.org/
• Optimal Web Design http://psychology.wichita.edu/optimalweb/

Books

• Don’t Make me Think, By Steve Krug
• Letting Go of the Words, Ginny Redish