Web
Site Usability
The
Scent of Information
"In fact,
searching for information is an experience. It's either a good
experience — when you find what you want quickly and
painlessly — or a frustrating one — when
you can't find the information you're looking for at all. This
is what usability is all about, says Jared Spool, president and
founder of user Interface Engineering. At the end of the day, any
company and any Web site should want their customers to walk away
happy, to say, "Thanks, I'll definitely be back."
Making
Online Information Usable
"So you
follow all the standards and guidelines, but suffer nagging questions
about whether anyone can and will use the help you’ve just
written. Or management wants you to move your printed documentation
online, but you wonder whether that’s really best for your
users."
Testing
the Three-click Rule
"[T]he
Three-click Rule does not focus on the real problem. The number
of clicks isn't what is important to users, but whether or not
they're successful at finding what they're seeking."
As
the Page Scrolls
"Users
say they don’t like to scroll. As a result, many designers
try to keep their Web pages short...But one of the most significant
findings of our research on Web-site usability is that users are
perfectly willing to scroll. However, they’ll only do it
if the page gives them strong clues that scrolling will help them
find what they’re looking for."
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