Why didnt we do this sooner?

What everyone says at some point during the first usability test of their web site.

Here are the main things we know about testing.

If you want a great site, you’ve got to test.

After you’ve worked on a site for even a few weeks, you can’t see it freshly anymore. You know too much. The only way to find out if it really works is to test it.

Testing reminds you that not everyone thinks the way you do, knows what you know, uses the Web the way you do.

We used to say that the best way to think about testing was that it was like travel: a broadening experience. It reminds you how different and the same people are, and gives you a fresh perspective on things.

Designing Navigation

Its a fact:

People won’t use your Website if they can’t find their way around it.

You know this from your own experience as a web user. If you go to a site and can’t find what you’re looking for or figure out how the site is organised, you’re not likely to stay long – or come back. So how do you create the proverbial “clear, simple, and consistent” navigation?

Scene from a Shopping Centre:

Picture this: It’s Saturday afternoon and you’re headed for the local shopping centre to buy a chainsaw.

Why web users like mindless choices

Web designers and usability professionals have spent a lot of time over the years debating how many you can expect users to click to get what they want without getting too frustrated. Some sites even have design rules stating that it should never take more than a specified number of clicks (usually three) to get to any page in the site.

On the face of it, "number of clicks to get anywhere" seems like useful criteria. But over time we have come to think that what really counts is not the number of clicks it takes us to get to where we want (although there are limits), but rather how hard each click is - the amount of thought required, and the amount of uncertainty about whether we are making the right choices.