How Do I Create a User-Friendly Web Site?

How do you create a user-friendly web site that will pull in potential customers? There is no one right way to do it, no hard and fast rules for creating the perfect web site; but there are some tried and true standards that will increase your web site's usability (i.e., user friendliness). (See our May 21, 2007 blog post for an explanation of usability and why it's important.)

In creating a user-friendly web site, your goal should be to create web pages that are self-evident, "so that just by looking at it the average user will know what it is and how to use it," explains usability guru Steve Krug, author of the usability classic, Don't Make Me Think (see the book review in our May 21, 2007 blog post). If it's not possible to be self-evident, your web pages should at least be self-explanatory, requiring as little thought as possible to understand and navigate.

Follow these guidelines from Krug and your web site should have users coming back for more.

• Prioritize. Create a clear visual hierarchy on each page. A user should instantly be able to tell what is most important and what goes together. To indicate prominence, place important items at the top of the page. You can make key items stand out by using big, bold type; distinctive colors or more white space. Group or nest similar objects to make it clear that they belong together.
• Be conventional. Use conventions to your advantage. Conventions are the traditional, usual, conventional way of doing things. Don't waste time trying to reinvent the wheel. If it works, use it. Everyone looks for a table of contents in a colored bar along the left side of a web page. That's the conventional page design, so use it. It will help visitors find site elements faster and use them, which is the goal after all.
• Get organized. Break the page into clearly designed areas to make things easy to find. Most users glance at a page, looking for the one thing they want. Page zones help users zero in on that important information.
• Click it. Make it obvious what is clickable. Clicking should be mindless. Don't frustrate users by getting so arty that they have to guess where to click. Be consistent in the way you use elements on your site and use conventions whenever possible.
• Silence noise. Minimize the noise. It's the old KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid!). If there are too many distracting elements -- exclamation marks, bright colors, invitations to buy, etc. -- competing for attention on your page, none will stand out. If your page is cluttered, the information you want the user to receive will be lost in the background noise. Too much of anything negates its effectiveness.

This isn't everything you need to know about web pages, but it's a good start. Best advice: When you design your web site, think like a web user. Keep it simple and don't make me think!