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27 May, 2014

USER EXPERIENCE GUIDELINES YOU’RE OVERLOOKING

The success of a business will majorly depend on the user experience guidelines that have been set in order to improve its prosperity. This is because the business must ensure the clients are not experiencing difficulty when they try to get access to whichever information or perform a certain function in the company’s interface. If you follow the paramount principles of user experience clearly, you will be sure of an increased satisfaction of users in relation to your company’s interface. 

USER EXPERIENCE GUIDELINES


1. UTILIZE FORM LABELS ABOVE THE FIELD

The perfect place to place a form label in is above the fields, according to a study carried out. Too many people place forms on the left of part of the field, thus, creating a layout of 2 columns. This may seem appealing, but on the other hand, it is difficult to use. The reason behind this is because the form is usually vertically oriented, thus, users fill them from top to bottom. It would be easier to follow the label downwards than is sideways. 

2. Have Clearly Displayed Faces

On a Web page, the user will normally focus on people’s eyes and faces, which should be a great way to attract the attention of many users. Another interesting aspect is that users focus on the direction of the face, that is, where the person on the image is looking at. If the face is looking sideways, the user will also change directions and be less interested. Always consider a clear face image that faces at the user directly to draw more attention.

3. The Design Quality

The quality of the design is a clear sign of the web’s credibility. Like the saying, user will judge the ‘book’ by its ‘cover’. Your Book (website) will determine on how people will be attracted to its cover (design). Aspects like the typography, layout, color, consistency and style will determine how the users will notice and judge your website. The images you display will also determine majorly. Ensure everything, including the images are relevant to your audience. 

4. Avoid too Much Scrolling

Most of the users do not like too much scrolling. Studies show that around 70% of the visitors will not scroll down your page, all they do is view the content in the visible part on the screen. For that reason, always keep your principal content on the upper fold of your page. Nevertheless, don’t jut pile all the content in the above page fold because over-crowding content can also keep users bored. The name of the website and what will benefit the users should be placed on the main page and upper fold.

5. Let Your Links Be Blue

It’s good to be unique when you are designing your business website, nevertheless, it is important to follow the user experience guidelines. This is because people tend to follow the same process they used in another website to get to a certain destination. They also expect that something should be default, things like link colors, the website’s logo location and others. The link color should be darker or lighter than the background color. They should also be different from the rest of the text. Research shows that a blue link is easier to view and use than other colors. This is because many people are used to blue links.

6. The Best Search Box Should be 27 Characters wide

Some people tend to use shorter search boxes, which only display a section of a long inputted text in the box. It is recommended that you employ a search box of 27 characters, which according to the study, contained around 90% of the searched queries. You can set the width using Ms and not just points and pixels. A wider search box is better than a shorter one and has many advantages.

7. White Space Enhances More Understanding

A lot of web designers understand how important white space is, that is the space between pictures, paragraphs or buttons in the page. The space between items shows the relationship between the two and the items can be grouped by either increasing or reducing the spaces. The white space also enhances the readability of content, therefore, utilize them well. 

8. The User Testing Should Be Short Enough

A study showed that best number of tests that users carry out should be short enough, to increase the feedback positivity. If the test is extra detailed, there are chances that most of your website problems will be indicated in the tests. Always stick to none or just a single test for your users.

9. An Educational Product Page Is An Added Advantage

If you have a product page website, many people will surf through them, nevertheless, there are some sites that lack enough information on the products being sold. This is bad since the information on the products will lure customers more than just a product with prices and contact information. The information should also be easy to read and educational enough.

10. Avoid Too Much Advertising

Evidently, many people hate destructions and some are just not attracted to that extra flashy stuff. If you have a website that is flocked with ads of all sorts of banners and flash images, it will actually chase away your users. Users also tend to ignore anything that looks like an ad, therefore, as you design your website, consider the user viewpoint. 

Conclusion

Generally, as you are trying to design your website to be captivating enough, always remember that it is not a photograph that you will hang on your wall at home or a profile picture that you wouldn’t mind whom it pleases. A web page should be captivating and in addition to that, it should focus on the user. If you put too much stuff, it may be difficult to follow, if you put too little, it may be so cheap and empty, always be informative in whatever you post in your site. These user experience guidelines should help you come up with an eye-catching website that will satisfy your user and make them always want to visit again for another time.