What are the main principles of usability? You will find answers to this and many other questions in the article. The principles of "Usability" are the generally accepted views on interaction with design, which were introduced by Nelsen Jacob (the founder of "Usability"). These views are more likely to be a set of rules, rather than hard guidelines, so they are called “Heuristics”. There are ten such principles.
Status Visibility
The first principle of usability is the visibility of system status. This position indicates that the user needs to know where he left off and what is happening. If this is a complicated registration, you must indicate that this is the second step or the third.
Efficiency
The next principle of usability is efficiency. In fact, it means that there must be a connection between each user and the system. Your site must be configured for a specific audience, you need to talk to it in its language, using its level of preparedness and designation. Therefore, a website should always be designed for its public. This applies not only to structure, but also to texts, design, help, visual perception of information and so on.
Free choice
What is the third principle of usability? Freedom of choice. This is user management, which is necessary so that the client can always control the situation. For example, if a person fills out a form, he should always see the “clear form” button. And if it provides for several steps? The user should always be able to return to the previous paragraphs or skip one of them in order to repeat the action a little later.
Thanks to this situation, the user will have the impression that it is he who controls everything, that they are not trying to confuse or deceive him. And at first glance, a tricky interface with the right approach will become ordinary. After all, it is much easier for a person to perform several simple actions than one complex one.
Standards
The fourth principle of usability is consistency and standards. There are already certain established stereotypes on the Web (contacts in the upper corner, basket view, and so on). Nevertheless, one designation can have several types, so an inexperienced user among them can easily get lost. For example, electronic baskets are identical to carts, ordinary baskets, trendy bags and more. And for the sequence to appear, you need to choose some specific style that you need to follow everywhere. This applies to layout, and fonts, and text, and pictures.
Error prevention
The fifth principle of Usability is error prevention. This rule states that the error should not be corrected, but warned. You always need to eliminate random, unnecessary actions and, wherever possible, simplify your choice. This may be a normal hint when typing something on the keyboard.
This also applies to buttons. For example, the “Accept” sentence is usually made brighter and larger than the “Clear Form” request. You should prompt information known to you about the information entered (region code, phone format, and so on).
Simplification
The sixth principle is the rule "Find out easier than remember." Simplify life for users as much as possible, remember the information previously entered by them (even from their previous visits to the site), give them tips. For example, if you use a multi-step registration system, show the person already completed fields if they are useful to him in the future.
Flexibility
The seventh principle of Usability is flexibility of use. According to this rule, the interface must be flexible, it must tune in to the prevailing audience. Here the basic emphasis is on simplicity, taking into account the average user. Details for advanced should be small. They can be located in less visible parts of the screen, as such people will find them everywhere.
Design
The usability design principle is the eighth in a row. It consists in aesthetics and minimalism. According to this rule, the interface should not contain information that the user does not need. Also, the information that a person will need in rare cases should not be in it.
Similarly, you need to create forms: you cannot ask the user for data that you do not need. Unfortunately, almost no one uses this position. In order to just congratulate you on your birthday or Happy New Year, customers in 90% of cases are required to provide a date of birth, and home phone number, and mobile, e-mail and even an address.
Help
The basic principles of Usability should be known to every webmaster. The ninth view of this scientific and applied discipline is to assist users in understanding and correcting errors. All misses should be reported to people in a normal, “human” language, not computer. If the link is created incorrectly, you do not need to write just 404. Report as follows: "An error occurred while entering the page." If, filling out the form, the user has forgotten to indicate his phone number, write that there is an error in the data entry, and not just a “form error”.
Support
Why are the key principles of usability so important? Let's look at the tenth principle, called Documentation and Help. Materials and support should be simple and clear, easily accessible, consistent with the goals of the user. In addition, the documentation should not be voluminous. It is necessary that it contains clear steps. If the materials are too large, you can make a brief navigation to quickly navigate through the sections, as well as search for support.
Usability
So, we examined the main principles of Usability. But what kind of discipline is this? "Usability" is a measure of the quality of user experience gained by interacting with a system or product. For example, it could be a software application, a website, or something else.
Specialists at User Interfase Engineering determined that in 60% of cases, people cannot find the information they need on the web. As a result, their productivity decreases. They no longer want to return to the site, because of which they are forced to lose precious time.
It is also known that Forrester Research received some figures that show the amount of losses that appeared due to poor-quality "usability" of sites. Chain stores lose about 50% of customers who cannot find the product they need. About 40% of users do not want to return to a site with which they did not like to work.
Jacob Nelsen argues that researching people's behavior on the web has shown that they disgust websites with complex designs and slow websites. He says that users are not willing to wait. They also do not want to figure out how to use the homepage. Nowhere is there instruction on sites or training on web projects. Jacob knows that people want to quickly scan pages and instantly understand the functionality of the website.
Creature
What is Usability development? Its principle is a methodological approach to creating a site or any other user interface. Such development consists of several methods that are used sequentially in the process:
- collection of requirements;
- prototype creation and analysis;
- evaluation of opposing design options;
- study of user questions;
- proposal of solutions and analysis of the site (or any other interface).
Testing
What is Usability Testing? The principle of this nuance is not everyone knows. In general, it is part of the usability process. In a typical test, a person needs to complete several tasks using a prototype (or other system). During operation, the observer records what the user says and does. Typically, such a test is performed with one or two people acting together.
An analysis can collect data such as mistakes made by users, the sequence of actions a person takes to achieve a goal, the time and place where difficulties arise in the audience, how much people like the product, and their speed in completing tasks. Most tests are used to identify and solve any problems that appear in the public.
Discipline steps
What steps does usability consist of? To plan a website, you first need to understand why you are developing it, for whom, why and when your readers will visit your site. If you answer these questions, then identify the purpose of your site. The specific goals depend on the audience of the website and your organization.
In addition, you must define the objectives of the usability site. In accordance with the general objectives, your resource should be effective in application, easy to learn, easy to remember when visiting again. It also needs to satisfy the user.
Each usability goal is important for most websites, but you can highlight others for different audiences and situations. It is known that the design is based on the needs of people, so you need to collect information not only about them, but also to what extent the existing site satisfies them. There are several ways to collect data, which include server logs, feedback forms, and usability testing of an existing website.
It’s easier for people to interact with a real example than to reason what works best. Useful results can always be obtained using a prototype site that has a minimum of content and is devoid of graphics. Such an elementary prototype is suitable for the first test cycle.
Content should be placed only that which is necessary for users of the site. If you have a mountain of information, choose from those that will be useful and enjoyable to your audience. All information should be broken into small pieces with subtitles, as people want to quickly read what interests them. You need to remove optional words from the text, use tables and lists.
Next, an interactive process is carried out - testing "Usability", which we wrote about above. Sometimes you need to test an interface that has already been designed in accordance with all the rules. By the way, focus groups are the most affordable way to do it yourself.
Components
So, using the rules and principle of Usability, you can create a resource that you will be proud of. The presence of this amazing subject is a quality feature that determines the extent to which the user interface is easy to use. The word "usability" also means a collection of methods that improve the site in the process of its creation.
Usability has five quantitative components:
- Efficiency: after familiarizing users with the design, how quickly will they complete the same task?
- Learning: how easily can people accomplish basic tasks using an unfamiliar interface for the first time?
- Mistakes: how many errors a person makes, how serious they are, can he easily fix them?
- Memorability: if the user returned to the interface after a certain period of time, will he be able to restore his skills in working with it?
- Satisfaction: To what extent is it pleasant for a person to use this interface?
In addition to Usability, there are many other important quality attributes of design. One key is utility. This feature describes the functionality of the technical solution and determines the usefulness of the interface to users. "Usability" and practicality are equally important: why use a convenient program if it does not produce the result that you need? A program that hypothetically works the way you need, but you don’t like its complex interface, is also considered bad. To analyze the usefulness of the project, you can use the same tools as when studying the quality of its "Usability".
In Web-e, "Usability" is considered a necessary condition for survival. If the site is difficult to work with, visitors leave it very quickly. If the main page of the website does not clearly and clearly indicate what the company is doing, what tasks the resource allows you to perform, users will search for another website. People will also leave if the site is confused, the information on it is difficult to understand and does not answer their key questions.
There are no such visitors who spend their time to master the interface of the site or carefully study the instructions for working with it. Web-e has many other resources, so if a visitor comes across a difficulty, you will lose it.