by Manel Fernando

Design and Development Considerations

During the design and development phase of the software development process, it's important to consider the necessary technologies which could enhance the usability of the application. For example if a web application is developed, the use of client side scripting makes it possible to auto-populate field elements in a  web form by making the web page more user-friendly.

Here are some more widely used ways of improving the usability of a product.

Make sure the options are clearly visible

The example at the beginning of this article is a classic case where the important functionality was not clearly displayed on the web page. Making sure all of your buttons, menu items and other controls are displayed clearly makes your site much more usable.

Ease of navigation between pages

In the above example, after I added my selected product to the shopping basket, I wanted to go back to my search list to continue with the shopping. I was expecting a button such as 'return to the search list' as I was reluctant to use the browser's back/forward button with the fear of loosing my shopping basket contents.  Implementation of proper navigation not only saves the end user time but also gives the reassurance of the robustness and the quality of the application.

Site search facility

A site search facility is a very important feature in the application as it is often the quickest way for a user to find any particular item listed within the site. 

Saving search results

One of the most common aspects of online stores is the ability to perform a search and save the search results for future use. Similarly many websites offer the feature of 'Add to Wish List' which allows the user to save their product selections for later attention.

Feedback page

There are times when you may want to give some constructive criticism, some good suggestions or point out some small mistakes in the site. It is good to have a feedback section in your website which encourages users to easily provide feedback which should help in improving usability of the product.

Neat and uncluttered web-design

Colours which are used for your website design do matter a lot! It is not advised to use bright colours for background.

Proper categorization of pages

Do not categorize the web pages in wrong or inappropriate categories. For example if the web application is an online front-end of a department store, make sure the products are categorised appropriately based on product type, price, colour, manufacturer etc which is easily accessible to the end user.

Fast page loading

Whilst web page loading and responsive times come under application performance, we should not forget that performance plays a critical role in the usability of the application. People can easily become impatient and you should value their time. Use better servers and reduce the use of flash and other content which makes your web page slower to load.

It's important to remember that the easier you make the task for your users, the happier they will be and the more they will love you for it.

In my concluding part next week, I will look at Verifying an Application's Usability and Usability Testing.