How important is usability when it comes to modern Web 2.0 Design?

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Have you ever thought why your site is not that successful despite having nice information architecture, smooth navigation, interface design and cutting-edge flash web-site templates? The reason could be the “usability” element that might be missing in your web-site. The long held belief that “Content is the King” is passé now. “Usability” has overtaken content to become the new ruler on the net. Usability means the factors that make a site user-friendly and easy to explore for the visitors. The faster the visitors obtain the information they seek, the sooner they would take the necessary action such as buying a product or signing up for more information or services. What exactly is usability? If the visitor identifies himself with the benefits the net site has to offer, finds its products or services interesting, and gets curious about what more the site has to offer, they say it is ‘high on usability’. 1) Improves conversion rate Usability plays a significant role in improving the total conversion rate making it a pleasure for the user to explore the site further without getting mixed up about where to go next. An increase in the number of visitors who turn into customers on your web-site indicates a nice ‘conversion rate’. 2) Increases traffic Usability also helps in increasing traffic to your web-site. With efficient usage of elements such as simple language, clear text labels etc, it becomes not as hard for various search engines to index your web-site. 3) Saves time Focus on the usability factor right during the initial development stages of a web-site. This will enable you to make necessary changes later quickly as the need arises without starting from scratch. You can improve the usability of your web-site by following this checklist: 4) Factors that improve usability In today’s hyper-competitive world, usability cannot be ignored at any cost. To make your web-site high on usability, hire a reputed web-site creating company which specializes in providing affordable web services. But before letting them start off on your project, do check carefully their previous work or portfolio to ensure that they do give priority to the usability aspect in creating web-sites. - Keep the language as simple as possible - Use clear ink for highlighting the labels - Build an easy navigation structure for the site - Make sure the site structure is lucid, clear and understandable - Make the content objective - Focus each web page on  seven theme or topic - Provide clear click paths - Mention contact details clearly on each and every web page - Use semantic tags whenever possible - Provide some personal information about the company on the “About Us” page - Use ALT tags for all graphics,  navigation graphics - Give prime importance to optimal legibility while selecting text and background color - Use either plain or very subtle colors for background patterns - Place the navigation in a consistent location on every web page - Equip each functional page with an attractive and appealing “Call to Action” button or link Read More →

Whenever you are seeking for a web designer search for an expert. But be very cautious whenever trying to find one because very few of them really know what they are doing. It is also essential to check if the individual has any type of complaints. Things You Should Consider Before Hiring A Web Designer: 1. Qualifications are of no use. A you can test your prospects by asking them why are CSS and XHTML beneficial for your web site. Also, you can investigate where they learned how to create websites. Stay very clear. 2. Samples and Portfolio. A professional web designer always offers some samples and a diverse portfolio for his/her clients. Aks your prospect if he/she can show you some websites he has designed before. Also, ask him/her to show you what his/her clients commented about his/her work. 3. Builds site that are simple to navigate. Make sure your site developer nominee can create sites that are facile to navigate. Nonprofessional creators have the tendency to create nice-looking sites only to make an impact on people. But they forget about the most important thing, navigability. Your candidate should be able to tell you in which web browsers he has tested the sites on. If he is really a professional web designer his/her answer will be “the most common ones”. 4. Check for services cost first. Many internet site creators like to charge per hour - never accept that. You will get estimates from $1500.00 to $5,000.00 per website. An independent web designer will charge you less than a corporate, so keep this in mind. 5. BE centered on web sites creation only. You’ll run across a lot of web developers who will try to vend you packages that includes web designing, web hosting, and a domain name. Forget about them, because they probably don’t know how to design a website and they are just trying to resell the package to make huge profits. It will be better if you buy the hosting services and domain name separately. Read More →

One indication of a well-designed web site is its colours. choice of colours is vital in generating the look that the site’s owner wants to portray. if the look of the web site does not meet the users expectations, then they’ll leave & probably never go back to the site. This is frequently the reason why a web site isn’t doing  as well as it should. Being aware of colour perception can make life a whole lot not as hard when choosing a colour method for a web-site. knowing which colours can irritate & those that can calm is vital in giving the user the right impression & experience of the web-site. why would you need to annoy a user when you need them to buy from your web site? Colour balance & contrast is another technique you should know about. It can be used to direct users to certain pages on the web-site. Below is a list of the best-known colours & their emotional connotations. White is a  minimalist colour. associated with simplicity, purity & cleanliness, it can be used effectively to highlight images. Yellow is a comfortable colour, liveliness, energy & joy. it’s a lively colour that can be used to highlight desired areas on a web page. Green is associated with trees, wealth & jealousy. The most calming colour in the spectrum, its very popular with web-sites that’re linked to nature. The colour red can summon feelings of passionate, courage & strength. it’s a strong colour & if used in small doses, it’s adequate for highlighting points. White is associated with neat & simple designs, which means that it’s favoured by plenty of design firms. It stirs up feelings of cleanliness, simplicity, honesty & innocence. Evoking feelings of passion, sex, fire & aggression, red can be a highly charged colour. red’s bright side is bold, which means that it can be used to generate awareness. Purple is associated with royalty, indulgence & luxury. it isn’t an often used colour in designing websites, probably because it’s known as a girly colour. generating the idea of earthiness, essence & poverty, brown is  similar to green as it can be used to give the web site a relaxed feel. Purple could be a truly rich colour & it’s linked to religion in addition to wealth & royalty. It doesn’t seem to be as popular as other colours in designing for the web but, if used well, it can give a web site a sense of elegance. Brown stands for confidence, reassurance, dirt & poverty. like green, it can be used to make a web site feel relaxed & calm. it’s truly popular with web-sites that are about nature. The psychology of colour can play a huge role in making a successful site. to subliminally generate an expectation amongst the end user can be an effective sales tool. picking colours thoughtlessly can accidentally put users off the web-site. generating combinations of colour that direct users to an end objective can generate loads of sales & make the user experience free of stress. Read More →