A big mistake many users make is confusing accessibility and usability. Both are distinct and distinct, but the perception appears like one should be thought to be less significant in comparison to the other. Though both should be considered seriously there is a good chance that a lot of the concepts concerning accessibility still apply to usability and vice versa.
Optimising a site's usability will assist in making it more accessible or at least offer a stronger foundation to build from. If your target audience finds your site difficult to navigate It's likely to be problematic for those who have disabilities or difficulties with learning. By the same token, the degree of consideration to consider accessibility is equally important when it comes to usability.
Prioritizing the User
If you take all the fancy stuff away from the Web's design, pages are designed for people to use. Do not bother showing every Flash gadget you can pull from your repertoire or bombarding the users' browsers with ad-hoc images leaving you with providing the most effective delivery of content you can offer. Before you begin forming ideas or even thinking about launching Dreamweaver, you should have it in your head that usability means placing the demands of the users first. Keep in mind that everything from websites to shoes is judged on how well the final product is able to perform.
This will then help you carry out one of the important phases in all design processes and software engineering in particular: requirements elicitation. Professional new media agencies have already mastered this procedure, and will employ it to develop an idea of what that users expect to see, with project success based on meeting that. If you're being asked to develop a website for a specific customer or plan to launch something that will more directly attract traffic, it will be an essential exercise to acknowledge what the end user's expectations are.
The requirements for HTML0 are Elicitation
The key point to remember about understanding user requirements is that you're not likely to meet them exactly the first time. Therefore, a constant stream of communications throughout the design process is essential to get as close to their expectations as possible. Communicating with people who are using the product while recording their words and trying to determine the exact meaning of what they say is the only sure-fire way to meet their needs.
It's also essential to keep in mind that the audience you're designing for are not necessarily privy to the kind of "developer talk" that you are comfortable with. This is where the production of diagrams using graphics or cases studies can be used to portray your vision of how the project is moving forward. Navigational flowcharts, example site maps, or even data flow diagrams for eCommerce products are all effective methods of communicating complex information without bewildering others by using technical jargon.Similarly there's no reason why an agreed-upon direction for the way visual elements are going could not be accomplished using page mock ups. Digital flat drawings of potential template designs can be presented and analyzed before creating more advanced page elements, interfaces and navigational structures is set to begin.
Professional Help
If you're not enthusiastic about conducting extensive usability studies yourself or you realize that it's not practical, you can always rely on the expertise of others.
Professional consultancies, also known as specialist firms are common and offer a range of complete solutions that span all major steps. They typically will provide a preliminari assessment to determine whether it is truly in need of the complete usability treatment, and what the best approach to take. The next step is to identifying the is driving the needs and objectives of the Expert Tampa Web Design site's design or defining the objectives it is expected to reach. This will be followed by a detailed analysis of what the desired audience will be, and an overview of the target audience can be studied.
A sample of 'typical users' will usually be requested to attend a test session where they will observe the participants as they use the site. This could range from asking them to navigate through the website content at their own pace for a certain length of time, to setting them up with certain scenarios and tasks.
While they are encouraged to "think loudly constantly, their feedback is monitored and recorded, either using advanced tracking programs or by video. Designers are encouraged to join in on the sessions and see how users view the site and whatever improvements they might suggest. After the session, all participants are asked to provide their overall impressions of the site during thorough interviews. All the findings are then collected into detailed reports that will form the basis for any future design updates and any new projects that result out of the findings.
Conducting User Surveys
If putting together a representative sampling of your users isn't a realistic option There are other methods of receiving feedback. Many sites will include email addresses or contact forms for users to submit their ideas, but this doesn't ensure that you'll get the type of response you're looking for. It can be beneficial to provide electronic questionnaires that will assess the opinions of users more efficiently.
A specialist software can allow you to make sophisticated interactive surveys quickly and easily. The benefit here is that the results can be recorded to an online server prior to an extensive analysis of the data can be processed and used to make practical changes. There are some available software applications that can perform remote assessments of user actions in real time. This method of evaluation should be disclosed to visitors before they participate, as tracking their behaviours covertly would compromise areas of the data protection act and will certainly cause confusion if they discover.
But, there are some fascinating data regarding areas of the site or the actual interface will be discovered by the different ways people approach the content. Just by tracking link paths or the activity of your cursor it is possible to ascertain how people view navigation and possibly how effective visual indicators such as menus, buttons, and anchors are at directing your users' actions.
This provides an accurate picture of user perception, because the subject will behave in the same way as they normally would when casually surfing the Web. When under more strict "lab" conditions, they could feel pressured by the environment as well as the presence of an examiner or are aware of the time they are performing. It would also have negative effects on their performance if they were to be were to be expected to use peripherals, hardware, operating systems or browsing software they might not have experience with.