Web Design and Usability
In the commercial websites disregard for the users can cause economic loss. Many of the techniques are based on engaging users in all stages of design. This is not designed for users to design, but with users.
This is nothing new: the visual design has a decisive role in the perception of quality of a website. The visual and aesthetic impact on the confidence and credibility of a website. For any company or institution, the web design of your website is a key piece of its institutional identity.
But the design of a Web site only from our visual training as a graphic piece or more as an application over the corporate image, it would be a mistake.
A site that meets the goals of our visual communication client can be very poor in other factors, such as ease of use, ease of finding information, download speed, readability or accessibility. And very good that we design our web seems to us or our customers, these factors will ultimately affect the way in determining the perception that will end users.
In other words, if users seeking information not found or was frustrated when trying to perform the tasks for which went to the site, obviously little our efforts to improve the visual quality. Users will quickly leave or to another site. With a single click will suffice.
It is at this point where we face the concept of usability.
A definition of usability
The usability of a product or system is an empirical measure and on its usefulness, ease of learning, performance and appreciation of their users.
This definition can be applied to all types of products and systems, not only to websites or software products. For example might be measured usability of a system of urban signage, a tube of toothpaste or the phone book.
Usability can not be determined by evaluating a product in isolation. She was determined for a particular set of users in a context of use. That’s why we say that it is a relative measure. and that is why we do not believe there are absolute usability rules and equally applicable in all situations.
Web Design seen from the Usability
Some experts describe tend to usability web graphic design as a kind of decorative layer (the “Look and Feel”) that should be added to the prototype once it passed the test user.
On these positions must be said that investigating the users is not the same as designing. The research and usability tests give us information on problems identified and we can draw a few lines of action to resolve them but not enough to design the final design with all its elements.
At the other extreme, many of the sites we design, are not evaluated on its usability, whether because of our inexperience, for lack of resources, or perhaps because of the absence of a more comprehensive and multidisciplinary projects to address.
In the commercial websites disregard for the users can cause economic loss. But this can be more severe on the websites of state agencies or public services which should not only aim at higher goals of usability and to a wider audience, but also begin to meet the specifications of accessibility (in Spanish). By not doing so, they are excluding a very high percentage of the population’s access to information and the ability to manage processes across the network.
One solution: web design user-focused
The methods of user-centered design (in English) allow us to achieve goals of usability much higher than we could achieve by applying only intuition, recipes or calculating what we will assume that users with the site (or product) .
Many of the techniques are based on engaging users in all stages of web design. This is not designed for users to design, but with users.
But this is not so simple. For example does a usability test (in Spanish) require knowledge, time, dedication and experience? In addition, we have to get users to correct and earmark a portion of the budget to pay them.
The test basically delivers a list of tasks to users and watches the video while trying to complete each task without our help. It’s incredibly rewarding to observe users frustrated again and again with our web design. No interaction design conceived only from our intuition or experience will be foolproof. That’s why it’s advisable to start testing with low-fidelity prototypes (in English) (even on paper), in the early stages of the process of web design.
The organizational structure and the labeling of a website will also be designed from the mental model of users. For example, the technique of ordering cards (card sorting) (in English) allows us to determine how users classified, and grouped information to include.
The design and usability need to be supplemented
The web design as a discipline can bring knowledge and experience very enriching for usability and accessibility. For example in areas such as typography, readability, emphasis, style, color theory, space, composition and visual balance.
Usability and Information Architecture contribute their methods of web design user-focused, assessment techniques, principles heuristic (in Spanish), 40 years of studies on Human Computer Interaction (HCI), all past experiences to the Web from the web design company of Graphic User Interfaces (GUI) and the contribution of science as an archival and library spaces for shared organize and label information.
The design and usability can and must be supplemented as disciplines. The advantages can be clearly seen from both sides. A good visual design does not exclude the usability but that the favors, the same way that a high degree of usability and respect for the users contribute to improving the image of any company or institution.
Visuals India
http://www.articlesbase.com/web-design-articles/web-design-and-usability-673822.html
Web Design Optimized
Web design company there are many, but web design companies that pay attention to optimizing your web pages (both code, images and search engine positioning) very little. Or at least here, where the web design is usually an activity of graphic designers (at best) who have simply learned to use a program such as Dreamweaver and Flash, but have not come to understand what it means to design and diagram a website useful for users and profitable for the customer.
Under the pretext of “having a presence on the Internet these web design companies or individuals Web designers create web pages with a poor layout, an outdated design and usability a void, who only hinder navigation and disorient the visitor. The result: a website useless, more like a pamphlet to a website.
Web design professional. Information architecture
To achieve an effective work of web design is necessary to follow certain guidelines in the development of the site that will determine the subsequent success or failure of the project. Among the methods with which the web designer for the development of a site is known as the Information Architecture, which refers to the methods and tools to efficiently organize the content of the website. In this way, by following some basic points, it is possible to achieve an optimal organization of the contents that will allow the user to find what you’re looking for quickly, accurately and without effort.
As for the methodology to be followed for designing web pages, one can cite:
Website design. Definition of objectives.
Each web design project should have clearly defined objectives against which to measure the effective of work.
Web site design. Definition of hearing.
It serves to establish the potential audience for the site. Should take into account various aspects such as technical capability of the user (to assess the incorporation of certain technologies), physical ability (accessible sites), geographic location (sites of local, regional or global) and so on.
Web site design. Definition of content
Once clear objectives and the hearing is due to consider what kind of content will be incorporated into the site. Then they proceed to filter and group them in a consistent manner for submission to the user.
Web site design. Defining the structure
It understands the layout of the site and format that will have web pages. Here is defined using the site Skeletal modules to divide each section and sort them according to their importance.
Website design. Definition of navigation
The navigation system is one that allows the user to access different content from the site. It is necessary to achieve a clear web design and navigation easily understandable that guides the user through the site and that a pattern of what is going to find. It is important that you understand the terms used in the navigation system and that it is consistent throughout the site.
Website design Definition of visual design
The web design embodies the visual aesthetics of the website that in many cases is defined at the outset, taking into account the identity of the company, colors, logo, etc.. It is presented in this stage one or more sketches of web design that grouped all the above points and shows the customer a near-final version.
These patterns are used to organize the information correctly so that, before the visual web design, content and interpretation are organized in a consistent manner. This will benefit users of the site and provide an enjoyable experience when browsing web pages, allowing you to find what you’re looking for quickly and easily, which surely will repeat his visit by Web design Chennai
Visuals India
http://www.articlesbase.com/web-design-articles/web-design-optimized-673820.html
What An Arizona SEO Company Wants You To Know About Search Engine Optimization Services
If you’re approached by an online marketing agency claiming they can get you a Top 10 search engine ranking “overnight”, turn around and run away!
That’s the advice a prominent Arizona SEO Company offers to business owners who are looking to get to the top of the search engine results quickly.
Search on any term in Google and you’re likely to get thousands of web addresses returned to you. And, if you’re like the average surfer, you’ll never click below the Top 10 listings. That’s because nearly 100% of anyone’s search requirements are fully satisfied by web sites appearing on the first of the many search engine result pages (SERPs). If you’re not on the first page, you might as well not be there at all.
The only way to earn and keep a Top 10 rating, other than buying your way to the top by bidding outrageous amounts of money for a laundry list of key words, is to use natural search engine optimization techniques.
Often called “organic search engine optimization”, these natural search engine optimization techniques work because the online marketing agency, or search engine optimization firm, using them creates pages of web content that are specially designed to attract search engine “spiders”.
These pages are optimized with just the right blend of targeted key words, proper HTML tags, and a page/web linking strategy that search engines look for.
Natural search engine optimization is part art and part science and a lot of online marketing experts are getting it wrong. That’s why our contact at a noted Chandler Web Firm recommends that you check out the references that a search engine optimization firm provides before you sign any agreement.
Besides checking references, which can always be faked, ask the online marketing agency for a list of key words that they have achieved Top 10 ratings for. Then search on those terms and see if any of the web sites in the Top 10 match the reference list you were given.
Finally, our Arizona SEO Company friend says that you should beware of any search engine optimization company that cannot provide a couple of local references. After all, how good of a marketing agency can a company be if they claim to be a Scottsdale marketing company and they don’t have any clients in their home town?
Eddie Sanmarco
http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/what-an-arizona-seo-company-wants-you-to-know-about-search-engine-optimization-services-114788.html