The Value of Web Design Usability
Sunday, May 17, 2009
"Value" is like "quality" -- no one seems to be able to define it, and yet everyone knows it when they see it. This ATW feature explores the concept of "value" in a Web site and looks at how creating usable Webspace is an integral part of creating valuable Webspace.
The Dynamic Nature of "Value"
Part of what makes the concept of "value" difficult to define is that human needs are themselves dynamic and unpredictable. A turkey sandwich, for example, may be profoundly valuable to a person who's hungry. But it's virtually worthless to someone who's just finished a hearty meal.
Similarly, measuring the intrinsic "value" of a particular Web page is probably impossible. A Web page may be delivered to any number of users simultaneously, each of whom applies criteria that are not only unpredictable and dynamic, but idiosyncratic as well.
All Things to All People
Then too, conflicts between a site's constituencies are inevitable. You cannot satisfy both the gear-head and the focused searcher from a single page, and it would be profoundly foolish to try.
The Web of today provides no clue about the needs and motives of individual readers. At least for the time being, and certainly for the next year or two, the Web provides its users with a fragile veil of limited anonymity. Thus, it's fundamentally impossible to predict or ascertain the motivations, goals, or priorities behind the individual requests for a particular Web page.
Then too, even a single user can have different priorities at different times. This morning's focused searcher, on a time-critical hunt for specific information, maybe this evening's "power-surfer," looking for "a total browsing experience."
If You Can't Please Everyone...
Without reliable knowledge about individual users and their needs, site designers have to rely on the "best guess" available about the needs of Web users as a group. In other words, conscientious designers will seek to understand what brings most users to most Web sites. They will attempt to address the needs of that majority as an optimal means of providing value to the largest readership.
But What Do People Want?
As unknowable as individual needs are, questions regarding the motivations of Web users as a group have the specific and knowable answers.
The Dynamic Nature of "Value"
Part of what makes the concept of "value" difficult to define is that human needs are themselves dynamic and unpredictable. A turkey sandwich, for example, may be profoundly valuable to a person who's hungry. But it's virtually worthless to someone who's just finished a hearty meal.
Similarly, measuring the intrinsic "value" of a particular Web page is probably impossible. A Web page may be delivered to any number of users simultaneously, each of whom applies criteria that are not only unpredictable and dynamic, but idiosyncratic as well.
All Things to All People
Then too, conflicts between a site's constituencies are inevitable. You cannot satisfy both the gear-head and the focused searcher from a single page, and it would be profoundly foolish to try.
The Web of today provides no clue about the needs and motives of individual readers. At least for the time being, and certainly for the next year or two, the Web provides its users with a fragile veil of limited anonymity. Thus, it's fundamentally impossible to predict or ascertain the motivations, goals, or priorities behind the individual requests for a particular Web page.
Then too, even a single user can have different priorities at different times. This morning's focused searcher, on a time-critical hunt for specific information, maybe this evening's "power-surfer," looking for "a total browsing experience."
If You Can't Please Everyone...
Without reliable knowledge about individual users and their needs, site designers have to rely on the "best guess" available about the needs of Web users as a group. In other words, conscientious designers will seek to understand what brings most users to most Web sites. They will attempt to address the needs of that majority as an optimal means of providing value to the largest readership.
But What Do People Want?
As unknowable as individual needs are, questions regarding the motivations of Web users as a group have the specific and knowable answers.
- Nearly everyone wants information
- Many folks are looking for something in particular
- Some folks are in a hurry
The single most common use of the Web is to find information. Nearly 90% of Web users report that they use the Web as an information source.
Nearly two-thirds of users report that they use the Web for "searching." The word "search" implies at least a partially-formed idea of what is being searched for.
It's inevitable that some (unknowable) percentage of users who are in search of information are also in a hurry. They need to find the answer to a question as quickly as possible. Finding the answer tomorrow (or an hour from now) is simply not sufficient.
What About Entertainment Sites?
It is undeniably true that some sites exist merely to entertain their visitors. But the concept of "value," elusive enough on a content-centric Web site, becomes virtually unmeasurable on an "entertainment" site.
And just as "gather information" is the number-one reported use of the Web, so "entertainment" is a distant seventh. Design insights derived from the seventh most common use of a tool may be somewhat useful, but their utility is, of necessity, limited.
Usability as a Source of Value
Based on the premise that most visitors to most Web pages are seeking information, then one of two conditions must necessarily be true:
It is undeniably true that some sites exist merely to entertain their visitors. But the concept of "value," elusive enough on a content-centric Web site, becomes virtually unmeasurable on an "entertainment" site.
And just as "gather information" is the number-one reported use of the Web, so "entertainment" is a distant seventh. Design insights derived from the seventh most common use of a tool may be somewhat useful, but their utility is, of necessity, limited.
Usability as a Source of Value
Based on the premise that most visitors to most Web pages are seeking information, then one of two conditions must necessarily be true:
- Your site contains information that the reader finds valuable at that particular moment
- It does not
Thus, the information content of a site represents its "base" value. And by implication, anything and everything that makes the information on the site easier to find, or renders it more accessible, represents an incremental addition to that base value.
Consider a hypothetical example of two sites with identical content, say, 1,025 facts about U.S. Presidents, distributed across 41 pages. With over a thousand facts at a reader's disposal, both sites unquestionably hold a certain "base value" for readers interested in U.S. Presidents.
But on one site, the facts are scattered randomly across the pages, 25 facts per page. Any given page may contain five facts about President Clinton, or it may contain none. There is little navigational support, no index, and no search capability.
On the second site, the facts are organized into logical groups. There is one page per President. There is a comprehensive site index, and two tables of contents (one alphabetical, the other chronological). There is also a site-wide search that covers the contents of all 41 pages.
Now ask yourself three questions:
Consider a hypothetical example of two sites with identical content, say, 1,025 facts about U.S. Presidents, distributed across 41 pages. With over a thousand facts at a reader's disposal, both sites unquestionably hold a certain "base value" for readers interested in U.S. Presidents.
But on one site, the facts are scattered randomly across the pages, 25 facts per page. Any given page may contain five facts about President Clinton, or it may contain none. There is little navigational support, no index, and no search capability.
On the second site, the facts are organized into logical groups. There is one page per President. There is a comprehensive site index, and two tables of contents (one alphabetical, the other chronological). There is also a site-wide search that covers the contents of all 41 pages.
Now ask yourself three questions:
- Which is the more usable Web site?
- Which is the more valuable Web site?
- How much of the difference in value is a direct function of differences in usability?
Obvious Inferences
By implication, knowing the goal of Web users allow site designers to focus their usability enhancements towards improving the value of their Website. Indeed, all the basic mechanical details of reader-friendliness: compatibility, multi-mode navigational support, well-structured content, etc., serve to provide incremental enhancements to overall site value.
And Then There is Speed
It's inevitable that some readers' information needs are time-sensitive, or even time-critical. But of course, there is no way for your Web site to know which readers are in a hurry, and which ones aren't.
Thus a reader-friendly approach to Web design focuses on the task-driven, time-constrained information seeker, simply because timeliness is inevitably important to some percentage of visitors. And it's much more likely that a time-crunched user will simply abandon a slow-loading, elaborate site than that a "surfer" will be unhappy because a page loads too quickly.
Visits and Re-Visits
Content-rich, reader-friendly Websites are inherently high-value Web sites, precisely because they strive to meet the information needs of their visitors in the simplest, most timely manner available. Such sites are likely to build a steady base of repeat visitors. They are also in a stronger position to attract new visitors, as well. Recommendations from satisfied readers will inevitably become an increasingly crucial element in attracting new site visitors on an ever-expanding Web.
source: pantos.org/atw/35679.html
By implication, knowing the goal of Web users allow site designers to focus their usability enhancements towards improving the value of their Website. Indeed, all the basic mechanical details of reader-friendliness: compatibility, multi-mode navigational support, well-structured content, etc., serve to provide incremental enhancements to overall site value.
And Then There is Speed
It's inevitable that some readers' information needs are time-sensitive, or even time-critical. But of course, there is no way for your Web site to know which readers are in a hurry, and which ones aren't.
Thus a reader-friendly approach to Web design focuses on the task-driven, time-constrained information seeker, simply because timeliness is inevitably important to some percentage of visitors. And it's much more likely that a time-crunched user will simply abandon a slow-loading, elaborate site than that a "surfer" will be unhappy because a page loads too quickly.
Visits and Re-Visits
Content-rich, reader-friendly Websites are inherently high-value Web sites, precisely because they strive to meet the information needs of their visitors in the simplest, most timely manner available. Such sites are likely to build a steady base of repeat visitors. They are also in a stronger position to attract new visitors, as well. Recommendations from satisfied readers will inevitably become an increasingly crucial element in attracting new site visitors on an ever-expanding Web.
source: pantos.org/atw/35679.html
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