We recently worked on a number of projects where we have been developing personas. This can be a powerful tool in bringing focus and clarity about what content to develop and how to present this, especially for larger information sites run by teams with lots of stakeholders.

However, some recent experiences suggest organisations don’t know how best to use these.

What is the best type of navigation for your website? With our 15 years of UX experience and many hours spent watching thousands of testers on hundreds of websites here are our thoughts.

A solid information architecture (IA) is the bedrock of a good website. IA focuses on the structuring, organisation and labelling of website content to enable users, who arrive at the home page, to meet their goals and complete tasks as quickly and easily as possible.

Website accessibility introduction

Website accessibility is an essential part of website development. It is also a complex beast to get your head around. There is a mass of guidance and legislation – some of it seemingly contradictory.

We recently talked about the benefits of testing early – it saves you time, money and headaches. But how do you test early?

Recently, the Nielson Norman Group published an article* reviewing the benefits of individualised personalisation on websites.

Developing effective websites often requires organisational change to a culture where people at all levels in the organisation adopt behaviours that make a 'good user experience' an important goal. A good user experience is one where a user achieves their goals and is highly satisfied with the process; it will encourage reuse and recommendation of the site. If the organisation is not focused on providing a good user experience, they will be unable to build an effective web site. Understanding the user experience, through research methods like usability testing, can be a powerful tool in driving the organisational change needed to develop effective websites.

There are many ways to skin a cat, as the saying goes. There are also many ways to conduct usability testing (see ‘Why do usability testing’ to sample some of the different flavours).
For us, the best method is moderated usability testing in the lab or remote. Why? It allows you to find out why problems happen on websites and apps by watching behaviours in real time and probing around testers' responses.

• What are Personas
• What do personas 'look like'
• How do Personas help
• How Personas can be used
• How not to use the Personas
• In Conclusion...
• References

User-centred design puts the user at the heart of the design process so that the resulting product is easy to use. 'Personas' are a way of bringing the user alive - constantly reminding the development team who they are designing for. Personas, for developing web sites, have been around for a while and over the years we have seen both good and bad practice in the ways they are developed and used - so just how helpful are they?

Usability testing early in the web development process saves you time and money and will result in a better outcome overall.