Web Usability Blog

One of the things that continues to surprise me when watching users test websites is how often users blame themselves when they can't find things. Without doing any analysis, my guess from watching hundreds, if not thousands, of users is that less than 10% blame the website when it is difficult to use.

We love trigger words because users love trigger words. Good trigger words improve the 'scent' of a link enormously.

We have recently conducted some user testing on of one of our client's websites on mobile devices. They sell investment products so it was largely an information site. It was a fascinating exercise in many ways, but what particularly surprised me was how different users' behaviours were when using their mobiles to browse the web.

It is noticeable when observing user testing sessions, that some users are reluctant to enter text in search boxes if it already contains some text e.g. the word 'Search'. Our advice is that, like Google, the search box should be empty. However, we are often told by clients, with words in their search boxes, that they have been advised this is necessary to comply with accessibility guidelines.

Regular watchers of usability testing sessions will be very aware that users rarely appear to look on the right hand side of the page. Often sites will put information that is key to a user journey on the right of the page that gets missed. On a site we tested recently what was, in effect, the main navigation was on the right hand side of the page and users struggled to find it.

"Just conducting a usability test or producing a list of recommendations won't guarantee change in a design". Spool (2003)