Web Usability Blog

It was recently estimated in the US that Google receives 182 million unique views a month, 9 million hits above its closest competitor Yahoo!, And 20 million views ahead of bronze medallist, bing*. So why is Google the world’s most popular search engine? Firstly, it gets us the results they want. Secondly, as we all know, it is extremely easy to use. On the Google homepage the search box is smack bang in the middle of the page while Yahoo! has squashed it well out the way up the top and thrown the kitchen sink at the homepage.

Having successfully launched our brand new responsive website we are now big advocates of this method of website design, unless fundamental issues stand in your way. Some of our clients are keen to advance down the alternative adaptive route, which recognises when a smartphone is being used and pushes an entirely separate, mobile specific site onto the screen. However, these sites often have a reduced level of content, based on what are believed to be the key user mobile goals - insights gained from market research. It is thought by some clients that their target audience have different goals on their mobiles than larger devices.

Recently, we have spent a lot of time watching testers navigate their way around the smartphone apps of a well-known British newspaper. What is becoming increasingly apparent is the importance iconography has to play in a user’s experience of a site. With the growing dominance of smartphones and tablets, and the limited real estate these smaller devices offer, icons are especially important, when words will not fit. At times icons can be misleading or misunderstood but the rise in digital conventions is aiding a smoother UX experience in many mobile sites.

People use multiple devices to access the web – increasingly, they’ll refer to the same site at different times and in different contexts on different devices. So it’s important to ensure that they get a great user experience – whatever device they use, and regardless of whether it’s a responsive or adaptive design, or separate desktop and mobile sites. Just because desktop and tablet sites may look similar, it doesn’t mean people will use them in the same way – see the experience we describe in multi-device testing. The only way to check that people get a great experience – and which will build and reinforce your brand values – is to undertake user testing with real representative users.
Smart companies undertake user testing on desktop/laptop, tablet and smartphone devices – and we’ve got a lot of smart clients: here are some of the things we’ve been working on:

We have recently taken delivery of a Microsoft Surface tablet and a couple of touch screen monitors. For Peter, our director, it was like Christmas had come early. Delivery day saw him happily ripping opening packaging and focusing completely on his new toys. We could have asked him for 100% pay-rises and a week off work and he would have agreed.

I am a recent addition to the World of Web Usability and quickly getting to grips with the complexities of UX research. One of the first projects I worked on required us to user test a complex financial site aimed at personal investors. As a recent graduate, with a small mountain of debt and minimal income this is, unsurprisingly, an area I have little knowledge of.

Web Usability is a specialist UX agency – this is all we do. We don’t design or build websites, provide SEO or other services: we focus on understanding the user experience and providing advice to make sites more effective.

User research isn’t only useful in identifying issues on a site, but a great way to change the way in which an organisation works and thinks about their customers. Web Usability worked with Cancer Research UK to design their new masthead Information Architecture, and with their skills and expertise conducted several workshops, each with up to 30 key stakeholders to gain buy in and support for their site strategy.

I recently attended one of e-consultancy's roundtable meetings, where a dozen or so corporate members share knowledge: the topic of this one was 'User Experience'. It was an interesting couple of hours with some useful insights provided by the participants, who included benchmarking, analytics, survey and usability agencies like Web Usability. What struck me during the discussion was that most of the participants' activities focused on understanding the user experience rather than helping the clients do something useful with the insights gained from their work.