Web Usability Blog

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.

Think about user goals and put yourself in their shoes. Provide usable and useful content.

Responsive design seems like a brilliant solution for coping with the rise in mobile users but what are its pros and cons, and what has to be considered to make it effective?

Web Usability  has recently been working with digital agency Front Page doing early stage prototype testing on some designs Front Page is developing for one of their travel industry clients. We tested flat images linked together with simple hotspots to create a browsing experience. A number of issues - both strategic and tactical - emerged which will inform the continuing development of the site. By testing at this early stage the client saved money because no coding had been done and avoided the problem of 'invested effort' where designers and clients had become so attached to the designs that there was resistance to change. And the changes will improve the user experience and increase conversion. So win-win all round!

I had an interesting telephone conversation with one of our clients recently about benchmarking their web site. They are a major government organisation and are redeveloping their website. They wanted to benchmark the site before and after the redevelopment. The main driver for the benchmarking seems to be to justify the expenditure on the redevelopment.

We have recently being doing some work with a number of university sites. We have been usability testing their sites and doing attitudinal research with users to understand better their goals and circumstances.

Web Usability has recently invested in a state of the art mobile testing rig and eye tracker. This allows us to observe exactly what users are looking at when using a smartphone or tablet.