web design: usability

If a website baffles your users, it has failed from the start.

I have been a keen student of web useability since the late 1980s. Too many sites are built to please the web developer. It's fun to create amazing effects in code, such as menus that move as the page scrolls, blinking page titles, or whirling and twirling images, but it doesn't help the person who has just arrived at your website's homepage.

If your potential client or customer can't find the menu, doesn't know how to navigate through your site, doesn't know where he is or how to get anywhere else, can't find out how to contact you, can't get your shopping cart to work, he will give up and click away to a website that's easier to use.

Your website has less than five seconds to make itself understood. If it has frustrated or hinders your visitor within two pages, there is an 80% chance that he will leave, never to return.

Usability means making your site user-friendly. That can vary, depending on the audience. For instance, children navigate a website in a very different way than do the elderly. That is why I always strive to understand who your target audience is.

I keep up with the latest research on usability and apply best practice to your website. I also modify designs according to feedback received from visitors and from web user stats. My design isn't sacrosanct: your needs are.