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The Dynamics of Web Usability – What it Really Means

Web usability evangelists have waxed lyrical for the past decade about the key principles behind user functionality in web design, but are designers understanding and implementing them correctly as intended? Let us first examine their main premise of a usable website. A website has to communicate effectively with its readers whilst also ensuring that it functions in a simple and efficient manner, hence the (over-used) backronym, “KISS”, ‘Keep It Simple Stupid’. Under a fool-proof usability framework, the user should be able to intuitively identify the possible user-oriented actions that can be performed on a specific page with minimal hesitation or after thought. The problem however arises when these usability standards are misconstrued (designers are ironically the main culprits) to represent the notion that ALL design elements have to be purposefully justified and FULLY functional (if a design element does not have a justifiable function than it has no place on the page). This translates into the rigid philosophy that design/aesthetics must first and foremost meet the “stipulated requirements” of web usability. I believe that usability cannot be contained within a fixed framework and it concerns the overall versatile and unpredictable nature of online user experience. 

Web Usability is Never Just About Fixed Standards

With “web standards” being the million dollar catch phrase of the contemporary design industry, designers have taken the extra initiative to ensure online usability through formal usability testing methods. But are we certain of what we are actually testing for? A considerable number of us seem to think that usability is about determining if all areas of a page are fully functional and responsive to user action. In that case, you wouldn’t need a usability test but simply an efficient web designer who creates mean and lean code. Usability is about how people use and experience design. There are no fixed guidelines determining what makes a site usable. Usability testing refers to an understanding (and noting down) of the experience involved in using a design and if the recorded results meet the designers main objectives and goals.

Usability = Ethnography (The Culture of Looking and Describing)

Ethnography is a methodological strategy used to provide descriptions of what people do in particular communities and the reasons behind their actions. It does not prescribe any particular method (e.g. interview, questionnaire), but instead evolves through observation and observation alone. Testing the usability of a website is an ethnographic research method. It entails more than a simple on-site evaluation of the purpose and functionality of particular design elements. Rather, web usability involves understanding how users experience a website and then reflexively questioning if the design is ‘working’ as intended and are people reaping the supposed benefits of the design. Usability is the online cultural experience of using a design, rather than a black and white list of do’s and dont’s for designers to follow. 

Appreciating Diverse User Experiences

The experience of using a web page will never be the same for everyone. The essence of usability testing involves learning about the vast range of user experiences that can derived from using a website design. The most clear-cut way to ensure web usability is to ask different users to actively use and engage with a ‘beta-release’ of a design thus providing you with the opportunity to decide if the website objectives are being met in all user-reported accounts. Are user oriented goals when using a design in tandem with the designer’s own set of objectives? If there is a disjunction in terms of user objectives and the intended aims of the designer, then what possible tweaks can be made to the design such that it meets both the needs of the designer and user? These are some of the questions which should be rigorously analysed in the usability testing process.   

Less Following, More Observing

So the gist of web usability is about studying the general performative trends how people use a design. There is only one main criterion for judging the usability of a website, and that is active observation. So, put that web usability guide checklist away for a moment, and start observing. 

What is your take on web usability?

 

 

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