Basic Usability Guidelines
When the basic principles of usability are followed during design, the system is intuitive and easy to use. Some basic guidelines include:
- Alphabetical Order - List items in alphabetical order to make it easier to visually sort the information
- Consistency - Use the same name throughout, this applies to:
- Labels - don't use Save on one page and Go on another, Save implies that information needs to be retained/updated. Go indicates the user is ready to move on to the next step.
- Navigation Items -if names are even slightly different from one page to the next or within a page, it will cause confusion.
- Standards - employ web standards for example, a link should be blue underlined. i.e. Link
- Design for Speed
- Design for all types of users - provide shortcuts for the frequent users and yet ensure simplicity for the infrequent/first time user
- Keep the user informed - if an application or process is going to take longer than 60 seconds, inform the user of the status of the process
- Maximum response time = 10 seconds, more than that and the users/customers attention is lost
- Ease of Reading
- Color - dark text (black) on a light background (white) is the easiest to read
- Message - ensure the message is clear without color, to highlight an item make it bold and then add color, for example: 1234
- Variety of Color - Using a few colors can dramatically improve a visual search, however using more than 4 or 5 colors will have the opposite effect by significantly increasing search time
- Help
- Help icon should be located in the same place on each page
- Help should be task-oriented (How do I place an order?)
- Help must be accurate, complete, and up to date
- Users should be able to complete tasks without Help documentation but Help documentation must be available for users who need it
- Language
- Acronyms - don't use them, spell out the complete word
- Familiarity - use language that is familiar to the user/customer, avoid technical terms
- Don't write too much text, it won't be read and creates "visual noise"
- Placement of Information
- Attention/focus - Place important information in the center of the screen since studies show that a person's first looks at the center of the screen, then the right hand side and finally the left side