Usability Engineering is the newest buzz word of the millennium. Today’s customer is well aware of his requirements and is unwilling to compromise. He wants value for his hard-earned money. Whether he purchases a mobile phone, a microwave oven, or a washing machine – the focus has now shifted from features offered, to the ease and convenience of operation, and how fast the gadget can be mastered – i.e. the focus is now on the “USER INTERFACE”.

 

When someone buys any device, say a mobile phone, besides the aesthetics and the looks, the user today checks on issues like how many key strokes are required to perform a regular task. Are the flow of key strokes and help guides intuitive enough or are they confusing? Is there ambiguity in achieving a task? Does operating the device leave you flustered? In other words, the User is reviewing “USABILITY” as one of the parameters while deciding the choice of equipment.

 

“Usability Engineering” is a science which studies how to understand and systematically address the usability demand of a customer. Thus, usability engineering deals with design of Web sites, computer portals, computer keyboard design, car dashboard design, TV remote key layouts, washing machine front panel layout, etc.

The W3C standardization and mostly internet communication trends directly address usability as one of the most important principles of websites and web applications development.

 

It is extremely important to design and devise the user-centric process based on an in-depth, clear-cut understanding of the context of use and the expected nature of user. This would result in the achievement of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction.

 

The visitor for whom the website / application is created, is in the center of everyone’s attention. How easily can he find what he is looking for, how easily can he browse the content of your website? All this sums up to how friendly a website appears to its target readers?

 

Users have grown accustomed to looking in certain areas on a screen to find specific items. They also tend to move quickly from page to page. Users usually scan for information that is of direct interest to them.

 

Usability experts research a visitor’s behavior and profile him to a specific category. Analyzing users’ expectations of where they expect specific web objects to be located reveal general object containers that are integrated in a website’s structure.

 

In plain English, this would mean, for example, that:

-          Internal web links are expected to be located on the upper left side, or top most upper side of the browser window

-          External web links are expected to be located on the right side or lower left side of the browser window

-          The “Back to Home” link is expected to be located at the top left corner and the bottom center of the browser window.

I mean, where did you first look for a useful link when you have entered this site?

Did you actually read the whole content (our copywriter, please disregard this…) or did you quickly scanned for words that popped-out and were of interest for you? See what I mean by Usability?

 

If you want your visitors to feel satisfied when browsing your site, if you want them to return to your website, if you want them to become your clients then you should definitely consider our Usability experts evaluating your website’s strengths and weaknesses.