Usability in design
Website design is more than the visual look of the pages. Good website design is about organising the information on your website to meet the needs of your visitors and your business goals. At web2grow we incorporate usability into our development process.
The most important aspect of usability is ensuring that the website works for your visitors (as well as you).
Our standard web design process includes a number of steps to ensure your that there are no barriers to your customers achieving what they want to do on your website:
- Wireframes. Before we start the design process we develop paper prototypes for the key pages on your website - called wireframes.
- We design our webpages so that the individual paths are clear. Imagine your website as an airport - we make sure your visitors know where they are and how they can get to where they want to go. Your visitor's should never have to ask "How do I find ...?"
- We develop your site to comply with web standards, to ensure the page can be read by across browsers, and different classes of users.
- Sitemap A siteplan is a diagram showing the pages on your proposed website and how they are linked together. You use the siteplan to set paths that you want your visitors to follow. Each path should lead to a goal (like a Contact or Subscribe form). Some visitors like to browse, others like to get information quickly - so you need alternative paths to the same goals.
However we apply our expertise, we cannot really know how effective your website is, unless we test it with your end-users and visitors.
For clients that truly value the experience of their visitors, we offer additional usability services, in conjunction with established usability experts:
- User workshops - meeting with key groups of users to determine needs.
- Wireframe testing - testing the effectiveness of the paper prototypes with real users to ensure we get it right before we build.
- Prototype testing - testing of web applications during the build stage
- Advanced browser testing including disability and standards testing