.: Usability Top Related Articles
1). Tell me what your website does!
You know exactly what your organisation does and what your website offers its users. This information has probably become second nature to you, but first-time visitors to your site won't know this. As such, make sure you don't forget to tell them what you do.
As soon as new site visitors arrive at your website the first thing they need to know, before anything else, is what you do.
Article tags: usability, accessibility, web usability, web credibility, web accessibility, css, website, accessible web design
2). The Secret Benefit Of Search Engine Optimisation: Increased Usability
A higher search ranking is what many website owners dream of. What they don't realise is that by optimising their site for the search engines, if done correctly, they can also optimise it for their site visitors.
Ultimately this means more people finding your website and increased sales and lead generation. But are search engine optimisation and usability.
Article tags: usability, accessibility, web usability, web credibility, web accessibility, css, website, accessible web design
3). Writing Effective ALT Text For Images
Anyone who knows anything about web accessibility knows that images need alternative, or ALT, text assigned to them. This is because screen readers can't understand images, but rather read aloud the alternative text assigned to them. In Internet Explorer we can see this ALT text, simply by mousing over the image and looking at the yellow tooltip that appears.
Article tags: usability, accessibility, web usability, web credibility, web accessibility, css, website, accessible web design
4). How To Ensure The Search Engines Find Your Website
One of the most fundamental aspects of search engine optimisation (SEO) is ensuring that the pages within your website are as accessible as possible to the search engines. It's not only the homepage of a website that can be indexed, but also the internal pages within a site's structure. The internal pages of a site often contain important content such as products, services or general information, and therefore can be uniquely optimised for related terms.
Article tags: internet, seo, search, engine, optimisation, optimization, usability, robots, crawling, marketing
5). Separate text-only version? No thanks!
In an attempt to make their sites accessible to all, more and more websites are now offering text-only versions of their sites. With the huge number of inaccessible websites out there, any attempt to make a website accessible to one and all is highly commendable.
But is text-only the way forward? The W3C have this to say about alternative accessible sites:
And if all else fails.
Article tags: usability, accessibility, web usability, web credibility, web accessibility, css, website, accessible web design
6). Using the Web Accessibility Toolbar
Testing a website for accessibility can be a time-consuming and laborious process. The free Web Accessibility Toolbar can do most of the hard work for you though and is an indispensable tool for anyone interested in accessibility.
The toolbar is not an automated testing tool so does require manual work from you. It's therefore able to avoid the many problems with automated accessibility testing tools.
Article tags: usability, accessibility, web usability, web credibility, web accessibility, css, website, accessible web design
7). Things to consider before redesigning or redeveloping a website
Its 2006 and you have made a few resolutions. You need your website to perform so that you reap the rewards. This article will be more useful to companies who have a web based business or a portal.
Does this sound familiar:
1. We have a website and have spent a lot of money but it’s too clunky.
2. It served us well when we had a tight budget and needed to have a website but its not performing.
Article tags: redesign, redevelop, website, web application, web portal, web development, web application development, usability, website audit
8). The problem with automated accessibility testing tools
An automated accessibility tool is a piece of software which can test a web page, or even an entire website, for accessibility. Automated accessibility tools are useful because they can save you a huge amount of time. Don't want to check images for alt text on each and every page on your website? Run the site through an automated tester and it'll do it all for you!
Automated accessibility testing tools have been around for a long time and have historically been a useful way of checking websites for accessibility.
Article tags: usability, accessibility, web usability, web credibility, web accessibility, css, website, accessible web design
9). Launch your site, before it is finished
Launch your site, before it is finished.
When you launch a site, you face three major problems: The search engines don't know you, the users don't know you and you might not have any meaningful amount of content. These problems can cost you time, before your site starts to pay off.
Three solutions to hit the ground running on launch day.
Waiting for the search engines
Telling “Google” your new web-address is only getting you a spot in its sandbox.
Article tags: internet, web, online marketing, website, usability
10). Web accessibility for screen magnifier users
The needs of screen magnifier users are overlooked when implementing web accessibility on to a website. Screen magnifiers are used by partially sighted web users to increase the size of on-screen elements. Some users will magnify the screen so that only three to four words are able to appear on the screen at any one time. You can try using a screen magnifier yourself by downloading the Zoomtext screen magnifier from http://www.
Article tags: usability, accessibility, web usability, web credibility, web accessibility, css, website, accessible web design
11). Improving usability for screen reader users
Simply ensuring your website is accessible to screen reader users is unfortunately not enough to ensure these users can find what they're looking for in a reasonably quick and efficient manner. Even if your site is accessible to screen reader users, its usability could be so incredibly poor that they needn't have bothered coming to your site.
Fortunately, there are plenty of simple-to-implement guidelines you can follow, which not only drastically improve usability for screen reader users, but for all web users:
1.
Article tags: usability, accessibility, web usability, web credibility, web accessibility, css, website, accessible web design
12). User-centered design (UCD) - 6 methods
User-centered design (UCD) is a project approach that puts the intended users of a site at the centre of its design and development. It does this by talking directly to the user at key points in the project to make sure the site will deliver upon their requirements.
The stages are carried out in an iterative fashion, with the cycle being repeated until the project's usability objectives have been attained.
Article tags: usability, accessibility, web usability, web credibility, web accessibility, css, website, accessible web design
13). 8 Guidelines For Usability Testing
In professional web design circles, the usability testing session has become an essential component of any major project. Similar to focus groups in brand development and product launches, usability testing offers a rare opportunity to receive feedback from the very people the website is aimed at - before it's too late to do anything about it.
But how can you get the most from these usability testing sessions?
1.
Article tags: usability, accessibility, web usability, web credibility, web accessibility, css, website, accessible web design
14). How to Choose a Shopping Cart Program
Using the right shopping cart program can have a drastic effect on the success of your e-business. If you have a poorly designed shopping cart system, you will lose customers regardless of how great your website is. Consider the factors below when choosing your ideal shopping cart.
How many items do you have to sell?
Many people make the mistake of using shopping carts when there are only a couple of products being sold on the website.
Article tags: shopping carts, shopping cart program, shopping cart system, choose shopping cart, choose items to buy, buy from website, website user interface, usability, website usability, usability easiness
15). Benefits Of An Accessible Website: Part 1 - Increase In Reach
The DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) states that service providers must not discriminate against disabled people. A website is regarded as a service and therefore falls under this law, and as such must be made accessible to everyone.
Some organisations are making accessibility improvements to their websites, but many are seemingly not making the accessibility adjustments.
Article tags: usability, accessibility, web usability, web credibility, web accessibility, css, website, accessible web design