Website usability is a crucial part of designing a website. Here are some website tips to help you with improving your website's usability: 

It is crucial that your website is user friendly, which means that it needs to be easy to use for all of those potential clients and readers. Here are some helpful website tips to assist you in developing an easy to use website, making this a simple and pleasant experience for all visitors to your website.

• Simplicity is the most important rule for designing a website. Keeping it simple means that viewers will get what they need in a shorter period of time.
• It is very important that your website downloads as quickly as possible. Your page should open in less than 5 seconds, because if it is any longer, it may cause the viewer to become frustrated and cause them to look elsewhere for information.
• Having a unique website is important, but it is still important that you follow the conventions of website design so that your viewers are familiar with links, buttons and similar things. It is suggested that you keep links in blue and underlined, as most people know that this is a clear indication of an internal or external link.
• Simplicity is the most important concept when it comes to discussing usability.  Keep applications and the design simple so that your user knows what to do with your website and it is easy to manoeuvre around and use.
• It is important that you focus on typography and steer away from fancy designs and graphics. This is because too many flashy designs and images will delay the response or loading time of your website.
• When using links, it is important that you change the colour of visited links so that your viewers know that they have already visited the link.
• On your home page, it is important that you do away with a link labelled "home page", this will only cause confusion for your viewers as to where the home page is.
• Steer clear from large amounts of text. Too much writing on a screen can be overwhelming and difficult to read on a computer screen. Keep to the point and only give your viewers the important information.
• It is important that you write for all audiences. Depending on who your website is targeted at, it is important that you also cater for the lower literacy users. Also bare in mind those who are visiting your site with eyesight problems and those who require and use reading glasses.
• Text is easier to read if it is split up and separated on a screen. This can be done by using headings, sub headings, bullet points and highlighting important information.
• Head lines need to be brief and to the point to ensure that your website has good usability.
• Ensure that the information on your website is easily accessible and easy to read. Ensure that the font sizes are easy and clear to read.
• Use simple language that everyone can understand. Stay away from jargon and concepts that no one else will understand.
• To make scanning of your pages easier, it is important that you avoid using the same words when starting your headings.
• Links need to be properly explained or clear in where they will take you if you click on them.
• Navigation tools and elements need to be simple and clearly marked so that people can move around the site with little hassles and lots of confidence.
• Provide interactive content features, this will make the visitors feel as though they are in charge and able to participate.
• It is important that your content is focused; your viewer doesn't have time to read through unnecessary stuff to get to what they are looking for.
• Avoid the flashy designs because they generally offer no important uses or information. They also weaken the usability because it causes the website to load slower.
• It is important that when designing a website that has a good usability reputation, you remember and consider the user's time.
• Remember to keep the information as short and to the point as possible.
• Use breadcrumb navigation, as it offers a one click access to higher site levels. This type of navigation takes up very little space and it also shows the viewer their exact location on the website.
• Provide a sitemap so that your viewers know exactly where they are and where they can go on your website to get the information they are looking for.
• The readability of your website needs to be of an excellent quality or else visitors will leave. This means that you will need to ensure that your font is not too small, the colours improve readability instead of hinder it and that the sentences are not too long and that images and illustrations are not distracting.
• Steer clear of fancy font styles as they can be difficult to read and time consuming.
• Use darker text on a light background as it is easier to read, scan and see.
• Backgrounds need to be plain and simple or have a very subtle design, because busy designs can be distracting and make it hard to read the most important aspect of your website, the text.
• Don't underline, bold or use italics and "all caps" for too much of the text. This can be difficult to read and it can become off-putting.

Follow these tips to ensure that your website is a pleasure to use and that your visitors will return and thoroughly enjoy your website. Contact us and we will create a website that is easy to read, use and explore.