Main principles of Usability and basic rules

What are the main principles of Usability? On this and many other questions you will find the answers in the article. The principles of "Usability" are generally accepted views on interaction with design, which was introduced by Nelsen Jacob (the founder of "Usability"). These views, rather, are a set of rules, and not rigid guidelines, so they are called "Heuristics." There are ten such principles.

Status visibility

The first principle of Usability is the visibility of the status of the system. This position indicates that the user should know where he stopped and what is happening. If this is a complicated registration, you need to indicate that this is the second step or the third.

Efficiency

The next principle of Usability is efficiency. In fact, it means that there must be a connection between each user and the system. Your site should be configured for a certain audience, you need to talk with her in her language, applying her level of preparedness and notation. Therefore, a website should always be developed for its public. This concerns not only the structure, but also texts, design, assistance, visual perception of information and so on.

Free choice

What is the third principle of Usability? Freedom of choice. This is user management, which is necessary so that the client can always monitor the situation. For example, if a person fills a form, he should always see the "clean form" button. And if there are several steps in it? The user should always be able to return to the previous points or skip one of them, in order to repeat the action a little later.

Due to this situation, the user will get the impression that he is in charge of everything, that he is not trying to be confused or deceived. And the interface, at first glance, seems to be an ordinary one with the right approach. After all, it is much easier for a person to perform several simple actions than one complex one.

Standards

The fourth principle of Usability is consistency and standards. There are already certain established stereotypes on the web (contacts in the upper corner, the view of the basket, and so on). However, one designation can have several types, so an inexperienced user among them can easily get lost. For example, electronic baskets are identical to carts, conventional baskets, trendy bags and so on. And for the appearance of a sequence, you need to choose some specific style that you must follow everywhere. This applies to layout, and fonts, and text, and pictures.

Prevention of errors

The fifth principle of Usability is the prevention of errors. This rule states that the error should not be corrected, but warned. It is always necessary to eliminate random, unnecessary actions and, wherever possible, simplify the choice. This can be a common hint when typing anything from the keyboard.

This applies to the buttons. For example, the proposal "Accept" is usually made brighter and larger than the request to "Clear the form." You should prompt known information about the information you enter (region code, phone format and so on).

Simplification

The sixth principle is the rule "Finding out is easier than remembering". Simplify life to users as much as possible, remember previously entered information (even from their past visits to the site), make them prompts. For example, if you are using a multi-step registration system, show the person already filled in the fields, if they are useful to him in the future.

Flexibility

The seventh principle of Usability is the flexibility of use. According to this rule, the interface must be elastic, it must tune in to the prevailing audience. Here, the basic emphasis is on simplicity, taking into account the average user. Details for advanced should be small. They can be located in less visible parts of the screen, since such people will find them everywhere.

Design

The design principle of Usability is the eighth in a row. It lies in aesthetics and minimalism. According to this rule, there should be no information in the interface that the user does not need. Also, there should not be in it the information that a person will need in rare cases.

Similarly, you need to create forms: you can not ask the user for data that you do not need. Unfortunately, almost nobody uses this position. In order to just congratulate you on the name day or on the New Year, 90% of clients are required to provide a date of birth, a home phone number, a mobile phone, an e-mail and even an address.

Help

The main principles of Usability should be known to every web master. The ninth view of this scientific discipline is to help users understand and correct mistakes. All the blunders people need to communicate with the usual, "human" language, and not computer. If the link is incorrectly created, you do not need to write simply 404. Report this: "An error occurred while entering the page". If, by filling out the form, the user forgot to indicate his phone number, write that there is an error in entering data, and not just an "error form".

Support

Why are the main principles of Usability so important? Let's look at the tenth principle, which is called "Documentation and Help." Materials and support should be simple and understandable, easily accessible, consistent with the goals of the user. In addition, the documentation should not be voluminous. It is necessary that it contains clear steps. If the materials are too large, you can do a brief navigation to quickly jump to sections, and search for support.

Usability

So, we have considered the main principles of Usability. But what is this discipline? Usability is a measure of the quality of the user experience gained when interacting with a system or product. For example, it could be a software application, a website, or something else.

The specialists of User Interfase Engineering determined that in 60% of cases people can not find the information they need on the web. As a result, they have reduced productivity. They do not want to return to the site any more, because of which they are forced to lose precious time.

It is also known that Forrester Research received some figures that show the amount of losses that have appeared due to poor-quality "usability" of sites. Network stores lose about 50% of customers who can not find the required product. Approximately 40% of users do not want to return to the site with which they did not like to work.

Jacob Nelsen argues that a study of the behavior of people on the Web showed that they disgustingly perceive Web sites with complex designs and slow sites. He says that users do not want to wait. They also do not want to figure out how to use the home page. There are no site instructions or web project training anywhere. Jakob knows that people want to quickly scan the pages and instantly understand the functionality of the Web site.

Creature

What is Usability? Its principle lies in the methodological approach to creating a website or any other user interface. This development consists of several methods that are used consistently in the process:

• Collection of requirements;
• Creation and analysis of prototypes;
• Evaluation of opposite design options;
• Study of user issues;
• Proposal solutions and analysis of the site (or any other interface).

Testing

And what is Usability testing? The principle of this nuance is not everyone knows. In general, it is part of the process of creating Usability. In a typical test, a person needs to perform several tasks using a prototype (or other system). During operation, the observer records what the user says and does. Typically, this test is conducted with one or two people acting together.

Analysis can collect data such as errors made by users, the sequence of human actions to achieve the goal, the time and place of occurrence of difficulties for the audience, how much the product likes people, and their speed of accomplishing tasks. Most tests are used to identify and solve any problems that arise with the public.

Steps of discipline

What steps does Usability consist of? To plan a website, you first need to understand what you are developing it for, for whom, why and when your readers will visit your resource. If you answer these questions, then identify the purpose of your site. Certain goals depend on the audience of the website and your organization.

In addition, you must define the tasks of the Usability site. In accordance with common goals, your resource should be effective in application, easy to learn, easy to remember for repeated visits. And you need to satisfy the user.

Every goal of Usability is important for most websites, but you can also differentiate for different audiences and situations. It is known that the design is based on the needs of people, so you need to collect information not only about them, but also about the extent to which the existing site satisfies them. There are several methods of data collection, which include server logs, feedback forms, testing the "Usability" of an existing Web site.

It is easier for people to interact with a real example than to speculate what will work best. Useful results can always be obtained using a prototype site that has a minimum of content and is devoid of graphics. Such an elementary prototype is suitable for the first cycle of tests.

The content should be placed only that which is necessary for users of the site. If you have a mountain of information, choose from them those that will be useful and enjoyable to your audience. All the information should be broken into small pieces with sub-headings, because people want to quickly read what interests them. From the text you need to delete optional words, use tables and lists.

Further, an interactive process is carried out - the testing of "Usability", about which we wrote above. Sometimes you need an interface, already designed in accordance with all the rules, to test. By the way, focus groups are the most accessible way for analysis "on their own".

Components

So, using the rules and principle of Usability, you can create a resource that will be proud of. The presence of this amazing subject is a qualitative feature that determines to what extent the user interface is easy to use. The word "usability" also means a collection of methods that improve the site in the process of its creation.

Usability has five quantitative components:

• Efficiency: after familiarizing users with the design, how quickly will they perform the same task?
• Learning: how easy is it for people to implement basic tasks, for the first time using an unfamiliar interface?
• Errors: how many errors does a person make, how serious are they, is it easy for them to correct them?
• Memorability: if the user returns to the interface after a certain period of time, will he be able to restore his skills with him?
• Satisfaction: To what extent does a person enjoy using this interface?

In addition to "Usability", there are many other important quality features of design. One of the key is utility. This feature describes the functionality of the technical solution and determines the utility of the interface to users. "Usability" and practicality are equally important: why use a convenient program, if it gives the wrong result that you need? A program that hypothetically works the way you want is also considered bad, but you do not like its complicated interface. To analyze the usefulness of the project, you can use the same tools as when studying the quality of its Usability.

In the Web, e "Usability" is considered a necessary condition for survival. If the site is difficult to work with, the visitors leave it very quickly. If the main page of the Web site clearly and clearly does not specify what the enterprise is doing, what tasks the resource allows to perform, users will search for another Web site. People will also leave if the site is confused, the information on it is difficult to understand and does not answer their key questions.

There are no such visitors who spend their time learning the interface of the site or carefully study the instructions for working with it. There are a lot of other resources in the Web, so if a visitor stumbles upon a difficulty, you will lose it.