The 10 Guidelines for A User-friendly Site

The user-friendliness of a website is a very important part of achieving business results. But when does this apply? VinraTech, the best website development company in Switzerland and abroad like the USA, Germany Canada, etc, will help you to develop a user-friendly website.

 In this blog, we will share all the required information, so that you can carry out an evaluation yourself to improve the usability of your website. 

VinraTech has been developed to objectively assess the user experience of websites, based on years of experience in the UX field. Although, these general rules of thumb still apply and are still used. We take you to 10 focus areas.

• Status Visibility – Your website should always inform visitors about what is currently happening and what the status is. This ensures that visitors feel that they are in control, that they are taking the right actions to achieve their goal, and that they trust your website/company. A lack of information often equates to a lack of control.

• A progress indicator is a good example of status visibility. Thanks to a progress indicator, visitors know exactly where they are in the process and how many steps they still have to take to complete the process.

• Similarity between the system and the real world –Your website must speak the same language as the visitor. Use terms and icons that visitors know and are used to. Visitors should always be able to understand the meaning of words and icons without having to look them up.

• A good example of this is the shopping bag icon for the shopping cart and the trash icon for deleting things. These icons correspond to real-world objects.

• Security and control – Visitors sometimes accidentally click on the wrong elements on your website and then need a way out with which they can easily undo their actions. By keeping visitors in control, they have a greater sense of security and trust. Think, for example, of a back button or an undo button.

• Consistency and standards – Users should not be left wondering if different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. If your website adheres to consistency and website standards, it increases usability. If something is always the same, then it is easier for a user to learn.

• Prevent mistakes – Good error messages are important, but it is of course even better to prevent visitors from making mistakes. Visitors are often distracted so avoid making unconscious mistakes by making suggestions, steering them in a certain direction, and by being flexible.

• For example, make forms as user-friendly as possible. By automatically generating the address based on zip code and house number, the chance of errors is reduced. In addition, it ensures that visitors have to perform fewer actions.

• Recognizing is easier than remembering – It is easier for people to recognize things than to remember things. People will be asking “Is Delhi the capital of India?” answer correctly faster than the question “What is the capital of India?” This also works for websites. Don’t give visitors too much information at the same time because it’s harder to remember. Instead, allow visitors to recognize elements.

• Flexibility and efficiency – People like shortcuts that allow them to perform actions as easily and quickly as possible. The website must be flexible and suitable for both experienced and inexperienced website users.

• Shape and Minimalism – Websites should not contain information that is not relevant or necessary. Don’t let unnecessary elements distract visitors from the information that matters. That is the art of omission.

• Acknowledge mistakes, help, inform and fix them – As mentioned before, it is of course better to avoid mistakes, but sometimes you can’t escape them. If an error does occur, make sure you warn the visitor and help to solve the problem. Use traditional error visuals for this, such as red text, so that it is also easily recognized as an error message.

• Help and Documentation – In the ideal scenario, a website should not require any additional explanation. However, there are often times when a visitor could use some help. Examples of this are frequently asked questions (FAQ) or (live) chat. This help must be easily accessible and contain concrete steps.

At Vinratech, a leading web development company in Switzerland, you will get comprehensive web development services.