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Ten Mistakes in Web Design
By
Jakob Nielsen, SunSoft Distinguished Engineer
1.
Using Frames
Splitting
a page into frames is very confusing for users since
frames break the fundamental user model of the web page.
All of a sudden, you cannot bookmark the current page
and return to it (the bookmark points to another version
of the frameset), URLs stop working, and printouts become
difficult. Even worse, the predictability of user actions
goes out the door: who knows what information will appear
where when you click on a link?
2.
Gratuitous Use of Bleeding-Edge Technology
Don't
try to attract users to your site by bragging about
use of the latest web technology. You may attract a
few nerds, but mainstream users will care more about
useful content and your ability to offer good customer
service. Using the latest and greatest before it is
even out of beta is a sure way to discourage users:
if their system crashes while visiting your site, you
can bet that many of them will not be back. Unless you
are in the business of selling Internet products or
services, it is better to wait until some experience
has been gained with respect to the appropriate ways
of using new techniques. When desktop publishing was
young, people put twenty fonts in their documents: let's
avoid similar design bloat on the Web.
As
an example: Use VRML if you actually have information
that maps naturally onto a three-dimensional space (e.g.,
architectural design, shoot-them-up games, surgery planning).
Don't use VRML if your data is N-dimensional since it
is usually better to produce 2-dimensional overviews
that fit with the actual display and input hardware
available to the user.
3.
Scrolling Text, Marquees, and Constantly Running Animations
Never
include page elements that move incessantly. Moving
images have an overpowering effect on the human peripheral
vision. A web page should not emulate Times Square in
New York City in its constant attack on the human senses:
give your user some peace and quiet to actually read
the text!
Of
course, <BLINK> is simply evil. Enough said.
4.
Complex URLs
Even
though machine-level addressing like the URL should
never have been exposed in the user interface, it is
there and we have found that users actually try to decode
the URLs of pages to infer the structure of web sites.
Users do this because of the horrifying lack of support
for navigation and sense of location in current web
browsers. Thus, a URL should contain human-readable
directory and file names that reflect the nature of
the information space. Also, users sometimes need to
type in a URL, so try to minimize the risk of typos
by using short names with all lower-case characters
and no special characters (many people don't know how
to type a ~).
5.
Orphan Pages
Make
sure that all pages include a clear indication of what
web site they belong to since users may access pages
directly without coming in through your home page. For
the same reason, every page should have a link up to
your home page as well as some indication of where they
fit within the structure of your information space.
6.
Long Scrolling Pages
Only
10% of users scroll beyond the information that is visible
on the screen when a page comes up. All critical content
and navigation options should be on the top part of
the page. (So why is this page long: because it is a
leaf node that is only read by people with special interests
- but I should have been briefer!)
7.
Lack of Navigation Support
Don't
assume that users know as much about your site as you
do. They always have difficulty finding information,
so they need support in the form of a strong sense of
structure and place. Start your design with a good understanding
of the structure of the information space and communicate
this structure explicitly to the user. Provide a site
map and let users know where they are and where they
can go. Also, you will need a good search feature since
even the best navigation support will never be enough.
8.
Non-Standard Link Colors
Links
to pages that have not been seen by the user are blue;
links to previously seen pages are purple or red. Don't
mess with these colors since the ability to understand
what links have been followed is one of the few navigational
aides that is standard in most web browsers. Consistency
is key to teaching users what the link colors mean.
9.
Outdated Information
Budget
to hire a web gardener as part of your team. You need
somebody to root out the weeds and replant the flowers
as the website changes but most people would rather
spend their time creating new content than on maintenance.
In practice, maintenance is a cheap way of enhancing
the content on your website since many old pages keep
their relevance and should be linked into the new pages.
Of course, some pages are better off being removed completely
from the server after their expiration date.
10.
Overly Long Download Times
I
am placing this issue last because most people already
know about it; not because it is the least important.
Traditional human factors guidelines indicate 10 seconds
as the maximum response time before users lose interest.
On the web, users have been trained to endure so much
suffering that it may be acceptable to increase this
limit to 15 seconds for a few pages.
Even
websites with high-end users need to consider download
times: we have found that many of our customers access
Sun's website from home computers in the evening because
they are too busy to surf the web during working hours.
Bandwidth is getting worse, not better, as the Internet
adds users faster than the infrastructure can keep up.
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