Web design is complex because it functions to facilitate the interface between humans and computers, and to organize information so that the objectives of the Web designer are met. There are key elements to the communication that the designer cannot control. For example, the impact of Web design is affected by the size of monitors, by the browser, the video card, the screen settings, etc., all of which determine the appearance of the Web page. On the Web, what you see is what you get, but not what others get.
Nonetheless, over the years, some basic design rules for Web sites have emerged, along with some notable experts, including Jakob Nielsen and the UK design firm, Spooks. For example, according to Nielsen, “the design elements should always be the same, but the way they are composed should be different because the sites are doing different things. If you think about cars, all cars have the accelerator to the right of the brake pedal. This doesn’t mean that all cars are identical, but the basic elements you need to operate the device follow some conventions.” So, a logo should always appear in the top left corner and hypertext links should be underlined in blue.
One compelling element for Web design is the role of time in people’s behavior. People will abandon a Web site if they get lost or if the site is difficult to navigate. They will not waste time trying to learn an interface. Fast-loading pages make Web surfers happy. People do not have the patience to wait minutes for a page to load. The practical guide on the speed of Web loading is 30 seconds. Other people suggest that if we hold our breath and wait until we need to gasp for air, that period of time is the longest delay that Web surfers can tolerate. In order to build a fast-loading Web page, reduce the amount of data and the size of the graphics.
Presentation: A Web site’s presentation consists of text, animations, images and links as well as audio/video elements. The Homepage of a Web site is like a cover of a magazine. It is the place to convey the important basic message to Web users. It is important to keep content to a minimum on the home page so that users do not need to scroll several pages to view it. Therefore, it is better to chunk information and use meaningful links to display the major components of a Web site.
Navigation: Navigation refers to the text and graphic links between pages that indicate sequencing between Web pages. Navigation facilitates movement from one Web page to another Web page, and so plays a crucial role in getting site visitors to view more than just the home page. If navigation choices are unclear, visitors may quickly leave to visit other sites which are just a click away.
Visual Appeal: Visual appeal defines the aesthetics of a Web site. The colors, text styles and graphics create its overall visual impression. It is very difficult to create a Web site that is both effective functionally and aesthetically pleasing. The field of Web design has mainly focused on the technical and functional aspects of the construction of Web sites. We need models that weigh the analysis of the visual and aesthetic aspects against the functional and technical aspects of Web design (Thorlacius, 2002).
Interactivity: Interactivity determines the communication flow between users and the Web site, promoting the exchange of information between the Web users and the virtual company. Effective communications develop strong relationships, which is especially important for commercial Web sites in which interactivity replaces human representatives. A Web site needs to communicate a company’s message clearly in a way that fits in with the overall corporate image. Teo et al. (2003) suggest that increased levels of interactivity on a Web site have positive effects on the user’s perceived satisfaction, effectiveness, efficiency, value, and overall attitude towards a Web site. Web content management is important in the success of human interactions with computers (Proctor et al., 2002) To help ensure that users’ interactions with a system are successful, preparation of content and its presentation to users must take into account (a) what information needs to be extracted, (b) the way in which this information should be stored and organized, (c) the methods for retrieving the information, and (d) how the information should be displayed.
Personalization: Most people use the terms customization and personalization interchangeably, but there is an important difference. According to Nielsen (1998) customization occurs when users have direct control on the Web site by using an internal search to produce the desired results. Personalization means that virtual companies provide individualized pages tailored to the user’s specific needs. There are different ways to implement personalization. Some Web sites offer a variety of options for users to choose from and others personalize the Web site for their customers. Amazon.com, for example, provides recommendations to its customers based on their prior behavior. These relevant recommendations are said to have increased the conversion rate of Web browsers to buyers by 20 percent (Steven, 1999). It seems that personalization can improve customer loyalty. A survey by Privacy & American Business shows that a majority of Internet users are willing to provide their personal information and like to receive the personalized commercial information if they are given the choice to opt out. However, as with nearly all aspects of Web design, it is dangerous to generalize.
Popular personalization features in one e-commerce environment may not be effective or useful for other e-commerce domains (Alper et al., 2003).
Usability measures the ease with which a user can learn to operate, prepare inputs for, and interpret outputs of a system or component (IEEE 90). When we extend this concept to the Web, Web usability refers to how easily users of a Web site can achieve whatever it is they want from the Web site. There is a difference between usability and aesthetics. Nielsen distinguishes between look and feel: Feel is the experience of navigating the site, and he argues that the site organization should be user friendly. He has developed five dimensions of usability:
Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks during their first visit?
Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?
Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are those errors and how easily can they recover from those errors?
Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?
Usability is a concern for marketers because of its potential impact on marketing metrics such as conversion rates that affect profitability. The user interface of a site determines the ease of navigating through its content. Web features designed to enhance the user’s Web experience are considered to improve usability.
Until recently, measuring ease of use was entirely the responsibility of specialists. Usability specialists within companies or Web-development agencies perform usability tests to observe users’ browsing experience and discover usability problems. The results of these tests provide feedback and suggestions for a better design. Multiple usability tests with different groups of users help developers to get complete usability information of a Web site. With advancement in software tools, however, some usability tasks can be automated, including the assessment of downloading time and the identification of broken links. But software tools cannot replace observation for some tasks. Tools cannot detect the subjective measurements of a Web site such as quality of content, ease of learning and ease of use.
Although usability studies have provided useful results in the past, the area of Web usability still needs more systematic research. Most research in this area is considered anecdotal, and often involves small numbers of users. In the emerging digital environment, creating customer-centered Web sites is of great importance. Zhang and Dran (2001) explored user perceptions of Web sites with Kano’s model of quality. They found that customers’ quality expectations change over time. Moreover, customers have different expectations of different domains. Therefore, quality measures need to cope with both changing expectations of the same Web site and different expectations of different Web sites.
Sear et al’s study examined cultural differences on Web usability. Their results indicate that there are significant differences between the US and the Swiss users in Web evaluation. Cultural differences are of particularly significance to the Internet because the information on the Web is accessible to anybody. Designing a global Web site means considering the national differences and providing multi-language access. E-commerce companies must take into account the symbols, texts, graphics used on the Web site that could be confusing or may even be offensive to international Web users.
Cultural differences and the effects of demographic factors on Web usability are other areas in need of study. Practitioners suggest that periodic user testing is an important element in developing and maintaining a user-friendly Web site, but formal usability tests are often expensive and time-consuming. Methods such as free-form site review and structured tasks, however, can provide cost-effective means of assessing the usability of Web sites. A site review is basically an unstructured inspection by a third party, typically focusing on the site’s usability and aesthetics. Web usability assessment needs to be conducted at every stage of the development process. A quick checklist of usability with a few users can give Web designers insightful ideas for improvement.
Such a usability checklist focuses on accessibility, navigation and presentation. The instrument measures the tone and clarity of a Web site. Accessibility at a Web site means it loads at a tolerable speed. It can also refer to accessibility for users with physical impairments. A Web site’s design should include audio effects to help blind or visually impaired users understand a Web page. One of the easiest and most effective techniques for easing blind users’ navigation is to tell them in advance what will be on the screen. It is also considered a thoughtful practice to display narratives beside graphics to aid in visualization. White space and ALT tags can be used in the design of a Web site to visually strengthen it. Web designers should also take into account users with other physical impairments in their designs. For example, people with impaired motion need larger links, graphics and text to enable site navigation.
Usability professionals gain first-hand information on the actual usage pattern of a Web site by direct observation. The site review, the unstructured inspection by a third party, typically focusing on the site’s usability and aesthetics, should include representatives from different user groups. The way users, whatever their physical capabilities, navigate throughout the site, how they search for information, using the buttons and links, and the sequence of clicking these links all indicate the usefulness and users’ perceptions of the Web design.
Background images often increase the load speed of a Web page. So, in designing a Web site, keep the background images small to reduce the chance that users will abandon the Web site. Research suggests that long load times have a measurable negative impact on readers’ perception of a Web site’s organization and quality of content. Graphics-intensive pages are more likely to be perceived as poor in quality than pages that are text heavy.
A recent Forrester Research (www.forrester.com) poll of online households surveyed participants on Web site characteristics that would drive a repeat visit. Content, ease of use, quick downloading, and frequent updates are important factors. All other factors, including incentives, favorite brands, and cutting-edge technology, were ranked of low importance in attracting more visitors. Quality of content is inherently a subjective measure. But download speed and frequency of updates can be measured in an automated fashion.