2.6 Usability

The aim is to make your site easy to use and to enable people to find the information they want quickly.

Arrange the content into a clear, logical structure

• Group similar information together into sections with appropriate connections within and between sections.
  
  
• However don't create too many levels. Users don't like to make a lot of clicks before they get to the content.

Make the navigation between sections of the site clear and logical

• Navigation links are usually positioned in menus at the side (particularly the left hand side) and/or the top of the screen.
  
  
• Firstly there is a global set of links, for example, to your site's home page, the main sections of the site, your parent organisation's home page.
  
  
• Secondly there is a specific set of links that relate to connections within a given section of the site. These links will obviously vary between sections.
  
  
• Depending on the size of the site and of the pages, there could be a set of links (Top, Bottom, Previous, Next) on individual pages.
  
  
• In addition to these navigation links there will be other links within the content of the pages. These direct users to relevant pages both within and outside the site.
  
  
• Put navigation links near the top of the page so users don't have to wait for the whole page to download before moving on.
  
  
• Give indications of where the user is within the site.
  
  
• Provide facilities so people can browse, for example, a site map and / or an A/Z index.
  
  
• Consider providing a site search facility. A search facility is complementary to the browse facilities, not a replacement.

Keep individual pages short

• If you have a lot of text that you want to present, break it up into a series of linked, short pages.
  
  
• Alternatively, consider providing a brief summary and making the full version available as a downloadable word processed or PDF file.

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© Copyright for this site is held by Contact a Family and the Information Society Research and Consultancy Group, School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences, Northumbria University. Site published February 2003. Last updated October 2006. Review date October 2007.