Create a website that is user-friendly

In creating your new website, the layout and the basic design is of course important. But the accessibility of its contents to the users is paramount. But no matter how brilliantly your web design is made, if it is hard to reach the content of your webpages, then your website maybe useless for people.

Whether you are building a personal or business website, the same basic strategies must be applied to improve the usability of your website. This will ensure it serves its functions optimally and will be user-friendly.

Make your webpages readable

The first consideration is to make sure the typography of your content is suitable. If you have large blocks of text, make sure to space out the lines accordingly. The longer a single line of text is, the greater the line-height of each line should be. Also, make sure the font size of your text is big enough to read easily. Some sites have 10-pixel-tall text in Verdana font; while that may look neat and tidy, you have to really strain your eyes to read the actual text.

Make it easy for visitors to find content that they want on your site. If you have thousands of articles on your site and a certain visitor wants to find one single article from that pile, you have to provide a feasible means to enable visitors to do that without hassle. Be it an SQL-driven database search engine or just a glossary or index of articles that you have, providing such a feature will make sure your visitors can use your site with ease.

Keep your visitors

In order not to lose visitors, ensure that your site loads fast. Most internet users will leave a website if it doesn't load completely within 15 seconds, so make sure the crème de la crème of your website is delivered to the visitors as soon as possible to retain their attention.

Last of all, test your website. Check each and every link on your site before it goes online. There is nothing more effective in tarnishing your professional image than broken links, so be very careful about that. In website building and development, the users' needs are of paramount importance.

The Useful Strategy Research Team