Techniques for creating a User Centered Design
Web Design & Development Guide
Techniques for creating a User Centered Design
Home | Up
Techniques for creating a web based User-Centered Design
A
User-centered design (UCD) is a philosophy and a process. It is a philosophy
that places the person (as opposed to the 'thing') at the center; it is a
process that focuses on cognitive factors (such as perception, memory, learning,
problem-solving, etc.) as they come into play during peoples' interactions with
things. UCD seeks to answer questions about users and their tasks and goals, and
then use the findings to drive development and design (Katz-Haas). An effective
UCD is essential for any high functioning web page. The importance of a UCD lies
within its ability to communicate with the user in a way that allows a thorough
and simple presentation of the sites content and navigation conventions. This
article will cover six principle conventions of a UCD that will work in
conjunction with each other to create an effective UCD.
Navigation Aids
The first principle that all Web design should understand when they are
creating an effective web based UCD is navigation aids that are clear and
consistent. All users are expected to navigate through cyber space via Hyperlink.
Lynch and Horton, authors of
The Web Style Guide believe that the most problematic design issue
when it comes to navigation aids is users who lack a sense of where they are
within the hierarchy of a site. To counteract lost visitors, The style guide
suggests that the designer can use clear, consistent icons, graphics, and
identity schemes (Lynch and Horton 2002). Professor James R. Grunwald suggests
that if a web site is going to be useful, it must be easy to navigate.
Navigation occurs at two levels; within a particular web site and between web
sites. Menus are often used to aid navigation within a web site (Grunwald 1997).
The site design should always allow users to easily return to the home page and
other upper level pages. The links that accomplish this should be placed in a
consistent position on every page.
Simplicity and Consistency
The second principle is in direct relation to the first, and it deals with
simple, consistent, conventional design. Users do not appreciate an
over-designed site. The average website should follow all conventions of layout
and navigation because users are already familiar with them. A website should be
consistent and predictable (Lynch and Horton 2002). For maximum functionality
and legibility, your page and site design should be built on a consistent
pattern of modular units that all share the same basic layout grids, graphic
themes, editorial conventions, and hierarchies of organization (Lynch and Horton
2002). To be more specific, Grunwald suggests that designers keep page lengths
short, use appropriate text fonts and styles, and use color appropriately
(Grunwald 1997). These are all important concepts to keep in mind when building
a UCD because certain colors and fonts have specific rhetorical effects on an
audience and a long page length is an immediate deterrent. Conventional design
lends the user some automatic familiarity which will directly affect whether or
not the user has a good feeling about the website.
Dead Links
The third principle to keep in mind deals with dead links. Designer should
always be aware of all links to, from, and within the site. Most web pages do
not begin with a preface explaining where, within the hierarchy, a page lies
(Lynch and Horton 2002). So, it is important that if users are directed directly
to a subsection of a website that they are not restricted to that page and
others lower in the hierarchical scheme. Designers should place working links on
every page that allow the users to go to the homepage and other main pages
within the site. Grunwald points out that points out that one way to enhance the
navigability within a site is to include navigation aids such as "return to home
page", "previous page", and "next page" links on each web page. This not only
increases the navigability within your site, but allows users who enter your
site on a page other than your home page, to easily find their way around. While
you don't have control over other sites, you do have control over the links from
your sites to other sites. (Grunwald 1997)
Direct Access to Information
The fourth principle that is important to an intelligent UCD is obtaining the
sought after information in the fewest number of click. Direct access requires
the designer to create a very efficient hierarchy of content in order to
decrease the number of steps it takes a user to find what they are looking for.
Studies have shown that users prefer menus that present 5 to 7 links and that
they prefer a few very dense screens of choices to many layers of simplified
menus. The Design hierarchy should allow for real content to be only a click or
two away from the site’s main pages (Lynch and Horton 2002). A UCD needs to
communicate clearly with the intended user. In order to communicate clearly, a
user interface should be well organized and structured. (Grunwald 1997) Should
the user have trouble finding the information they are looking for in a
reasonable amount of time, the particular site they are visiting will forever
have made an unfavorable first impression.
Visual Confirmation
The fifth principle involved with creating an effective web based UCD
accomplishes visual confirmation of the user’s location within a site (Lynch and
Horton 2002). Whether it is through links, titles and headings or a breadcrumb
trail, the user should always have visual feedback from the site as to their
position within the site. This gives the user a frame from which to work from.
Knowing a relative or concrete position within a site lets the user feel
comfortable and open to the message of the site, it also lends ethos to the
site. The Web site designer should also allow for dialog with the users. When
the design process begins, the web site designer should have a good idea of the
intended audience, but through dialog with the user, the designer can make
helpful changes to the UCD based on the information gathered from and about the
sites users. Providing an email address and other contact information lets the
users establish contact with the webmaster (Lynch and Horton 2002).
Connection Speed
The sixth and final principle needed in order to create an effective web
based UCD is a technical issue. Not everyone accesses the web via a high speed
connection. Designers should be aware of this and construct a site that can be
handled by a slower internet connection. All users get frustrated when they have
to wait on a page to load. Web page designs that are not well suited to
connection speed of the average user will probably lose traffic. Research has
shown that for most computing tasks the threshold of frustration is about ten
seconds (Lynch and Horton 2002). Designers should be conservative with the
number of large graphics because not all users have a high speed connection, and
although some do, they still value a fast loading page.
All these principles working in conjunction with one another should allow for an
effective web based UCD. These principles create design integrity and functional
stability (Lynch and Horton 2002). An effective UCD is the first step in
securing high traffic and a profitable return on investment. Obviously there are
many more UCD techniques not discussed here, but these six should get any
designer off in the right track.
References
Home | Up | Cascading Style Sheets | Printer friendly | Brochureware | Digital strategy | DOM scripting | Fahrner Image Replacement | Microformat | Progressive enhancement | Rollover | Spacer GIF | Techniques for creating a User Centered Design | URL redirection | Web Interoperability | Web modeling | Web template | Web-safe fonts | Website architecture | Website wireframe
Web Design & Development Guide, made by MultiMedia | Websites for sale
This guide is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
|
18.116.47.194
User Stats:
Today: 0
Yesterday: 0
This Month: 0
This Year: 0
Total Users: 117
New Members:
18.116.xx.xxx
Server Time: