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The usability of a website is a set of factors that determine how quickly and comfortably users can achieve their goals on a web resource. A user-friendly website allows you to find the information you need, place an order or fill out a feedback form with minimal effort and time.
According to a Nielsen Norman Group study, 27% of users leave a website after the first page if they cannot immediately understand its structure and find the desired section. At the same time, 70% of usability problems are related to navigation and information architecture.
Creating a user-friendly website is important for both visitors and resource owners. For the former, it is the key to a positive user experience, satisfaction, and brand loyalty. For the latter, it means high conversions, low bounce rate, good behavioral factors, and search rankings.
Navigation is a system of links, menus, and controls that allow you to navigate between pages of a website and find the information you need. Well-thought-out navigation is the foundation of website usability. If the user can't quickly navigate the structure, he will go to competitors.
Here are the basic principles of building effective navigation:
Divide all website content into meaningful sections and categories. Use simple and clear words to name the sections that reflect their content. Limit the number of nesting levels to 2-3 to avoid creating too deep link chains.
A typical hierarchy for an online store:
For information sites and blogs, you can use the division by type of content (articles, news, videos, podcasts) or by thematic headings.
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Pop-ups, full-screen banners, auto-playing videos and audio annoy users and encourage them to close the site. Use these techniques very carefully and only in relevant situations.
For example, a popup offering to subscribe to a newsletter is appropriate on a blog if it appears after reading an article, not immediately upon entering the site. But an audible ad or a banner that doesn't close is unlikely to please visitors.
An example of an annoying pop-up that appears immediately and prevents you from exploring the content of the site: [Pop-up image or code].
Any automatic animation on the page, whether it's a slider, parallax, or snowflakes falling during scrolling, distracts from the content. Sudden and fast movements can also be unpleasant for people with migraines or hypersensitivity.
If you use animation, make it smooth, flicker-free, time-limited, or clickable. It is better to replace automatic video with a static image with a Play button. Avoid background music, hover or scroll sound effects.
For most websites, the best choice is a light background and dark text. It is more comfortable for the eye to perceive dark letters on a light background than vice versa. Too colorful or dark backgrounds are distracting and cause fatigue.
Don't forget about padding between elements and blocks of content. A sufficient amount of free space allows the eye to "rest" and not jump randomly between objects. Vertical indents between headings, paragraphs, and images are especially important.
In CSS, padding is set with the padding property for internal padding and margin for external padding. For example, for a main container with a width of 1000px, a horizontal padding of 20-30px is good:
.container {
max-width: 1000px;
padding-left: 20px;
padding-right: 20px;
}
You don't have to make your website design very minimalistic and empty. Just try to remove everything unnecessary that does not work for the main purpose of the page. Imagine that your visitors have come with a specific task - to find information, place an order, or leave a request. And remove everything that doesn't help them solve this task, but rather distracts and annoys them.
Page load time is one of the key parameters of website usability. No one likes to wait for several seconds for content to appear. Users' patience is not unlimited: 40% of visitors leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
In 2018, Google announced loading speed as an official ranking factor for mobile search. This means that slow websites can lose positions and traffic.
How to speed up the loading of website pages:
Bulky images are the main "weighting" of pages. Use JPEG for photos and PNG for graphics. Compress images before uploading them to your website using services like TinyPNG. Specify the size of the image in the HTML code so that the browser does not redraw the page during the loading process.
Remove unnecessary spaces, line breaks, and comments from your code. This will reduce file size without compromising functionality. Use CSS Sprites to combine multiple images (icons, buttons) into a single image. This way, the browser will have to download fewer files.
Configure caching of static content (images, CSS, JS) on the server and client side. This way, during repeated visits, files will be downloaded from the cache and not over the network. Enable gzip compression to reduce the size of transmitted data. Most modern browsers and web servers support this format.
Download static content (pictures, videos, scripts) from fast CDN servers located as close to the user as possible. This speeds up file downloads and reduces the load on the main server. Popular CDNs: CloudFlare, Amazon CloudFront, Imperva Incapsula.
Don't make the user wait for all the images and scripts on the page to load, even those that take a long time to scroll to. Use lazy loading to delay the loading of content below the viewport. This way, the visible part of the page will be displayed faster.
There are other ways to optimize the loading speed: choosing a fast hosting, optimizing the database, avoiding cumbersome frameworks and plugins. The main thing is to regularly test and measure the speed, experiment with different methods.
Here are some services for evaluating website loading speed:
These tools will show you not only the load time, but also the specific issues that slow it down. They also have comparisons with other sites and recommendations for improvement.
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<img src="screenshot.png" alt="Image">
Low contrast between text and background is one of the main reasons for poor readability. It is especially important for people with visual impairments, color blindness, when viewing a website in the sun or from a low-quality screen.
The optimal level of contrast according to the WCAG standard is 4.5:1 for the main text and 3:1 for large text. You can check the contrast of your website's color schemes using services like WebAIM Color Contrast Checker.
Some users are unable to use the mouse and rely on the keyboard. It is important that all interactive elements of the page (links, buttons, forms) are accessible from the keyboard using the Tab, Enter, arrow keys.
Visually show the focus on the element so that the user understands where they are. Do not use pop-ups or drop-down menus that cannot be activated/closed from the keyboard.
To make your multimedia content accessible to people with hearing impairments, provide text alternatives for it:
Place these options in the player so you can enable them when needed. You can create them manually or by using automatic speech recognition services.
Screen readers are programs that voice the screen content for people with visual impairments. To make your site accessible to screen readers, mark up your content using HTML5 semantic tags: <header>, <nav>, <main>, <footer>, <article>, <section>, <aside>.
People with limited mobility will find it convenient to manage the site using voice commands. Voice control can be implemented using the Web Speech API, which is supported by most modern browsers.
Other recommendations for accessibility:
Although there is no such thing as a perfectly accessible website, try to follow the basic recommendations and constantly improve this parameter. Accessibility is not just a legal requirement, but a manifestation of care for all visitors. And believe me, they will appreciate it!
Forms are an integral part of many websites: shops, services, landing pages. Users use them to order goods, leave requests, register, and pay for services. If the forms are inconvenient, confusing, and long, you risk losing customers.
Imagine that you need to buy a product in an online store. You've spent 20 minutes choosing the right model, comparing prices, and reading reviews. When you're satisfied, you click the "Checkout" button and are taken to a page where you need to fill in 20 fields, half of which are required, choose a delivery and payment method, register, confirm your email... How many steps of this quest are you willing to go through before you abandon the cart and go to your competitors?
Here are a few tips to make your website forms user-friendly and increase conversions:
Leave in the form only the fields without which you cannot process the order or request. Remove or make everything else optional. For example, the fields "Name", "Phone", "Delivery address" may be required in the order form, but not "Age" or "How did you hear about us".
According to the Baymard Institute, the average number of fields in the order form of the top 60 American online stores is 12.8. The optimal number is 7-8 fields.
An example of a concise and convenient order form:
<form>
<label for="name">Name:</label>
<input type="text" id="name" name="name" required>
<label for="tel">Telephone:</label>
<input type="tel" id="tel" name="tel" required>
<label for="email">Email:</label>
<input type="email" id="email" name="email">
<label for="delivery">Delivery address:</label>
<textarea id="delivery" name="delivery" required></textarea<label for="delivery-date"> desired delivery date:</label>
<input type="date" id="delivery-date" name="delivery-date">
<button type="submit">Place an order</button>
</form
Divide the form fields into semantic blocks: contact information, delivery address, payment method, etc. Arrange the fields in one column (vertically), not in a row. This will make it easier for the user to scan the form and fill it out from top to bottom.
Leave enough free space between groups of fields (vertical padding). Within groups of fields, you can place them with a smaller margin. Separate required and optional fields visually.
An example of grouping form fields and styling them:
<form>
<fieldset>
<legend>Contact Information</legend>
<!-- Fields with contact -->
</fieldset<fieldset>
<legend>Delivery address</legend>
<!-- Address fields -->
</fieldset<fieldset>
<legend>Payment method</legend>
<!-- Fields with payment -->
</fieldset<button type="submit">Place an order</button>
</form>
CSS:
form {
max-width: 400px;
margin: 0 auto;
}fieldset {
margin-bottom: 20px;
padding: 20px;
border: 1px solid #ccc;
border-radius: 5px;
}legend {
padding: 0 10px;
font-weight: bold;
}label {
display: block;
margin-bottom: 5px;
font-weight: bold;
}input,
textarea,
select {
width: 100%;
margin-bottom: 15px;
padding: 10px;
border: 1px solid #ccc;
border-radius: 5px;
font-size: 16px;
}input:focus,
textarea:focus,
select:focus {
outline: none;
border-color: #39f;
}button[type="submit"] {
display: block;
width: 100%;
padding: 10px;
border: none;
border-radius: 5px;
background-color: #39f;
color: #fff;
font-size: 18px;
cursor: pointer;
}
For fields that require input in a specific format (email, phone, date), show hints and examples of how to fill in the fields correctly. Use the type, required, pattern attributes to validate fields on the browser side. But duplicate the validation on the server side, as it can be disabled.
If the user enters incorrect data, immediately show the error message and how to fix it. Highlight specific fields with errors, not just display a message at the top of the form. In case of successful submission, don't forget to notify the user.
An example of field validation and error display:
HTML:
<label for="email">Enter email:</label>
<input type="email" id="email" required>
<small>Format: name@example.com</small<label for="tel">Enter phone number:</label>
<input type="tel" id="tel"
pattern="\+380\d{9}"
title="Phone format: +380XXXXXXXXX"
required>
<small>Format: +380XXXXXXXXX</small><button type="submit">Submit</button
<div class="success" hidden>
Thank you! Your application has been submitted.
</div><div class="error" hidden>
Please correct errors in the highlighted fields.
</div>
CSS:
input:invalid {
border-color: red;
}.error {
display: none;
margin-top: 20px;
padding: 10px;
border: border: 1px solid red;
border-radius: 5px;
color: red;
}.success {
display: none;
margin-top: 20px;
padding: 10px;
border: border: 1px solid green;
border-radius: 5px;
color: green;
}
If the form consists of several steps and screens, show a progress bar. It will give the user an idea of what stage they are at and how much is left. It is psychologically easier to fill out a form knowing that the end is near.
Don't force the user to enter the same information multiple times. Save the entered data when moving between form steps. Give the user the opportunity to go back a step and change previously entered data.
Do not clear the form after an unsuccessful submission! It's very frustrating to fill in 10 fields, make a mistake in one, click "Submit" and see an empty form again. Save correctly entered values and only mark fields with errors.
Wherever possible, replace manual input with selections from a list. For example, instead of the "Country" field, offer a drop-down list of countries. Instead of the "Delivery method" field, offer options with radio buttons. This will save the user from having to remember or come up with options. And you won't have to process incorrectly entered data.
To make it convenient to enter even in drop-down lists, add the ability to search (if there are many options) and select from the keyboard.
An example of replacing input with a selection from a drop-down list:
<label for="city">Select a city:</label>
<select id="city">
<option value="">-- Select city--</option
<option value="Kyiv">Kyiv</option>
<option value="Kharkiv">Kharkiv</option>
<option value="Odesa">Odesa</option>
<option value="Dnipro">Dnipro</option>
<option value="Lviv">Lviv</option>
</select>
Forms are the bottleneck of the sales funnel. The more convenient, clear, and short they are, the more likely the user is to fill them out and perform the targeted action. Therefore, you should carefully consider the structure, design, and operation of each form on your website. And then test and optimize them based on analytics results.
Personalization is a powerful tool for increasing website conversion. It allows you to show each visitor the most relevant content based on their characteristics, preferences, and history of interaction with your resource.
Personalization elements that can be implemented on the website:
If your website has versions in several languages, give the user the ability to easily switch between them. Automatic language detection based on IP or browser settings is a good idea, but don't rely on it alone. Always leave the user with a choice and keep their preferences in mind.
Personalization of currency and units of measurement depending on the user's country is relevant for online shopping sites and services. Prices in the local currency and familiar sizes increase trust and make it easier to estimate the value of goods.
Show users products and content that may be of interest to them based on their past purchases, browsing, and search queries. These can be personalized product selections on the home page, in the shopping cart, on the category or product page.
To implement personalized recommendations, use marketing automation systems or built-in CMS tools. They analyze user behavior and provide relevant products based on specified criteria and algorithms.
For example, below the product the user is looking at, show a block "People also bought with this product" or "Similar products". Similarly, for blog articles, add a "Read also" block with similar materials.
For registered users and regular customers, store the history of their actions on the site: products viewed, purchases, favorites, product comparisons. This saves time and simplifies repeat orders.
Another element of personalization based on history is a reminder about the cart or incomplete orders. If the user has put items in the cart but hasn't completed the order, send them an email with a reminder and a link.
Divide your website audience into segments based on certain characteristics: demographics, traffic source, sales funnel stage, average check, etc. You can customize personalized banners, offers, and content for each segment.
For example, if you sell clothes, you can show different recommendations for men and women. If you have a loyalty program, you can personalize offers depending on the level of customer loyalty (regular, VIP, premium).
To implement targeting by segments, use web analytics systems (Google Analytics, Yandex.Metrica), CRM systems, data from advertising accounts, and email campaigns. They allow you to collect information about users from various sources, combine them into single profiles, and segment them according to the necessary criteria.
Track user behavior in real time and adapt website content to their current actions. For example, if a user visits the pages of a certain product category several times in a row, you can show them a popup with a selection of the most popular products from this category and a discount on the first order.
Or, if the user has turned the page to the end and is about to leave, offer them to subscribe to a newsletter or receive a bonus.
Behavioral marketing is effective for returning users who browse the site, put products in the cart, but do not make a purchase or other targeted action. Different engagement schemes depending on their behavior scenario increase the likelihood of conversion.
Tools for behavior-based personalization - marketing automation systems and online consultants: Exponea, Finteza, Kissmetrics, Retail Rocket.
Implementation of personalization elements requires in-depth analysis of the audience, website structure, and sales funnel. This is a more complex and resource-intensive task than classic usability optimization. However, personalization allows you to increase the depth of website browsing, conversion, average check, repeat sales, and customer loyalty.
Personalization shouldn't be intrusive and violate privacy. Always give the user the opportunity to disable personalized recommendations, clear their history, and unsubscribe from email newsletters. Ask for explicit consent to collect and process personal data. Adhere to the principles of the GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation), even if your business does not fall under its direct scope. This way, you will build user trust and improve your brand reputation.
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Website usability is not only about functionality, speed, and design. It is equally important to ensure the confidentiality of users' personal data and the security of transactions on the site. This is especially true for online stores, financial services, and websites with paid content.
Customer base leakage, payment interception, account hacking - these threats can cause irreparable damage to reputation and business in general. Therefore, you need to think about security at all stages of website development and maintenance.
Here is a checklist of basic security rules for your website:
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is an extension of the HTTP protocol that provides data encryption during transmission between the user's browser and the website server. It protects against traffic sniffing, content substitution, and phishing.
To switch your website to HTTPS, you need to get an SSL certificate from a certification authority and install it on your hosting. The Let's Encrypt root certificate is free and supported by most browsers. Paid certificates have extended verification of the owner's data and provide an additional level of trust (green address bar in the browser).
An example of the correct display of an SSL certificate in Chrome: [Image].
CSP (Content Security Policy) is a mechanism that allows you to tell the browser from which sources it is allowed to download content for a page (scripts, styles, images, frames). This protects against XSS attacks and malicious code injection.
HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) is a policy that forcibly redirects HTTP requests to HTTPS. This prevents an attacker from intercepting unprotected traffic, even if the user has explicitly specified the HTTP protocol in the website address.
Both mechanisms are configured on the server through HTTP response headers. Example of CSP configuration:
<pre>Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; img-src 'self' https://cdn.example.com; script-src 'self' https://cdn.example.com; </pre
Never store user passwords in plain text in the database! This is a major vulnerability that allows an attacker to gain access to all accounts at once during a database hack.
Store passwords as hashes - irreversible encrypted sequences. During authentication, calculate the hash of the entered password and compare it with the hash in the database. Even if the database is stolen, the original passwords cannot be recovered from the hashes.
Use modern, strong hashing algorithms with a "salt" (an additional unique string), such as bcrypt, scrypt, or PBKDF2.
Hackers can brute-force passwords by repeatedly trying different combinations of characters until they find the right one (brute-force attack). To protect against brute-force attacks, limit the number of unsuccessful password attempts from a single IP address.
For example, if a user enters an incorrect password 5 times in a row, block the ability to log in for that IP for 15 minutes. And after 10 unsuccessful attempts, require a captcha. Choose the restriction parameters based on the specifics of your website and security policy.
Security vulnerabilities are discovered every day, even in popular CMS and frameworks. That's why it's important to keep up with updates to content management systems (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal), plugins and extensions for them, third-party scripts and libraries used by your website.
Enable automatic updates where possible. If auto-updates are not available, check for security patches manually at least once a week on developer sites or through the site's control panel.
A vulnerability in one plugin can give an attacker access to the entire site. Therefore, install only proven extensions from official sources and update them to the latest versions in a timely manner.
Data leakage often occurs not because of hacking, but because of the negligence or malicious intent of employees who have access to the website admin area. Therefore, it is important to regulate the process of granting and revoking access rights:
These precautions reduce the risk of data leakage and unauthorized changes to the site.
Even if you follow all the security rules, you can't 100% exclude the possibility of hacking and data loss. Therefore, you need to make regular backups of your website and database.
Copy all the site files and the database dump to a separate secure media or to the cloud. Set up an automatic backup process on the hosting or through CMS plugins. The optimal frequency of backups depends on how often the site content is updated. For blogs and corporate websites, a backup once a day will be enough; for online stores, it is better to make copies after each catalog update.
Be sure to test the process of deploying a site from a backup to make sure that it will work at the right time. It is recommended to conduct such tests once a quarter on a test server.
Taking care of website security is a continuous process that requires attention at all stages of its life cycle. Pay due attention to this aspect, consult with information security specialists, and follow the news about vulnerabilities.
Remember that reputational and financial losses from website hacking can be many times higher than the cost of basic security measures. And customer trust, once lost due to personal data leakage, is very difficult to regain.
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