Why Should I care about User Interface Design?

The usability of your website is one of the key factors in determining its success. I have put together a list of  best practices that should help you increase how user friendly your website is.

• Consistency

Having consistency in your user interface enables users to apply their existing knowledge of previous applications in understanding and building up an accurate mental model of your application. Accurate mental models lead to less support and training being required.

• Feedback

The system should keep users informed of actions or events, such as errors and state changes that are relevant to the user. This helps provide the user with a greater sense of engagement with the application.

• Simplicity

Tasks that the user is likely to do often should be simple and straightforward to do. The interface should be clean and simple with only useful and relevant information and components displayed.

• Navigation

In Western societies, people read left to right and top to bottom. Therefore to complement the users existing knowledge and expectations, screens designs should also be organized from left to right and top to bottom.

• Tolerance

Mistakes are easily made. The user interface should be able to handle misuse and mistakes by allowing the user to undo and redo operations wherever possible. A level of verification of the user’s input prior to any action is also encouraged.

Keeping these points in mind will help ensure that your user interface is as ‘user friendly’ as possible. Feel free to let me know if you think I’ve forgotten anything.

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