Launching a website can be a challenging process and a long-term commitment that requires considerable resources to maintain. A survey conducted by InQuira in 2008 showed that 74% of consumers refer to a company’s website to learn about the products and services it offers. Although the figures sound encouraging for businesses to launch their own websites, the same figures should be discouraging for those planning to launch a website but are not confident of their ability to start and maintain the website; a poorly planned, designed or maintained website can influence a negative image about the business to nearly three quarters of its customers.
The first stage of launching a website is actually planning it. In the planning phase, businesses identify the specific objectives of the website, what messages the website should convey and ultimately, develop a clear understanding of the target audience the website should serve; eventually, traffic stats are meaningless if the website is attracting the wrong audience.
Designing Your Website
Despite the scarcity of literature on the quality assessment of website designs, Miranda and Banegil (2004) introduced one of the most used models of website assessment (Yizhang et al 2009). Their Web Assessment Index (WAI) uses 4 different elements in the assessment of the website (Miranda and Banegil 2004), the 5th element was introduced based on many scholars (e.g. Lindgaard 2007) demanding the inclusion of this element in the index:
1. Accessibility
2. Navigability
3. Speed
4. Content Quality
5. Aesthetic Appeal
In this article, we will focus on three aspects of website design, namely accessibility, navigability and aesthetic appeal.
Accessibility: Hernandez et al (2009) define accessibility as being the “quality of a website in terms of its ease of identification and access for current and potential users” (364). However, other scholars such as Loiacono et al (2009) extended the definition to include the functionality of the website and its various services. Based on the previous definition, accessibility is directly linked with the search engine position and the links directing to the website and therefore enhancing accessibility requires active SEO efforts. Moreover, while considering accessibility, website designers and developers should ensure that the website is accessible for users with various operating systems and internet browser, mainly: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Opera.
Navigability: Ortega el al (2007) identified 3 main elements of website navigability: Information organization and classification, design navigation systems and ease of finding information. To maximize navigability, web designers should consider the structure and flow of the website and its functions as well as maintaining clear labelling for various web pages and other contents within the website. In terms of ease of finding information, Boag’s (2010) rule of three can be tested throughout the website, the rule indicates that users should be able to access most of the information they are looking for with no more than three clicks from the home page.
Aesthetics: refer to the visual feel and appearance of the website, including colours, images, multimedia, layouts and typography. Aesthetic appeal is one of the heavily studied aspects of e-commerce, in fact, several experiments showed positive relation between aesthetic appeal and retention and purchase intention (Allagui, and Lemoine 2008 and Hanna 2004). Aesthetic elements may not only increase the visual appeal of the website but may also result in other positive perceptions; for instance, the use of high quality human images was reported to increase trustworthiness (Steinbruck et al 2002) and functionality (Cyr et al 2009). Colours also play a major role in influencing readability and convenience, in this context, a study by Hall and Hanna (2004) found that high contrast between background and especially positive text colouring (dark text on light background) increased users’ satisfaction and readability. The online consultancy agency, E-Consultancy provides a free comprehensive tutorial on website colouring.
With the increasing user interaction with the internet and the changing habits of viewing web content, webpage layout and the placement of the messages within the page itself should be carefully considered; a study by Nielsen Norman Group in 2006 showed that users read webpages in F-shaped pattern (two horizontal lines and one vertical line) meaning that main messages should be positioned in such F shape (Print 2010).
Budget…? Nothing
A number of free services, tutorials and applications are available for personal and business users. Starting with developing and hosting your website, Bravenet and Webs include lots of handy development tools and add-ons. To gain higher accessibility and search engine ranking, Iwebtools and SEOBook offer broad lists of most powerful SEO tools and tips.
No matter how satisfied with the design you are, it’s the user who really decides the success or the failure for the website. Therefore, we strongly recommend pre testing the design, and even this can be done for free as Loop11 offers a free usability test for your first project, you just have to recruit your respondents (can be friends, colleagues..etc) and enjoy their free service. After launching the website, Google’s Website Optimizer is a great free tool to evaluate various designs options and their influence on user’s conversions across your website.
The future?
The essence of having web presence is to improve an organisation’s bottom-line. Schafer 2008 identifies that of necessity, web designers need to aim to improve user experience by focusing more on designing for Persuasion, Emotion, and Trust (PET). This requires a whole new shift in perspective from focusing largely on achieving ease of use and satisfaction to finding ways to engage and elicit positive commitment and building user-loyalty, by appealing to the emotions of consumers.
References:
Allagui, A. and Lemoine, J. (2008) Web interface and consumers' buying intention in e-tailing: results from an online experiment. Advances in Consumer Research - European Conference Proceedings 8: 24-30
Boag, P. (2010) Website Owner’s Manual. New York: Manning
Cyr, D., Head, M., Larios, H. and Bing, P. (2009). Exploring human images in website design: A multi-method approach. MIS Quarterly, Sep2009, Vol. 33 Issue 3
Hall, R. and Hanna, P. (2004) The impact of web page text-background colour combinations on readability, retention, aesthetics and behavioural intention. Journal of Behaviour and Information Technology 23(3): 183-195
Hanna P. (2004) The impact of web page text-background colour combinations on readability, retention, aesthetics and behavioural intention; Journal of Behaviour & Information Technology 23 (3): 183-95
Hernandez, B., Jimenez, J. and Martin, M (2009) Key website factors in e-business strategy. International Journal of Information Management 29: 362–371
Lindgaard, G. (2007) Aesthetics, visual appeal, usability and user Satisfaction: what do the user's eyes tell the user's brain? Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies & Society 5(1): 1-14
Loiacono, T., Romano, N and McCoy, S. (2009) The State of Corporate Website Accessibility. Communications of the ACM 52(9): 128-132
Ortega,H. Martnez, B. and, Hoyos, M. (2007) An Analysis of Web Navigability in Spanish Internet Banking. Journal of Internet Banking & Commerce 12(3)
Print Magazine (2010) Obsessions. Print Magazine 64(2): 81-81
Schafer (2008) Usability is No Longer Enough. Available {Online} from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bminUlAu47Q (4/04/10).
Steinbruck, U., Schaumburg, H., Duda S., and Kruger, T. (2002) A Picture Says More Than a Thousand Words: Photographs as Trust Builders in E Commerce Websites. 2002 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Minneapolis: 748-749.
Yizhang, Z., Hezhang, Z. and Yicun, Z (2009) Research on the Customer-oriented Evaluation of SMEs' Websites in China, International Conference on Information Management, Innovation Management and Industrial Engineering 4: 262-265
The first stage of launching a website is actually planning it. In the planning phase, businesses identify the specific objectives of the website, what messages the website should convey and ultimately, develop a clear understanding of the target audience the website should serve; eventually, traffic stats are meaningless if the website is attracting the wrong audience.
Designing Your Website
Despite the scarcity of literature on the quality assessment of website designs, Miranda and Banegil (2004) introduced one of the most used models of website assessment (Yizhang et al 2009). Their Web Assessment Index (WAI) uses 4 different elements in the assessment of the website (Miranda and Banegil 2004), the 5th element was introduced based on many scholars (e.g. Lindgaard 2007) demanding the inclusion of this element in the index:
1. Accessibility
2. Navigability
3. Speed
4. Content Quality
5. Aesthetic Appeal
In this article, we will focus on three aspects of website design, namely accessibility, navigability and aesthetic appeal.
Accessibility: Hernandez et al (2009) define accessibility as being the “quality of a website in terms of its ease of identification and access for current and potential users” (364). However, other scholars such as Loiacono et al (2009) extended the definition to include the functionality of the website and its various services. Based on the previous definition, accessibility is directly linked with the search engine position and the links directing to the website and therefore enhancing accessibility requires active SEO efforts. Moreover, while considering accessibility, website designers and developers should ensure that the website is accessible for users with various operating systems and internet browser, mainly: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Opera.
Navigability: Ortega el al (2007) identified 3 main elements of website navigability: Information organization and classification, design navigation systems and ease of finding information. To maximize navigability, web designers should consider the structure and flow of the website and its functions as well as maintaining clear labelling for various web pages and other contents within the website. In terms of ease of finding information, Boag’s (2010) rule of three can be tested throughout the website, the rule indicates that users should be able to access most of the information they are looking for with no more than three clicks from the home page.
Aesthetics: refer to the visual feel and appearance of the website, including colours, images, multimedia, layouts and typography. Aesthetic appeal is one of the heavily studied aspects of e-commerce, in fact, several experiments showed positive relation between aesthetic appeal and retention and purchase intention (Allagui, and Lemoine 2008 and Hanna 2004). Aesthetic elements may not only increase the visual appeal of the website but may also result in other positive perceptions; for instance, the use of high quality human images was reported to increase trustworthiness (Steinbruck et al 2002) and functionality (Cyr et al 2009). Colours also play a major role in influencing readability and convenience, in this context, a study by Hall and Hanna (2004) found that high contrast between background and especially positive text colouring (dark text on light background) increased users’ satisfaction and readability. The online consultancy agency, E-Consultancy provides a free comprehensive tutorial on website colouring.
With the increasing user interaction with the internet and the changing habits of viewing web content, webpage layout and the placement of the messages within the page itself should be carefully considered; a study by Nielsen Norman Group in 2006 showed that users read webpages in F-shaped pattern (two horizontal lines and one vertical line) meaning that main messages should be positioned in such F shape (Print 2010).
Budget…? Nothing
A number of free services, tutorials and applications are available for personal and business users. Starting with developing and hosting your website, Bravenet and Webs include lots of handy development tools and add-ons. To gain higher accessibility and search engine ranking, Iwebtools and SEOBook offer broad lists of most powerful SEO tools and tips.
No matter how satisfied with the design you are, it’s the user who really decides the success or the failure for the website. Therefore, we strongly recommend pre testing the design, and even this can be done for free as Loop11 offers a free usability test for your first project, you just have to recruit your respondents (can be friends, colleagues..etc) and enjoy their free service. After launching the website, Google’s Website Optimizer is a great free tool to evaluate various designs options and their influence on user’s conversions across your website.
The future?
The essence of having web presence is to improve an organisation’s bottom-line. Schafer 2008 identifies that of necessity, web designers need to aim to improve user experience by focusing more on designing for Persuasion, Emotion, and Trust (PET). This requires a whole new shift in perspective from focusing largely on achieving ease of use and satisfaction to finding ways to engage and elicit positive commitment and building user-loyalty, by appealing to the emotions of consumers.
References:
Allagui, A. and Lemoine, J. (2008) Web interface and consumers' buying intention in e-tailing: results from an online experiment. Advances in Consumer Research - European Conference Proceedings 8: 24-30
Boag, P. (2010) Website Owner’s Manual. New York: Manning
Cyr, D., Head, M., Larios, H. and Bing, P. (2009). Exploring human images in website design: A multi-method approach. MIS Quarterly, Sep2009, Vol. 33 Issue 3
Hall, R. and Hanna, P. (2004) The impact of web page text-background colour combinations on readability, retention, aesthetics and behavioural intention. Journal of Behaviour and Information Technology 23(3): 183-195
Hanna P. (2004) The impact of web page text-background colour combinations on readability, retention, aesthetics and behavioural intention; Journal of Behaviour & Information Technology 23 (3): 183-95
Hernandez, B., Jimenez, J. and Martin, M (2009) Key website factors in e-business strategy. International Journal of Information Management 29: 362–371
Lindgaard, G. (2007) Aesthetics, visual appeal, usability and user Satisfaction: what do the user's eyes tell the user's brain? Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies & Society 5(1): 1-14
Loiacono, T., Romano, N and McCoy, S. (2009) The State of Corporate Website Accessibility. Communications of the ACM 52(9): 128-132
Ortega,H. Martnez, B. and, Hoyos, M. (2007) An Analysis of Web Navigability in Spanish Internet Banking. Journal of Internet Banking & Commerce 12(3)
Print Magazine (2010) Obsessions. Print Magazine 64(2): 81-81
Schafer (2008) Usability is No Longer Enough. Available {Online} from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bminUlAu47Q (4/04/10).
Steinbruck, U., Schaumburg, H., Duda S., and Kruger, T. (2002) A Picture Says More Than a Thousand Words: Photographs as Trust Builders in E Commerce Websites. 2002 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Minneapolis: 748-749.
Yizhang, Z., Hezhang, Z. and Yicun, Z (2009) Research on the Customer-oriented Evaluation of SMEs' Websites in China, International Conference on Information Management, Innovation Management and Industrial Engineering 4: 262-265
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4 comments:
Good post! Very informative. The 3 elements of good website design is no doubt essential, but don't you think that speed of download is also very important? No matter how accessible, navigable or visually appealing a website is, if it takes more than 2 - 3 minutes to load pages or download contents, users may be put off by such a flaw as well.
Thankyou for your comment Sophie; if you will take the time to refer to the post again, you will actually notice that we did identify Speed as one of the elements for quality assessment of website design. Study does show that the average time a person can keep himself focused while waiting for a page to open is 10 seconds (2-3 minutes is grossly overstated); therefore in designing a website one should target a response time of 10 seconds or less to get pages to users (Nielson 1999).
Good comments sophia, in addition to what frank said, the speed of loading and download most times is not determined by the designer of the site but mostly by the connection speed of the user.
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