1. Can users get the info they want with 3 clicks or less?
Up to 3 levels deep is what most people can reasonably expect to go to find the information they need (or at least the basics of it). Take these examples of menu-driven and search-driven navigation:
- A user gets to a website and goes to the Products Section (1st click); then selects a product Category (2nd click); and last, selects a particular Product (3rd click).
- A user gets to a website and writes a search query in an easily accessible search form (1st click); results are displayed and she/he either finds what she/he is looking for (2nd click), or goes to a similar webpage (optional 2nd click) to find a link to the ultimate target of the search (optional 3rd click).
This is what happens in well thought out websites, no matter how big they are. Yet many times we are forced to lose time and go through many levels, back and forth, through many pages of unclear value. Does this look like your website?
2. Do you know what they really use in your website?
You would be surprised to know how many website owners (and even designers!) never use statistics to analyze and improve their websites. Does your website have them? How often do you check them? Do you only care about the number of visitors?
With good statistics you can identify:
- Most useful pages.
- Pages users see before quitting.
- Pages they want but can’t find.
- The paths they follow.
- The countries and cities they live in.
- If they visit while at work or at home.
- Search engine queries that bring the most visitors.
- And much more!
Remember the more you know about your clients, the more you know about how to better serve them so as to improve your earnings and your customer retention rates.
3. What languages do your visitors speak?
This is closely related to the previous question. If you intend to target a wider audience with your products or services, or you learn (analyzing statistics) that many of your visitors are coming from countries that speak different languages, wouldn’t it be nice for them to find that (at least the core of) your website is translated? Do you know how much money you could be losing by not making your website friendly enough?
4. Does your site look the same in Firefox (up to 25% of users)?
Many designers and developers only have Microsoft Internet Explorer in mind when they work because it comes preinstalled in the computers of most of the World Wide Web users. But sick and tired of a stagnant and security-flawed browser, an increasing number of users began using Mozilla Firefox, a Web browser successor to Netscape, forcing Microsoft on 2007 to make the first serious update of IE since 2001.
Mozilla Firefox (along with Opera, Safari and others) displays webpages in a different way than IE version 6 or 5 because it complies better with defined standards, but that means that websites where standards were not considered will not render properly and may even became inaccessible. In certain European countries, Firefox usage has surged past 40%! Are you ready for it?
5. Do font sizes and text/background colors facilitate reading?
Think design-wise and small font sizes and black or other dark backgrounds will become suitable. Think information-wise and medium to big black fonts on a white background will become essential. What is the key of your website: design or information?
6. Can colorblinds (up to 8% of men) use it?
A sloppy designer may use color combinations for texts and backgrounds that are hard or plainly impossible to view by colorblinds. Have you ever stumbled upon such difficulties on the Web? Are you sure these combinations are not present on your website?
7. Can a blind or visually impaired person (more than 10 million in the US alone) use it?
Blind or visually impaired people also have the right to access information and also need to buy things and services for a living. Can you afford having a website 100% based on Flash or a navigation system based on improperly coded images that is unreadable for the screen-readers they use? Designers do not bother to use alternate text for images because clients do not ask for them, and that leads to lost sales among the visually impaired and impact on how easily can you website be found in search engines.