(Newswire.net — September 19, 2016) — Experts throw a lot of seemingly indecipherable letter combinations around like UX, UED, XD, UI and UXD when they talk about websites, but most of us don’t have a clue about what they mean. In layman’s terms, those combinations mean one thing — giving your website visitors the best experience possible.
The user experience is particularly important if you run a business selling services or products or are a nonprofit organization that depends on contributions. The most efficient user experiences are easily navigated, understood and clearly promote the desired action. Is your site designed with users in mind?
UX and UI – Are They The Same?
The answer is sort of. They both have the same goal and that is enhanced user usability. They come at it from different angles, however, and work together to reach the ultimate user experience goal.
UX, UED, XD and UXD are all acronyms for User Experience Design. UX is actually a multifaceted process that involves analytics, product structures and strategies, prototyping, development planning, integration and goal tracking. UX designers coordinate with developers and graphic designers to make the overall experience work for the user. And here’s a shocker – it’s not about website bells and whistles. It’s about ease of use.
UI, on the other hand, stands for User Interface Design. UI is how a website looks, its presentation and interactivity. UI designers are concerned with building an attractive, intuitive and rich user experience. UI designers are responsible for brand and graphic development, research and all device usability. Think colors, navigation, artwork and animations.
Still confused? That’s OK. Even the experts don’t entirely agree. Everyone does agree that giving users the best possible experience is essential no matter what it’s called.
Usability – Does Your Site Have It?
This website illustrates usability in its simplest form. Users learn about the company and a link is highly visible for users who want to learn more. Most websites are a little more complicated, however and achieving the usability factor more complex. Does your site have the following requirements for a great user experience?
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Accessible and Available: Is your site available 99 percent of the time? It’s virtually impossible to guarantee 100 percent uptime, but if your server goes down a lot and visitors can’t get to your site, it not only negates usability, it damages your reputation as well. Why should users try again when your site is never up? Make sure you use a web hosting service that is reliable. Broken links are also disaster. Broken links in your navigation are even worse. To add to your website worries, more people now access the web on mobile devices than computers. What’s this mean? If your site has not been optimized to work on mobile devices, different screen sizes and slower connections, it’s simply not accessible to most users.
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Be Clear About Your Message: Use simple, straightforward language to explain what you do, how your product, service or organization meets the user’s needs and clearly define your calls to action.
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Be Relevant and Credible: Adding relevant content, such as how-to guides, and keeping it updated is a sure way to interest users and keep them coming back. It also adds to your credibility. Online users are wary of scams and if it’s not clear that your organization is real, you’re wasting your time. Include your contact information and a street address.
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Test and Adapt: The popularity of mobile devices took a lot of people by surprise. A whole lot of business owners discovered that the website they paid thousands of dollars for looked awful on a smartphone. Some of the features didn’t work, the design was squished or forced people to swipe. One thing is sure in the online world and that’s that it’s always changing. You have to test for usability and adapt when necessary.