Six UX Strategies to Make Your Site More User-Friendly: Julie Blitzer/General Assembly
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The document outlines six UX strategies to enhance website user-friendliness, emphasizing the importance of navigation, readability, and effective form design. Key strategies include recognizing that many users access secondary pages, creating obvious navigation, utilizing the F-pattern for layout, ensuring readability through proper styling, and addressing often-overlooked pages like 404 errors. The document aims to improve overall user experience by integrating thoughtful design principles into web development.
Six UX Strategies to Make Your Site More User-Friendly: Julie Blitzer/General Assembly
- 1. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY Julie Blitzer User Experience Consultant
- 2. GET THE FULL EXPERIENCE: LEARN WHAT YOU WANT, WHEN YOU WANT Unlimited access to all upcoming live streams On-demand streaming classes taught by top practitioners A growing video library, updated weekly Get access for only $25 USD/month. No risk—you can cancel at any time! START 14-DAY FREE TRIAL
- 3. INTRODUCTION JULIE BLITZER ‣ Independent User Experience Consultant for digital agencies, startups and technology companies ‣ Previously UX Designer for Joor, AppNexus and UX Lead for Advomatic ‣ Instructor and mentor for Girls Who Code and Startup Weekend NYC ‣ Speaking appearances at SXSW Interactive, Netroots Nation, IPDI (Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet)
- 4. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY WHAT IS USER EXPERIENCE? Who makes it possible What you do Who you are PEOPLE CONTEXT ACTIVITIES Why you do it What’s going on with you Stephen P Anderson, “The Fundamentals of Experience Design” . http://www.poetpainter.com/thoughts/article/ia-summit-2009-the-fundamentals-of-experience-design- Where it takes place
- 5. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY UX INCLUDES… Business Strategy Interaction Design Usability Analysis User Research Content Strategy Information Architecture
- 6. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY UX INCLUDES… Business Strategy Interaction Design Usability Analysis User Research Content Strategy Information Architecture
- 7. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY JUST THE UX PROCESS Concept Prototype Validate internally Test externally Learn from user behavior Iterate
- 8. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY WHAT UX / USABILITY IS NOT ‣ Coding ‣ “Making things pretty”/ visual design ‣ Project management ‣ Product management ‣ A panacea: It’s a symbiotic relationship
- 9. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY WHY YOU’RE HERE… 1. It’s not all about the home page 2. Obvious Navigation 3. The F-Pattern 4. Readability & Contrast 5. Form Layout 6. The Forgotten pages
- 10. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 1. IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT THE HOME PAGE Many users will come to your site via a secondary page: ‣ Product page ‣ Event registration ‣ Blog Post ‣ Donation Form
- 11. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 2. OBVIOUS NAVIGATION Simple page titles mean users can quickly find what they are looking for.
- 12. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 3. THE F-PATTERN *Exception: If the content is written in (or read by speakers of) a right-to-left language such as Hebrew or Arabic.
- 13. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 3. THE F-PATTERN *Exception: If the content is written in (or read by speakers of) a right-to-left language such as Hebrew or Arabic.
- 14. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 4. READABILITY AND CONTRAST Content has to be more than just a block of copy ‣ Large blocks of text work much better on paper than they do on the screen Proper use of headers and line breaks ‣ A clean style sheet works magic ‣ Help users quickly identify which content is significant ‣ Don’t over use bold, it’s as bad as writing in all caps
- 15. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 4. READABILITY AND CONTRAST ‣ Readability, readability, ReAdAbILiTY ‣ Pay attention to font size ‣ White space ‣ Let your text (( breathe )) and it will be easier to read and understand ‣ Contrast and colors: make it readable first, pretty second
- 16. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 4. READABILITY AND CONTRAST
- 17. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 4. READABILITY AND CONTRAST Which one is easier to read?
- 18. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 5. FORM LAYOUT Can you find the submit button?
- 19. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 5. FORM LAYOUT Give your users enough space to type in the information and review what they entered. Make buttons look clickable. (Don’t copy this one!) Never put your form labels inside of the form fields.
- 20. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 5. FORM LAYOUT Do NOT put radio buttons or check boxes horizontally / on the same row.
- 21. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 5. FORM LAYOUT Give the user a clear path to completion From Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks by Luke Wroblewski http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosenfeldmedia/sets/72157604272550634/with/2367261684/
- 22. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 5. FORM LAYOUT A long form that extends “below the fold” is completely acceptable. Give your users room to breathe and the experience will be more pleasant for them and you. (They will be less likely to make mistakes!)
- 23. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 5. FORM LAYOUT Want to really geek out on this stuff? ‣ The definitive book on this subject is Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks by Luke Wroblewski. ‣ Also see Luke’s full blog archive: http://www.lukew.com/ff/ ‣ He did hours of quantitative usability testing to write this book. I refer to this resource again and again and again.
- 24. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 6. THE FORGOTTEN PAGES The 404 Page 1. Make it fun / funny 2. Popular links 3. Contact Information
- 25. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 6. THE FORGOTTEN PAGES No Search Results Found 1. Did you mean…? 2. Popular Links
- 26. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY 6. THE FORGOTTEN PAGES Past Events 1. Tell the user the event is over 2. Give users the opportunity to donate anyway 3. Link to other events
- 27. SIX UX STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR SITE MORE USER-FRIENDLY THANKS! How to follow up with me: ‣ Twitter @zhuli ‣ Contact form at http://julieblitzer.com (Yes, I will email you back.)