The functionality and usability of a website do not rely on the visual design, but it determines the success and possible failure of a website. A visitors’ experience on a website page can help decide if it is well structured to serve its purpose.
If a website user cannot interact appropriately with a website, then the aim of developing the website is defeated. To implement the right guidelines, and principles on designing a good and functional website, there is the need to understand how visitors, returning users interact with a website page. Besides, the behaviors of visitors, how they think, and how they relate to any web pages can be used to track the right methods and guides for developing a functional and practical website. A web page is only useful, essential, and functional to a user when it features all the user requirements.
Besides, with different research conducted on the usability of a website through different groups of users, it has been understood that the necessary partners that relate to the majority of users on different websites can be used to develop a functional web page. Highlighted below are guidelines to help understand the user’s needs when developing a web site.
Think The Way Users Think
Assuming a website user’s position would help you understand how to develop a proper website that suits different categories of users. Besides, a user’s habits and activities on the web aren’t that different from the unusual patterns exhibited by customers in a physical store. Knowing this has suggested that studying users’ behavior on the internet is a way to capture the consistent practice of users, which is useful in developing a web page. In the physical store, the customers walk into the store to look around or meet up with the cashiers for information about products available. The same goes for online visitors, mostly they glance at a webpage, scan through the available text on the page, and click interesting links on the same page. At times, they go for links that most resonate with what they are searching for on the internet. In most cases, the entire page the visitors are on, are mostly ignored, while it is their need they seek out for.
Most often, users lookout for what is interesting, Useful, or clickable while they target getting relevant information to which they need. Furthermore, the behavior that has been observed in users over time shows that if the new page the user has found him/herself on does not tally with the information being sorted, then a back button would be pressed while the search continues.
Characteristics Activities Of Visitors On A Website
User Less Attention
Aside from the less attention that the users pay to the entire web page details, it has also been found that users appreciate credible and quality information adequately laid out on a page. Perhaps a page is enriched with relevant information, which provides users/visitors with content that is relevant. The user would undoubtedly stay longer on the page despite annoying adverts or a boring design.
Also, Users Do Not Have Time To Read Web Pages. They Only Scan Through
Many times, visitors land on a webpage, they only scan through the page, while looking out for objects of interest or useful links that are particular to their search. As mentioned above, website visitors hardly go through the entire content that existed on a page. Besides, the turnkey websites for sale have understood this concept and have always implemented it on all their client’s websites.
Besides, Website Users Are Very Impatient, And They Search For Instant Results
The logic is elementary and straightforward; if the website a user does not meet up with the user’s desire or does not portray what it claims to be, visitors are often impatient to check out other sections. They are majorly about going through websites that meet their expectations and seeing such sites through. It shows that if a web designer has done a bad job by not providing relevant information and structuring it correctly, there would be an increased bounce rate on such a webpage. Note: bounce rate means visitors spending less time on a web page that isn’t useful to them
Visitors Often Make Minimal Choices
Indeed, web page visitors are known for looking out for shortcuts to have their requested information on the internet delivered to their web pages no matter what they search for. This is associated with how they quickly search for information on the internet and expect instant results within seconds. Besides, they do not search for information on a website linearly or going sequentially through the lines per section of the webpages. Instead, they opt for a satisfaction method that only requires looking out for the readable part of the website. As soon as there is something that is of interest to the user, they immediately click through to such pages. It has posed a lot of difficulties for designers to fully capture users’users’ attention, which takes a long time and more research into users’users’ behavior.
Visitors Prefer To Have The Control Button Whenever They Browse
It has also been noticed that users always want to be in charge of the information displayed to them and how they process the data. They want to be able to control their browser and rely on the data provided on the web page. For instance, they do not want to see any dialogue box popping up, or seeing email newsletter subscriptions pop up in their face while they browse. This is among the few controls the users want to achieve on their webpage. More so, they always want to go back with the back button on the web browser.
The functionality of a website depends on how well structured the site is by the web designer. Having the visitor in mind and following the principles of what the web page users want would help you understand what needs to be done while designing a web page.
