Usability

Ah! Back to blogging. The questions for today's blog include:

• What makes for a really usable website?
• What are the most useful websites and why?

Usability? I think there are several factors that go into making a website usable. To me, one of the most important factors is simplicity. Too often, websites are so cluttered, they are difficult to use. It is hard to find the information you need because it is lost in the clutter. Needle in the haystack theory of website design. Simple, to me, means that only necessary links are provided and the design is one that has navigation bars at top, left, and possibly bottom for basic information. When additional navigation bars are added, on the right for instance, it just seems to clog things up.

Another factor is workable links. There is nothing more frustrating when navigating a website then to find that part of the links are inoperable. Even if the links are working, if the webpage has the wonderful message "Site Under Construction," I will probably go someplace else for the information I need. To me, it makes much more sense to complete the site before loading it for public access.

What are the most useful websites, and why? The most useful websites (and I am not saying this to be a smarta**) are sites that are usable. They also have to be locatable. If you do a search for information and the site does not show up, then it is useless. The site must also contain information that someone is interested in.