Credibility vs. Repulsion

repulsion [ri-puhl-shuhn] noun

The feeling of being repelled, as by the thought or presence of something; distaste, repugnance, or aversion.

Are Web users ever really "repulsed" by a Web site? Hard to say, but I would guess they can be - I am. Based on many conversations I have had with others on the subject of Web sites, I know I am not alone. I have spent large chunks of time scouring the Web looking for that site that offers for sale that "hard to find item" I have been searching for and, after finally finding it, taken one look at the site and typed google.com in the address field of my browser and hit enter to get away as fast as I can - as if I could sense some deadly disease rearing its ugly head and taking a bearing straight at me through the ether of the internet.

Why would I - or anyone - have a such a reaction? If I come to a site with intent to spend my hard earned cash on anything, I want to know the site is credible. If I come to a site that, despite the energy I have expended looking for just such a site, reeks of a lack of credibility in just the aesthetic look and feel alone, I am certainly not going to stick around long enough to bother even considering doing business with that site.

In another scenario I find myself perusing through the navigation menus only to find that I don't really understand enough of the labels to get myself pointed in the right direction. Of course, there is always search instead of browsing navigational elements, but that is another entry for another time...

Or how about when you land on a site, are immediately impressed, getting a little excited as one nearing the end of a long journey to a destination of certain satisfaction, and once you start digging into its architecture you find yourself completely lost in a sea of content not only unfamiliar but wholly unrelated to what you were intent on finding.

So what do all these scenarios have in common - aesthetics, information organization, navigation? In a nutshell these are core usability considerations.

This post is not meant as a comprehensive tutorial on usability, and I do not claim to be an authority on the subject, though I will claim I feel know a thing or two on the matter. To keep things as simple as possible, I'll just share a few thoughts on the following features of a Web site. This is a limited list of what could be considered important aspects of usability, but I have found that the principles cited below are by far the most neglected or misunderstood by would-be Web designers.

Aesthetics

Use limited visual stimuli:

• Reduce competition between the content the user is seeking and the designer's goal to create a visually pleasing and creative UI.
• Judicious use of whitespace to help the eyes relax.
• An organized page format/layout.

Navigation

Criteria that answer important questions:

• Orientation - where am I? Breadcrumbs are the universal norm.
• Routing - how do I get to where I want to go? Use universal drop down menu systems or local navigational structures.
• Intuition - is there a consistency that allows me to intuit what my next move should be? Create a proper and consistent classification (taxonomy) of labels - the same things are referred to in the same way no matter where I am within the architecture of the site.
  
• Fini - will I know when I have arrived? Present a clear end-point and avoid dead links or link rot.

Architecture

Take care to establish "the right" architecture:

• Use systems that your users will tend to be familiar with.
• Categorize information into no more than seven top level logical units. Make sure each collection acts in a modular fashion - inter-identifiable information.
• Establish a hierarchical outline of the information and create a consistent system of vocabulary and labeling across site structure, page structure and navigation.
• Create a site structure that is not too shallow (too many and too long sub menus) nor too deep (too many layers, too many clicks). For large sites, this is quite a balancing act - but one that requires serious thought.
  

These three areas are just the beginning of creating a usable Web system. But it is these features of your site that will make or break - and quite quickly I might add - your credibility in the eyes of your users.