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K.I.S.S. or the Basic Concepts of UsabilityArticle by MARKET YOUR WEBIf you're in the web business to make money, you will no doubt have come across the acronym, KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid! Charming, but apt. This refers not just to the layout of a web page, but the navigation, graphic, logo, database architecture . . . From a GUI (Graphical User Interface) perspective, this is the most obvious instance of being a Usability issue. Jacob Nielsen, one of the "Sages" on the subject of Usability, puts it in a more delicate way - "Designing Web Usability . . . The Practice of Simplicity". If you have been surfing the web since the mid 90s you will hopefully have noticed a trend in web sites to go from the "Flashy" to the "Simple". "Flashy" web sites often take time to open and may use software that the end user does not have, so that means that they don't see the web site as it was intended. "Simple" doesn't mean boring, it means uncomplicated and easy to follow, so it's easier to use and everything works on the site. In general the web designers that today decide to have a more sophisticated site, do so because this is the best way to show off their product; not because it's a nice gimmick that will impress the End User. The concept of Usability existed before the 90s, predominantly for the development of non web related work, such as software design. During the explosion of the internet everyone tried EVERYTHING with web site design - remember those heady days?! The demise of Frames is my personal favourite. Frames are sometimes hard to understand, appear different in different browsers, don’t always load and Search Engines ignore them. As a result, Usability became an important aspect of web site design. For example, nowadays large companies such as IBM devote teams of staff purely to Usability study. All of this does not apply simply to the layout of the web site. For example, what's the point in having a complicated logo if: |
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| a) | It will either take too long to load on your web page, or |
| b) | Saved as a GIF (to reduce file size), the detail won't show. In fact it will usually look messier than a simpler logo. |
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This doesn't mean you don't need to think through the design of
your logo and that you can't have a clever and memorable logo. Just
consider the detail of the logo that will be visible on a web page and
that you have a reduced palette of colours to choose from. Another example would be to consider a database. The simpler the structure of your database, the easier it will be for: |
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| a) | A future developer to understand what is going on. |
| b) | To Modify without corrupting data (and you will want to change it as time goes by). |
| c) | To integrate into other data sources. |
| d) | Potentially faster to save and retrieve your data. |
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The end result of all this "Keep it Simple" methodology is to: |
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| a) | Enable the User to get where he wants as fast as he can. |
| b) | Easily retrieve the information/transact business. |
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From a web design perspective, this means fast loading pages, it has a
universally consistent appearance, clear
instructions/navigation (3 Clicks or you're out) and lots of
understandable information at the end. About the Author: Blair Ballard is founder of the MARKET YOUR WEB group. His experience spans from that of Corporate Project Manager to Webmaster for a Non Profit organisation. http://www.marketyourweb.com. Top of this Usability Concepts Article Back to main news menu |
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