Know Your Users
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Designing Sites for Less Experienced Web Users
by Katherine Nolan
Most of us who are in the business
of making web sites are pretty savvy users of
the Internet.
We find it
relatively easy to find the information we want or
perform the actions required to interact with a site.
Unless they are particularly badly designed we will
understand navigation systems, even if they are
off-standard we will pick up signals, based on our
previous experience, that allow us to figure them out.
In short, we are not typical web users.
Who is a Typical Web
User?
In the early days of the web the typical user was a
nerdy geek-type
person, not just conversant with technology but
fascinated by it. Today the
typical user has about as much interest in
technology as an average car owner has about the
workings of the internal combustion engine.
The reality is that majority of
internet users now are inexperienced, in that they use
web pages regularly but may not be
familiar with the
working of the web and with many aspects of web use
that we take for granted.
I am using the term inexperienced
not in a pejorative sense - many
of these people are regular Internet users and although
their methods of using it may seem odd and inefficient
to us, they are, in general, quite content with them
and see no need to change.
Most
of us will have watched with amazement at how
some of our friends handle
the internet. In several years of watching some fairly
average users of the web - friends, acquaintances and
clients - sitting at a computer and surfing, I have
noticed some fairly common, if extraordinary,
approaches to getting around and generally using the
web.
The following
are some of the major things I have noticed, in no
particular order, with some comments
about their importance to us as web designers.
1. Attachment to Home
Most users never change their home page from the
default page of their ISP.
Observation
This means they will use whatever search facility is
provided by their ISP and will move out into the Internet
using that page only. Some have been astonished to learn
that it was possible for them to "get onto the
internet" without starting from that page.
What it Means for Us
Popular belief would recently seem to have it that
Google is God and few other search engines matter
anymore. However if you are listed only in Google, and
your potential users' ISPs do not use Google results
for their search facilities, they will remain potential
and not actual users.
Altavista for example is widely used by ISPs
as is Look Smart, so these in particular should be
considered important though others
count also. Many if not
most of these search engines now charge for listing your
site, so you will have to consider on a site by site
basis if choosing not to pay is really a cost
effective decision.
2. Search for Everything
Where a url is known it will be typed not into the
address box but into the search box of the users
favorite search engine, probably the search box on
their ISP home page.
Observation
It is remarkable how many people have been amazed to
learn that the address box was, in fact, an area into
which it was possible for them to type. Most believe
that a search
engine (any search engine) will do a live and immediate search of
everything on the Internet, as distinct from
providing results from a database of
indexed sites. So, if they type
"www.thesite.com" into the search box and do not get a
result, they assume the site does not in fact exist.
What it Means for Us
Once again it means that having your site in as many
search engines as possible is important.
On a very practical level it is important to make
clients aware of this. If they tell customers on the
phone the URL of their website, perhaps when directing
them to information, it is quite likely that those
customers will search for the domain rather than
entering it in the address box. It is always better to
offer to email the customer a link.
3. When Lost, Go Back
Even the most inexperienced users are completely familiar with the browser back
button, in fact they use it a lot,
frequently reversing
back to their home page after
viewing each new page.
Observation
More than once someone has pointed out a 'fault' in
their browser, which prevents them from reversing.
When I looked at what was happening
it was always the same thing, a
link had opened a new window. They were quite unaware of
this and very confused by their inability to use the
back button in the new window to return to
a previous page.
What it Means for Us
We need to be very cautious about having links open in
new windows. Most times this is done in a effort to
avoid having the user leave a site to read something at
another site. It may have the opposite result. Deprived
of their back button users can become disoriented and
close their entire session, losing your site in the
process.
Where there are occasional links on a site that open
new windows it is good practice to flag this, with a
note below the link saying "Opens in New Window".
If
you believe that many of your users will be
inexperienced you can go even further, with a note such
as
"This link will open a new window, to return to <Site Name> just close that new window and <Site Name>
will still be here."
Some sites open new windows for pages within the site,
quite frequently for example when linking to a page that
is actually hosted on a different server, such as a
third
party shopping cart. This is poor practice. When users
believe they are on the same site still but cannot
reverse to a previous page it causes considerable
confusion.
It goes without saying that disabling the back button
is a major no-no!
4. One Thing at a Time
Many users are unfamiliar with the
idea of having multiple
windows open at the same time.
Observation
Inexperienced users are often unfamiliar with the
whole concept of multitasking. For example they read their
mail, then close that window and open a browser rather
than moving between two open windows. More than a few
have expressed total amazement when shown that they can
toggle between multiple open windows.
What it Means for Us
This issue is related to point 3 above and all the comments
there apply.
It also opens up the whole area of Pop Up
Windows. If these are overused the unsuspecting user
can end up with several open pages at once and be at a
loss as to how to deal with that. When using Pop Ups
they should clearly have a function within the site and
should include a prominent 'Close Window' link or
button.
There is one very specific area that causes a major
usability problem with multiple windows, and not just
for inexperienced users. It is possible, when causing a
link open in a different window, to name that window.
For example you may call the new window 'resources' and
have the link open in a new window by adding 'target=resources"
to your link. This will allow you to open a series of
links in the same window. The first time the window
'resources' is called for, the browser will create it.
Subsequently it will just open any links in that
existing window.
However once a user has looked at the first link in the
resources window, then returned to the main site and
clicked another link, the second link will open in the
resources window but that window will not move to the
foreground. This can lead even experienced users to
believe that the link has failed. So while this ability
to name the target window may seem useful it should be
used very judiciously indeed.
Another area that can lead to confusion is
that of links in
HTML emails. If these are standard links and if a user
reads the mail and clicks the link
while they have a browser window open,
in many cases the link will open, invisibly, in the
already open browser. The user can toggle to see it, but may
not be aware that they can. It is therefore a good idea
if sending HTML mails to use "target=_blank" in all
links.
5. Where am I?
Users need flags to indicate to them that they are
still on your site.
Observation
If pages on a site are different in design, if the
layout, colors or other aspects of the site change too
much from page to page, users will believe that they
have 'lost' your site and may close their window or hit
their 'Home' button.
What it Means for Us
Research has shown that by far the single most
important element to reassure users about where they
are is your logo. It should appear predictably on each
page, in the same location. Other important
indicators
include color, location of navigation, font style and
the general page layout.
This reinforces the need for consistency in design
throughout your site.
It is also important when using off-site
facilities, such as third party shopping carts,
searches or other applications. It is
essential in
these situations to make an effort to have the off-site
pages resemble your own as much as possible, but
especially to ensure that your familiar logo,
rather
than that of the service provider, is prominent on
these pages.
6. When in Doubt, Say No
When asked to download something
inexperienced users fall into two
camps, those who automatically say 'No' and those who
automatically say 'Yes'.
Observation
All web users have heard about Viruses but few
understand anything at all about them. When asked to
download something, particularly something that they
did not request, many of them panic. Most say 'No', but
of those who say 'Yes' a good proportion will then
abort the download as soon as it starts or as soon as
they are asked a question that they do not understand,
which may be something as simple
as whether they want to save the file or run it
from its current location.
What it Means for Us
Asking users to download fonts, cursors, plug-ins, new
browsers or anything else in order to view your site
will turn away the inexperienced user because they may
not know how or may be afraid to do so. It will of
course also turn away many experienced users who are
unwilling to download anything to view a single site.
When considering using any
feature that requires a plug-in, find
out how common that plug-in is and decide based on that
information whether its use can be justified. Also try
to provide alternatives. For example if a document is
offered as a PDF it is easy to assume 'Everyone has an
Acrobat Reader'. Everyone does not
and providing a link to a free download will not
completely address the issue. If you really want
all users to be able to see the document consider
provide a version in RTF format also, or even a HTML
version.
It is often possible to detect plug ins and send users
automatically to the correct place based on that
detection. An example is directing those without the
Flash plug-in to a HTML only version of a site.
7. If it Sounds Technical, Avoid it
Any instruction, or note for use, that includes
technical language can cause confusion.
Observation
This can be something as simple as an instruction to
hold down Ctrl while making multiple selections from a
form drop down list. I have met relatively few
inexperienced users who knew where their Ctrl key was,
and more who knew where it was but who "Never touch
those keys!"
What it Means for Us
If you find that you are having to write a technical
note, however basic, consider whether you could
instead do things a different way. For example in the
case of the dropdown list mentioned above, would it be
possible to allow users to tick off selections using
check boxes rather than selecting multiple options from
a list?
To summarize, anyone creating websites needs to think
like an inexperienced user and to design pages that
inexperienced users, who are the majority of web users,
can work with. It is extremely instructive to sit and
watch people less experienced than you surf the web.
The temptation will be to yell "No! Do it this way!",
but you will learn a lot more if you just stay quiet
and watch what is going on.
Katherine Nolan
OutFront.net
A Microsoft FrontPage Learning Community
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