Screen Based Communication 2

There are a few areas Usability can be narrowed into:

Information Accessibility:

Information on the site needs to also be easily accessible, information needs to be right in front of them or they’re given a link directly to where they want to go.

Information Availability:

Is the information that visitors need to make informed decisions available on the site e.g. Description about you as a designer and contact information.

Navigation:

A good navigation system is needed for every website for visitors to move from page to page. features to a good navigational system –

• If a navigation bar or panel is used, then making a permanent location on all the pages is important.

On my own site I have placed the navigation bar level with the logo, with the idea that people read left to right, and will always return to the top of a page to navigate around. The logo and the navigation are the start of the structure that frames the changing content on each page as these two elements stay the same on every page.

• Offering short cuts that are suitable for the user is helpful e.g. Linking ‘contact’ in a sentence something like ‘Hello, welcome to my site, feel free to contact me’. Rather than making them to look for the contact page button.

I’ve tried to incorporate links in relevant places to help speed up the process of moving around my website for visitors. Such as if a user has to scroll down the page to view my work, I have included a ‘back to the top’ link which reloads the page evidently being back at the top.

• Site maps are helpful for websites that have a large amount of pages, however with only a few it’s not needed.

All in all, a CLEAR navigation system so users always know where they are. Giving it a permanent place on the site creates consistency through the design. Interactivity when a user scrolls over a link will help them know that it is a link, and is labelled obviously so they do not miss out on content.

I have tried to do this by creating a very simple line of navigation buttons that are just text, however the active page has a box around it, and when scrolling over to click on a next page, the text changes colour slightly to let the user know they’re clicking in the right page for that page.