The Need for Web Design Standards
Paul
Users expect Web site elements to behave in a certain way. Unfortunately, confusion reigns for many higher-level design issues. The entire concept of "Web design" is a misnomer. Individual project teams are not designing the Web any more than. Site designers build components of a whole, especially now that users are viewing the entirety of the Web as a single, integrated resource.
Unfortunately, much of the Web sites don't fit into the big picture, and are too difficult to use because they deviate from expected norms and conventions. Several design elements are common enough that users expect them to work in a certain way.
While standard websites use the same design approach as users strongly expect these elements to work a certain way, confusion is reduced resulting in a more user friendly experience.
Many websites create user confusion. This is caused by the use of diverse elements. With a lack of consistency and debatable target audience relevancy, no single design approach dominates. This confusion results in users not knowing what to expect and greatly reduces website usage and business outcomes
How Many Design Elements Are Standardised?
To estimate the extent to which Web design complies with interface standards, we have listed below common findings based on our internal review of corporate homepages.
Following are the extent to which websites have standardised as studied:
- A logo in the upper left corner of the page
- A search box on the homepage
- An absence of splash pages
- Breadcrumbs listed horizontally
- Using a site map link
- Changing the color of visited links
- Placing the shopping cart link in the upper right corner of page
- Placing links to sibling pages in the left-hand column
The following design elements were used in so many ways that no single approach dominated. Confusion reigned in several areas, including:
- The main navigation schemes, which included left-hand menu, tabs across the top, navigation bar across the top, Yahoo-style directory in the middle, and so on
- Placement of the search feature, which included upper right, upper left, middle, and elsewhere on the page
- The sign-in process
- Placement of Help
At first glance, it might seem that for a vast majority of website designs, a convention or standard exists, which means that people will apparently know how to use the site when these conventions or standards are followed. But look at the design element examples at each standardization level. Unfortunately, the most firmly standardized issues are the simplest and most localized ones, such as where to put the logo or how to display breadcrumb trails.
The confusing design elements are the bigger issues that contribute more strongly to users' ability to master the whole site, as opposed to dealing with individual pages. Navigation is confusing. Search is confusing. Sign-in is confusing. Even Help is confusing, reducing the usability of the user's last resort when all else has failed. Why Design Standards Help Users
Confusing design elements avoided and design standards established for every important website task. Standards ensure that users will know
- what features to expect,
- how the features will behave
- where to find these features on the site and on the page,
- how to operate each feature to achieve their goal,
- how to interact with new features even though they may overlook a non-standard design element
- how to handle something when it doesn't work as expected.
These increase the overall satisfaction with the experience.
Why Use Design Standards
In visiting all these other sites, people become accustomed to the prevailing design standards and conventions. When users arrive at a web site, they assume it will work the same way as other sites. Users only browse a page for a very short time that can be measured in seconds, concluding in that time that the website didn't fulfil their needs.
With so little time to convince prospects that you're worthy of their business, you shouldn't waste even a second making them struggle with a deviant user interface. Going forward, we must produce and follow widely-used conventions and design patterns for the bigger issues in Web design, including:
- The structure of product pages,
- Workflow (beyond simplistic shopping carts),
- The main types of information a corporate site should provide, and
- The information architecture for that information
Not everything can be standardized, but there is more commonality to user behaviour across sites than expected. It should be possible to derive high-level design patterns wihch both retain sufficient flexibility and give users a sense of consistency and mastery in the things that matter.
Whether you run an intranet or a website, one thing is clear: the more you comply with design conventions and give users what they want, the more success you'll have. It's of course important to differentiate your content, services, and products, but in the interface to this material, your best strategy is to follow everyone else.
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