The Shakers believed that it was a gift to be simple. And although best known for their uncomplicated, agrarian lifestyle, the religious sect’s less-is-more philosophy can serve website design quite nicely. If only we would listen.

When it comes to Web design, simplicity seems as quaint as the Shakers that came to American shores in the late 18th century. According to a recent report by Forrester Research, only 50 percent of the sites it surveyed offered useful content within two clicks of the homepage.

What’s worse, the study of 30 well-known retail sites showed that poorly planned sites forced users to give up and leave.

The survey shows that users aren’t looking for bells and whistles, fancy graphic packages and flashy animation. They want, and need, useful information delivered with functionality. A site that looks great but functions poorly is about as useful as Julia Roberts pitching for the New York Yankees. Sure, she looks great in a uniform but she’s not likely to strike out Mark McGwire.

Usability is the hottest buzzword on the Web. While this development may not sound very sexy to Web designers it is a thing of beauty for your site’s visitors.
“Design complexity is a barrier for users,” says Jakob Nielsen, widely regarded as the world’s leading expert on Web usability and author of Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. “While users certainly might be capable of jumping the barrier, why should they? The Web is about freedom of movement. Anything that stands in the way of immediate task completion will negatively impact the user’s experience.”

For years Nielsen has been campaigning against bad Web design. His biweekly Alertbox column (check it out at Useit.com) rips indulgent, graphics-bloated sites.

“People face complicated problems in their own work and they don’t want to devote brain cells to your website or its design,” Nielsen says. “They want to get in, get out, and move on with their own task.”

Nielsen claims that only about 10 percent of all websites would be classified as easy to use. And even those, he says, accomplish ease-of-use through luck, intuition or a combination of both.

What makes a good website? That depends. Nielsen’s own Useit.com is graphically sparse. As a matter of fact, you’ll find no graphics at all to speak of. “I am not a visual designer, so my graphics would look crummy anyway,” Nielsen says. Besides, he didn’t want to spend money to hire an artist.

Which raises an important point: Web design need not be expensive to be good. It must, however, be targeted. That means that your site must do something specific that people want or need.

“You’ve got to find out what people are trying to achieve,” Nielsen says. “If you can find the top three things that people are trying to accomplish on your website then you’ve gotten most of the way there.”

The most effective way to find out how a site would be viewed by an outsider is to test it with an outsider. Watch how people act as they navigate your site. Is it easy for them to move around? And, most importantly, are they able to accomplish what they need to accomplish: to find information, reach customer service or place an order.

When testing your site, don’t bother asking someone if the site is easy to use. You’ll get useless responses. Instead, give test users tasks. Ask them to buy a floor chemical, soap dispenser, or to find directions for removing a stubborn stain. This way you can discover how the site works in practice. Develop a site that works and you’ll have happy customers.

Sound simple? It is. Sure it takes work, but don’t give up. After all, the Shakers discovered the joys of simplicity years ago. Now so can you.




POSTED ON: 4/1/2001