Usability has it’s own importance in a website.Some dos and don’t s to achieve a good usability are as follows.
- Do:
- Use ALT tags for all graphics, especially navigation graphics.
- Use black text on white background whenever possible for optimal legibility.
- Use either plain-color backgrounds or extremely subtle background patterns.
- Make sure text is in a printable color (not white).
- Place navigation in a consistent location on each page of your website.
- Use a familiar location for navigation bars.
- Keep the design from scrolling horizontally.
- Use one axis of symmetry for centered text on a page.
- Encourage scrolling by splitting an image at the fold.
- Don’t:
- Allow ALT tags to get clipped (especially an issue for small, fixed width images).
- Display static text in blue or underlined.
- Use boldface or ALL CAPS for long pieces of text. These slow down reading.
- Leave too much white space–reduces scannability.
- Make the user scroll to find critical information, especially transaction buttons and navigation links.
- Use horizontal rules to separate chunks of content.
- Alternate too frequently between centered text and left-aligned text. Most text should be left-aligned.
- Fix pages at larger than 800 x 600 pixels. Larger pages may force users to scroll horizontally.
