Usability is one of the key elements to a successful website. When designing a website we look at the following:

• What objectives do visitors of this website have? What is the purpose of their visit?
• What are the stages a visitor goes through to achieve their objective?
• What is the hierarchy of information on the website?

To help explain the importance of website design for usability, below is a statement by two of the leading web usability experts.

"Studies of user behavior on the Web find a low tolerance for difficult designs or slow sites. People don't want to wait. And they don't want to learn how to use a home page. There's no such thing as a training class or a manual for a Web site. People have to be able to grasp the functioning of the site immediately after scanning the home page--for a few seconds at most."
Jakob Nielsen and Donald A. Norman

Keeping up with usability

As web professionals we spend a lot of our time keeping up with the latest developments in usability and many other areas of our profession. Through this experience we achieve better results all the time. Below are a couple of links that provide information about website usability.

Eyetrack 2004 Results
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen's Website