Connie HancockUniversity of Nebraska - LincolnExtension Educatorchancock1@unl.edu

Know why you are on the Web?

Easy to place an order Large selection of products Cheaper prices Faster service and delivery Detailed and clear product information No sales pressure Easy payment procedure

Reference: http://www.useit.com

Reasons Why People Shop the Web…

High Quality Ease of use Minimal download time Updated often

Reference: Forrester Survey

Factors driving repeat visits to a Web Site

Home page Navigation Bandwidth Browser compatibility User interface Color palette Frames Accessibility

Elements to consider…

Where am I? Where have I been? Where can I go? Where is the home page? Where is the home “home” page?

3 clicksand you’re out!

GONE!!

1 – 2 seconds < 13 seconds > 20 seconds

Download time…

Designing for 56k modem Keeping page sizes < 75k Applying the KISS rule

Decrease download time by…..

“Remove graphic; increase traffic.

It’s that simple.”

Reference: Dr. Jakob Nielsen; Web Usability Speciality; http://www.useit.com

NETSCAPE

EXPLORER

NETSCAPE

EXPLORER

Netscape Explorer Foxfire Mozilla

Browser Testing –

OperaAOLWeb TVLynx

Desktop Laptop Hand-held Web TV

How are your customers accessing your site?

PC Mac

How are your customers accessing your site?

Color Considerations….

Artistic

Cultural

Sales

Technical

Black – United States & EuropeWhiteWhite – China & JapanYellowYellow– Egypt & BurmaPurplePurple – ThailandBlueBlue – IranRedRed – South Africa

Browsers don’t like them Printers don’t like them Search engines don’t like them People/customers don’t like them

Frames . . .

FRAMES

How’s this for readability?

Recommendations . . . Good background/text contrast

Avoid patterned backgrounds

Easy to read fonts

Make words count

Short paragraphs

Bulleted lists

serif

sans-serif

The visually impaired use special readers that read only text.

Blinking text can trigger seizures in some visitors.

Poor color choices may render text unreadable to color blind visitors.

Mouse-dependent site navigation can be difficult for visitors with physical limitations.

Information contained in sound clips is inaccessible to hearing-impaired visitors.

For Example . . .

www.cast.org/bobby

www.w3.org/WAI

Fun and easy to navigate sites Pages that appear professional Clear and accurate product information Real time answers Good prices and clear representation of

all charges

The key is consumer confidence…

Payment options Secure transactions Easy to use return or exchange policy Quick processing time and delivery Shopper privacy

The key is consumer confidence…

The Bottom Line . . .

Getting customers to come to your site,

Getting customers to make a purchase once they get to your site, and

Getting customers to return to your site and purchase again, again, and again!

• Designing Web Usability, The Practice of Simplicity by Jakob Nielsen, www.useit.com• Web Pages That Suck, Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design by

V. Flanders & M. Willis, www.webpagesthatsuck.com• Don’t Make Me Think!, A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by

Steve Krug, www.sensible.com• Business to Consumer E-Commerce: Selling on the Internet, Beth Duncan, Ph.d Small Business Specialist, Mississippi State University Extension Service, bethd@ext.msstate.edu

Resources

Connie HancockUniversity of Nebraska - LincolnExtension Educatorchancock1@unl.edu