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| 3. Is there anything I can do to make my website usable? |
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| There are certainly some key things you should look to avoid when designing a usable website. Designing a site using frames is perhaps the most common usability issue. Firstly, some older web browsers do not support the use of frames, which will prevent a user browsing your site correctly. Even if a visitor does support the use of frames, printing and bookmarking of individual pages can prove frustrating due to several pages being present on the screen at once. |
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| Many websites on the internet do not display correctly when viewed at different screen resolutions. A screen resolution is a setting on your own computer which affects how much you can see on the screen at once. The two major resolutions are 800x600 and 1024x768. However, many websites fall into the trap of only being suitable for the 1024x768 screen resolution and resolutions above this. A site may appear fine on one resolution but not on another so to make your website usable, it should be suitable for screen resolutions of 800x600 and above. |
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| Finally, the speed of your site is a critical usability issue. Not everyone has broad- band or cable internet connections. Many users still have dial-up internet connections and this is something many site designers forget when designing sites that are rich in graphics and flash animations. According to research by leading internet expert Jakob Nielsen (www.useit.com), visitors will typically click away from your site if it has not fully loaded in 8 seconds. Therefore, if your website has heavy image content or is entirely flash based, you may find some visitors never get to your content and have clicked away before the site has even finished loading. |
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| Xyone can provide you with a comprehensive analysis of your website and identify recommendations as to how your site can improve in terms of its usability. Should you wish to implement the changes recommended, Xyone has an experienced team of web developers who can rectify any problems discovered in your analysis. For more information or to request a Xyone audit be carried out on your site, please the audit section of the website. |
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