As usable as a payment gateway: Is your website user friendly? Part 2

By: Mary Harkness

In continuing our look at how to make your eCommerce website more, particularly by taking a cue from some of the most user-friendly websites on the internet, that of payment gateways, here are some more helpful tips designed to improve the usability of your website.

Consistency is a must. Not everyone who browses the internet is fond of having to learn to navigate through every new website they go to. A good number of people would rather that websites have a form of commonality in navigation, if only for the sake of consistency. This does not necessarily mean that you should pattern your navigation after the most popular or most commonly visited websites (although a lot would wish you would do so), this only suggests that you maintain consistency in navigation through your website.

Keep your “back” at the front. Under no circumstances should you disable the “back” button. A visitor may have seen something they want to get back to at one point on your site after they are through with one particular section. Disabling the “back” option severely limits their options, and a lot of people really don’t want to have to go through the entire procedure of having to trace where they were starting all the way from the landing page.

Give visitors a map. Just like any grand location or structure, your website should have a site map. While many webmasters would like to think that this is just a waste of time and people don’t really look at site maps, they may just be surprised to know that most people do read the site map because this eliminates the need to go through all the sections of your website to find the information they are looking for.

Provide textlink options. You may constantly congratulate yourself every time you see your website and the fantastic job you did on it, especially with all your dazzling navigation aids such as Javascript, Java applet, and flash DHTML, but not everyone knows how to use them, and may not even have the means to operate them. Providing the needed text link allows these people to enjoy going through your site even without the benefit of the necessary plug-ins.

Use proper content spacing. If you don’t want to look like a rank amateur with the content you have on your web site, consider providing appropriate spacing between all the content on your site, because seeing a huge chunk of words all compacted together in one paragraph doesn’t exactly invite people to read, and it may even provoke the opposite reaction, drive the visitor away. Not only is appropriate spacing proper in maintaining a semblance of professionalism in your website, it also shows you do want people to read and understand the content of your website.

Put in a search box. An in-site search box is a very handy tool, and is one feature that will be greatly appreciated by visitors to your website. Be sure, however, to make it obvious that it is a search box. Put the word “search” immediately beside the box where they can type in their query.

Write your own 404 error message. Moving, deleting, and modifying pages of a website are all parts of its natural evolution, so what a person saw a couple of months ago may not be there again when they come back. In instances like these, it is a good idea to make a 404 message to tell that person where you moved the page, or if the page they want still exists. As an added touch, try personalizing your error message, instead of the usual stuff you see in place of missing pages. This gives your website a touch of personality, and removes that fully automated and impersonal “feel”.

Keep scroll bars visible. You may have done a stand up job in designing your website, blending spectacular colors into a color scheme that defies explanation, but what did you do with the scroll bars? Scroll bars are no good if they can’t be seen because they are of the same color are the background, or a shade too dark to be really seen by the casual visitor. Should your design really require you to change the color of your scroll bar, give it some contrast so that it stands out from the background.