A fairly important usability tip for web design is to make sure you include all the important details to support your content. A couple examples would be to make sure table columns have labeled headings, and all graph data is labeled.This may seem to be an incredibly obvious tip,  but even the big boys make these kind of mistakes.

Example of Not Double Checking

Here is an example of Yahoo not labeling the comic on the page specifically designed to show it. Additionally, though it is not seen in the screenshot, the title of the page does not reflect the comic name either. Not one clue to the name of this comic.

It’s the little things like this that frustrate users. Imagine trying to figure out what comic this is. Users would have to click on all unknown comics to themselves, using the comic directory below. There are over 100 comics listed on that page, so that would hardly be practical. It should have a label.

So note to self, when you are done building a unique page, review the page as if you knew nothing about the content. Are acronyms explained, is data labeled, or did you remember to label the comic strip? It’s those little details that can improve your site from great to perfect!

Any Yahoo employees reading this? Maybe a quick fix here?

Like this post? Get website tips delivered by email straight to you. Full feed articles are delivered, and are managed by Google's Feedburner service.

2 Comments - Post Yours