6 Factors for a Successful Website

Although among designers and developers the subject is handled to the point of saying enough, it is still common to find the occasional client who asks for Flash sites or where the image and the "special" design are privileged.

I wrote some notes with a selection of links with the intention of informing those who are thinking about creating a website.

Introduction:

In the construction of usable websites, the content is privileged over the image.

Description:

There is a growing trend in the construction of corporate websites that arises from the experience of the late 90's and the growing impact of the Internet on everyday life.

This trend consists of giving greater relevance to textual content over static ornament or design. This has been accompanied by the diffusion of technologies and development methodologies that allow a better separation of the layers of structure, presentation and behavior (Semantic XHTML, CSS and Javascript in separate files).

Applications such as Yahoo , Google , eBay or Amazon have proven that a clean, clear design and abundant in relevant content guarantee a higher return of satisfied users than the option for elaborate designs but also static, difficult to maintain and with cryptic or unclear content.

Success factors of a website:

1. Visibility:

you cannot use a site that cannot be found. Search engines use algorithms that measure the concentration of relevant words on each page and the structure of the HTML. The covers of each site should display descriptive texts of each area of ​​the site that you want to promote. Likewise, the use of images and "invisible" elements for search engines (Flash, titles or image format captions) should be kept to a minimum. All design code, which is centralized in CSS style sheets, should be removed from the HTML pages. This, in addition to reducing the weight of each file and facilitating the maintenance of the design, maximizes the density of relevant content per page.

2. Rotation of contents:

Another important factor for search engines is content renewal or rotation. A search engine judges older results as less relevant. There is a tendency in large corporate sites to maintain a “ blog ” format on their covers, with news publications or links to related sites, updated periodically.

3. Usability:

the user interface design should consider the expectations of the average user. The contents should be clear and well structured. The interactive elements (links, buttons, scroll bars) should be familiar and standardized.

4. Weight:

an average user does not stay on a page for more than 30 seconds. If in the first 10 seconds it does not find what you are looking for, it will leave the page. Heavy pages, with many images or inefficient code waste precious seconds of the user's attention exclusively on loading. For this reason, the central contents must be clear and visible. The essential images should be kept and where possible use HTML for titles and headings.

5. Service orientation:

corporate or service sites should clearly state the services offered. Users of these sites usually know what they want to do at the time of the visit and do not want to be bothered with superfluous information or take too many steps to get what they want. This is why the most relevant service and product areas must be visible and clear from the front page, with descriptions and supplementary data if necessary.

6. Navigability:

the user must know at all times in which section of the site they are. For this it is important that the navigation elements are clear and homogeneous for all pages, and if possible have an alternative to hierarchical navigation (example: a search engine). The content segments should have their own page and URIs that are readable and easy to remember.

Conclusion:

If the goal is user loyalty and return and rapid familiarization with new users, the success of a website will ultimately be measured by how it meets your usage expectations and how easily tasks are accomplished.