What is a user-friendly website?

Spend any time on the internet and you’ll likely see the term “user-friendly” pop up in relation to a website. But what exactly does it mean and how can you make your own website more user friendly? Here we’ll explain all the ins and outs.

Put simply, a website is user friendly if it is easy to navigate, performs as it should, and does not create any issues for the reader. There are many aspects relating to how websites can be more user friendly and what will separate an easy-to-use website from one that people will try their best to avoid.

Navigation

User-friendly websites make it easy for you to know how to find things, with clear titles directing you to different parts of the website, and information laid out in a logical manner so that it is quick and easy to find what you’re looking for. If you have lots of menu items, rather than presenting each of them on the page, you can use drop-down menus to reduce the clutter.

Aesthetics

Speaking of clutter, how a website looks can greatly determine how user friendly it is. If you have, for example, a white background with yellow text on it, it can be very difficult to read. It can also be distracting if you use lots of different fonts on the page or if there are lots of large images with small amounts of text between them. On websites, less is often more.

Popups

You’ve probably experienced browsing on a website and then a popup interrupts you and impedes your view. These can be incredibly annoying and should be used sparingly, particularly if they require you to click on a little ‘x’ in the corner of the popup in order to get rid of it.

Speed

With high-speed internet becoming more commonplace both for WIFI and mobile data, the last thing you want is for users to sit there and watch as your website slowly loads. One of the biggest culprits is images that are saved on the page in full size, rather than as thumbnails.

Accessibility

Accessibility is one aspect of a user-friendly website, which tries to take into account the different skills and limitations that users may have, such as vision impairment. The Web Content Accessibility Guide (WCAG) was developed to help website owners make their websites more accessible for people with disabilities, as well as for older users.

Mobile friendly

The website Statista.com reports that in 2018 over 50% of internet traffic was generated via mobile phones. It’s therefore vital that if you’re creating a website, it is tested to ensure it functions properly on mobile phones. If it doesn’t, most people will simply move on to something else, rather than sending you feedback.

Testmate are experts at making websites user friendly, drawing on our years of experience to help website owners in a range of industries, such as e-commerce, finance, government, health insurance and startups.

Are you interested in our user testing services? Get in touch or request a demo today!