Web Site Usability

The first book read from my [book binge](book-binge-2004), and the only one related to my current job, Web Site Usability seems at first glance to be an obsolete volume on web design. Published in 1997, before I even knew how to use the web, it uses example sites that are obviously dated and possess primitive technology. I was beginning to think my first book from the stack was a dud.

But while the specific examples were out of date, the methodology used to test the sites is as valid as ever. The most difficult part about web design is finding out what the site’s users want to find out. [Spool & Co](http://uie.com) break web tasks down into four main areas, each of which can still be used to determine site content and navigation in today’s sites:

1. Simple Fact: What is the fax number for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce?

2. Judgment: Would stock funds be a good investment for your aunt’s retirement?

3. Comparison of Facts: Which wristwatch at the Disney Store is the least expensive?

4. Comparison of Judgment: What’s the best new convertible under $20,000?

The interesting thing about Spool’s version of web usability is that it is essentially the same as _findability_, something that Google has made largely a thing of the past. Now, to find information online, users will often start at Google and use its search to bypass local site navigation.

Spool’s observations about widget preferences (and irritants) are more lasting. These were gathered by observing the user’s facial and verbal reactions to site elements, and through a series of questionnaires given during and after the tests. As expected, spinning graphics and image links did poorly, and well-written text links did well, both things we now take for granted thanks to the success of Google’s AdWords and ad-blocking software. If designers had taken Spool’s advice starting in 1997, however, they could have had a 6-year head start on everyone else. That gives even more credibility to the authors’ testing methods, which can still be used to see _tomorrow’s_ web trends.