Alex Barnett blog

Stuff

Top-10 Web App Design Mistakes

Jakob Nielsen is considered the web’s usability guru by many web designers and therefore very influential when it comes to perceived best practices in this domain. Last week he shared his thoughts on web application design, specifically the top 10 mistakes made by web UI designers.

No matter how experienced you are, or how many sites and web apps you've created, or how much you think you know about web design, this article is still worth a read and some digestion.

One piece of advice to really take to heart is this well known (but regularly overlooked) gem:

“…Whatever you do, at least promise me this: Don't just implement feature requests from "user representatives" or "business analysts." The most common way to get usability wrong is to listen to what users say rather than actually watching what they do. Requirement specifications are always wrong. You must prototype the requirements quickly and show users something concrete to find out what they really need.”

If you follow this simple principle, the chances of creating mystery meat navigation will diminish with every new data point gathered and considered.

Top-10 Application-Design Mistakes

Summary:

Application usability is enhanced when users know how to operate the UI and it guides them through the workflow. Violating common guidelines prevents both.

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/application-mistakes.html

Posted: Feb 28 2008, 08:53 PM by alexbarnett | with no comments
Filed under: