Basic User Interface Tips

Good design is like good makeup; if the viewer is aware of it, it probably isn't good enough. A well-designed website user interface is one where good design permeates into every aspect of its functioning but recedes into the background, so that all the user is left with is a great experience and a desire to come back for more. This quality is important for any website (after all, why build one if you don't want a loyal audience), but is absolutely crucial for an eCommerce website.

No matter how good your products are, and how reasonable your prices, no one will give them even a first look if your website is badly designed and confusing. On the internet, people are not patient and your competition is just a click away, so it's imperative that you follow the following basic website user interface tips.

• No one likes distractions: Blinking text, rolling gifs, pop-ups and auto-playing audio clips should be left where they belong – in the 90's. You can't go wrong with a clean, streamlined look for your website. However, remember that clean doesn't mean bland, boring and colorless. It just means that you need to be judicious with your use of design elements to draw the viewer's attention to where you really want it to be.

• Stick to a theme: Continuity is key. While it may be tempting to let your inner designer loose and create a unique design for every page in your website, it's usually much better and much less confusing for the viewer if you employ a consistent theme and color scheme throughout the board.

• Consistency: It's not just the colors and themes, your website has to behave consistently across the board too. That means you cannot have some lists drop down upon hover, and some that need to be clicked. Straying too far from conventional norms is also a bad idea, because the user is liable to get frustrated.

• Add a search box: No one likes to fly blind. Adding a search box to your website makes life much easier for your visitors who are not there to browse, but have a specific purpose. It goes miles in reducing frustration and is one more step in the journey to a great user experience.

• Site map and breadcrumbs: Does your website comprise of more 12-15 pages? Consider this point essential. A site map can make things really easy for the viewer, laying out the whole structure of the website in a single screen. On the other hand breadcrumbing is absolutely essential when your website navigation is hierarchy-based as it allows the viewer to understand at a single glance exactly how deep he is into the website and allows him to skip to any of the preceding branches without the aid of the back button.

There is no hidden secret to good design because every website, every audience is different. That is why it is so important to keep in mind the website audience when designing its user interface. However, the tips and suggestions given above cover pretty much every type of website there is, and beyond what is given, building a great website user interface is entirely on your hands and your creativity.

By: Day2Day Printing

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