- Enabling users to find information
- Enabling users to read that information
- Enabling users to understand where to click and where the destination is
A lack of clarity
One of the most stubborn errors designers continue to make on websites is not sympathizing with the need of users to clearly and easily understand what the site or its elements is about. The study identified these mistakes surrounding a lack of clarity:- Unexpected locations for content
- Competing links and categories
- Hidden fees and prices
UX problems
How easy your site visitors find that it is to actually use your site is integral to whether or not your site has good UX or not. The NN Group’s study found these UX-related design mistakes that just won’t go away:- Islands of information
- Link repetition
- Stranding users on microsites
- Inadequate search results
- Flawed filters and facets
Information architecture foul-ups
Information architecture should, in many ways, be the heart and soul of good design. Essentially, it’s what helps users understand your site environment and content quickly, so they find what they want. It involves labeling, organizing and structuring your content in the clearest way possible. The usability study again found stubborn, repeated mistakes designers still make in this area, just as they did 20 years ago. These include:- Overwhelming users with excessive information
- Presenting users with hidden links
Wayfair.com is a case in point for how to present information to visitors. Note how its content is easily digestible, as it’s efficiently broken up. On the problem of hidden links, you’d be surprised at how many times designers hide links to relevant site content—for example, the menu of a restaurant—in the same column as ads leading to external links. The long and short of it is that most users won’t be able to find such relevant links amidst all the ads, which makes considering the placement of relevant links extremely vital to design.
Will it get better soon?
Part of the problem is that many designers just aren’t usability experts, but that’s no excuse. When you’re designing, you have to be obsessed with providing your users with a superb UX. Otherwise, your site’s usability, conversions, on-page time, and sales simply drop—and no client will tolerate that. It will be interesting to see if, in another 20 years, we still see studies like these, talking about how design errors from decades ago are still haunting our web-design community.Marc Schenker
Marc’s a copywriter who covers design news for Web Designer Depot. Find out more about him at thegloriouscompanyltd.com.
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