Web Development and Web Usability

Most of us have heard of the phrase "web usability" and its frequent use through our verbal as well as non-verbal communication. But what does it mean when say "web usability"? We need a clear-cut perception regarding the matter before we go to the promised subject matter at the very title of this article. Now let me explain it to make the matter easy and understandable for all.

What is web usability?

Web usability is basically an approach to present your websites to the end- user in a clear-cut and concise manner so that he or she can access all the correct choices in an obvious way with a least possible effort.

It ensures consequences of actions by putting the most important thing in the right place on a web page and helps the surfers to intuitively relate the actions which he or she needs to perform on the web page. It does not demand for any specialized training or guidance and totally devoid of any kind of ambiguity.

We can spotlight the objectives of usability as given bellow:

• Introduce the information to the user in a clear-cut method.
• Make sure the correct choice for the user in an obvious way.
• Avoid any equivocal method like: clicking on delete/ purchase/ remove
• Place the most important thing at the right place on a web page or a web application.

Some Web Design and Usability Tips:

• Pages shouldn't take 30 seconds to download.
• Always make cross-platform test of your web pages, for HTML behaves differently in different browsers.
• Don't use 'homepage' link on the homepage for it might cause for navigational confusion.
• Use ALT tags for your graphics
• Follow rules of web designing like: "blue for hypertext links" to help visitors easy to get your content.
• Don't use the words like:"click here" or "Click" for a link.
• Incorporate width and height attributes on your graphics to allow browsers to pre-allocate the appropriate quantity of space for every graphic on your page.
• Don't use default link colors like: blue for unvisited links and purple for visited links.
• Your web design approach should be KISS (keep it simple stupid)
• Web content writing format should encourage scan ability. Use shorter sentences and short paragraphs, bulleted text and lots of sub-headings.
• During your use of frames for all hypertext links you should have a Target="_Top" to attribute in their anchor tag.
• Use contrastive colors for the text and background to get more readability and increase usability.
• Keep title within 75 characters and use helpful and meaningful page titles to summarize page content. Always justify your text.
• Home pages should be like a preface and would cover "What is this site all about?"
• Avoid using all caps
• Make it easy to navigate
• The final important thing is that your site's navigation must answer the question "Where am I".

Suman Jalal.
A modern writer writes articles on:
web design
website development and web usability
Telecommunication
Information Technology

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United Nations Climate Change Conference COP 16

United Nations Climate Change Conference COP16 has been kicked off day before yesterday in Cancun, Mexico and to be continued on from 29 November to 10 December 2010. This 16 Conference of the Parties, abbreviated as COP 16, has been aimed to get a joint commitment and compromise from 192 nations. Delegates from the concerned nations are expected to get together by the 10th of December to be determined a collective, international approach to curtail down their increasing global temperatures.

The objective was solidified when Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in her opening speech said: “Cancun can launch a new era in the pace of global action on climate change, where each year brings increasingly effective answers to keep humanity on track to a safer future”

A research work revealed by Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions: A journal on 30th November forecasted that the world’s temperature might hike 4 degree Celsius or (7.2F) by the end of 2060 if it is not properly taken care of or doesn’t get checked. The consequence might fall on us as shortage of drinking water, loss of marine life and to cope up with such changes might prove to be astronomical for the nations.

NASA researchers confirmed that the world is being warmed up more expeditiously in the last thirty years than ever before.

Carol Werner, the executive director of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) in Washington D.C., has expressed his hope even from some climate change deniers for some responsible outcomes in this COP 16:
i) He would look for a formal agreement between countries and companies to curb black carbon, or soot produced by the diesel burning or smoke emitted from the cook-stoves and open burning heat and energy sources.

ii) And a respectful intervention on behalf of United States and China to continue monitoring, reporting and verifying the consumption, production and emissions by the countries.

He commented that COP has become a place of exhibition where the companies showcase their own clean technologies and environmental best practices and lobby for politics to get a clean cheat.