Goran Paunovic, Author at Web Usability Talk

Check Your Site’s Web Usability with These 5 Free/Low Cost Testing Tools

You don’t have to be an expert nor a design firm with the latest in usability technology to run some great usability testing. In the last few years, there have been a large amount of free or cheap tools that have been created by the web design community to help everyday website owners like you. These tools will allow you to cover a wide range of web usability standards and help you make quick improvements to your site. Without further ado, here is a list of some handy tools. 1. Juicy Studio’s Readability Test If content is king then you owe it to yourself to make sure that your content is easy to consume. This testing tool allows you to simply take the URL of your page and scan it for readability. It checks against three different algorithms with explanations on how your page was scored and what you can […]

The Pros and Cons of Adaptive Web Design

While responsive design has been dominant in the design and development industry, adaptive design has still remained relevant. What makes adaptive web design different from responsive is that it uses different versions of a website to deliver a customized experience for the user. The version that is shown will obviously depend on multiple factors like the screen size of the device, type of device, browser being used, etc. The big question that many website owners want answered is if whether adaptive design is the right choice for their mobile campaigns. To help answer that question, here are some pros and cons of this design format. Pros of Adaptive A better user experience due to the fact that predesigned versions of a website will be served to the user. The website isn’t “responding” to the type of device or other factors. The website will perform better. Load time is one of […]

How to Think About Corporate Site Design and Strategy

For many companies, the role of the corporate website has shifted from a go-to destination for their brand to a channel for public relations. Brand websites and mini websites have taken the role in selling and engaging the target audience. While companies have evolved their strategies in terms of what to do with their other sites, very few have done much in terms of creating an effective corporate web design. Before even discussing design, it’s important to come up with a corporate website strategy. You have to start by asking the important questions. Why are people going to your corporate website? Will you need a mobile version of your site? What goals do you have for the corporate website? How will you go about achieving these goals? You have to map out your strategy so that you can come up with how the design can support the goals. Once there […]

The Importance of Web Usability Testing

Web usability is one of the most important aspects of a website; however often in the corporate environments, it is one of the least understood aspects of content optimization. Although UI/UX is an integral part of site design and architecture, there are few people who truly understand it enough to make it an integral part of the layout right from the start. Here are just a few of the advantages to including UI/UX in the testing and planning of your website from the very beginning of its inception. You will create better SEO from the beginning of your online presence Search engine optimization usually takes quite a while to affect a website’s presence on the Internet. However, incorporating web usability testing into the framework of a website will speed up this process immeasurably. It is well known that the major search engines place a premium on sites that have low […]

Defining UX Design Strategy and Deployment

UX design has come to carry a ton of weight in the web usability world. It’s easy to understand why. The better experience that a user gets, the more likely the user will share, become fan, or make a purchase. People remember great experiences and come back to get the same kind of experience even if they have to pay more for it. Providing a great experience to customers obviously has many benefits to a brand’s credibility, reputation and its social media reach. Define the Problem or the Larger Goal If you’re starting to take web usability seriously, it’s likely because you feel there is some problem or a situation where your goals are not being met. You really need to pinpoint the issue. Maybe your web pages have a high abandon rate or your app gets a lot of downloads but very little usage after the first few days. […]

Here Are Your Options for Magento eCommerce Responsive Layouts

It wasn’t too long ago when companies were investing a respectable budget into building mobile sites. After responsive design became the standard, many companies started jumping ship on their mobile sites and decided to commit to this format. However, many eCommerce companies have been slow to embrace the format due to the amount of time and money required to redesign the entire site. But adapting doesn’t have to be difficult, especially if you are running under the Magento platform. Many third party companies have created themes to help Magento websites take full advantage of responsive web design. You can find a wide variety of features and customizable options from flexible slideshows, wide color palettes, customizable grids, and various layouts to help you achieve your desired look. These themes are very affordable but it is still challenging for the average website owner to build a well designed eCommerce website that caters […]

A Simple Mobile App Design and Prototyping Process Anyone Can Follow

Do you have a mobile app idea that has the potential to become a hit in the app marketplace? Are you looking to create an app that supports your customer base or your employees? Turning your app idea into a reality is a multiple step process that requires a clear and organized plan. It is definitely a big challenge if you don’t have any experience with app design but if you have the desire to do it yourself, here are some steps to follow for designing and prototyping your first app. First, start out with your app idea and write down how it will work in a simple way. Focus on what the goal of the app is, how it will help the user, and how to provide a great experience to the user. You also want write down a list of features but you should save the complex features […]

Evolution of Responsive Design – Where It’s Come and Where It’s Going

Responsive design has come a long way since its inception in 2011. The idea didn’t catch on as quickly as mobile websites did but today it’s become the standard when it comes to designing and developing a website. The concept started with the ability to rearrange elements of your existing website to fit the best view experience for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Responsive web design is now going beyond this basic function. Companies offering responsive design services started to realize how important it was to actually optimize the websites they’re working on. It’s one thing to display a great user experience for all devices but it’s another complete issue on getting these websites to perform similarly to the main website. That’s why there has been a lot of focus on optimizing smartphone and tablet versions of your website for both UX and conversions. Another realization that was […]

3 Reasons Why Designing Intelligent Site Architecture Matters

When it comes to working with websites, most people focus on the design, content or the offpage factors for search engine optimization. But one critical aspect of web design that often gets ignored is website architecture. Having a good user-centric design and architecture impacts conversions, the time spent on your website and search engine visibility. It may seem like a simple aspect of web design, especially if you have a small website, but making sure you design an intelligent site architecture helps in so many different ways. The first obvious benefit that a good site architecture creates is an improvement in the UX design. Making sure that your website is organized makes it easier for users to find the content that they’re looking for and content they find useful. Creating well themed categories and subcategories and assigning content to tight knit themes is key to making this happen. Creating breadcrumb […]

Understanding UI, UX and Usability Design

A lot of designers are talking about UI, UX and Usability these days. If you’re like most business owners, you probably understand the importance of design but start getting confused when all these terminologies get thrown around. To help you understand what these different aspects of design are, we’ll define each and go into why each is important. What Is UI Design And Why Is It Important? UI simply stands for user interface. The UI is simply the design element that allows you to control a website, app or platform. The UI of a website is the navigation menu that allows you to explore different parts of the website. The UI of an app is basically the same thing with the addition that it allows you to access features and run the functionalities of the app. What Is UX Design And Why Is It Important? UI is under the umbrella […]

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All posts by: Goran Paunovic