HOME

"What Makes a Web Site Usable?"

 

There are many characteristics of a "usable" site- compatability, speed, readability, understandability, etc. (Refer to Assignment 5 for a full list of what qualities make a good web page.)

In this assignment we will look at examples of both a usable site, and an example of an unusable site.

Usable

http://usability.gov/guidelines/

This is a usable site. The font is easily readable against the backround, it loads quickly, has a simple address, is very organized, and contains few images.

Unusable

https://www.angelfire.com/journal2/holly/index.html

I consider this site to be fairly unusable. First of all, there is no pattern or consistancy in the pages and they aren't very organized. There is far to much scrolling in some areas. The text is hardly readable-blending in with distracting backrounds. It would be very hard to find twice, and I doubt there would be enough interest sparked for anyone to want to. The URL would be very hard to remember. Though this isn't directly related to usability, I will mention also that the page has no real purpose or target group other than just to exist.