An article by Jakob Nielsen outlined the 10 Usability Heuristics to user interface design. This is just a suggestion of 10 guidelines to make a website easier for users to use: as I am planning on producing a website for my ancillary product, I thought research into this article might be useful.
"2. Match between system and the real world: The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order."
For this point, I think it shows how important it is that the website relates to the viewer. I think this will be appropriate as our target audience is a younger population and the band members themselves are young: this will make them more relatable and make the website more interesting for our target reader. We could also make sure that the website is bright, easy to read and uses lots of pictures so not to confuse the reader. I think the use of separate widgets on the screen will also be very useful.
"3. User control and freedom: Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo."
Although 'undo' and 'redo' is not relevant to the type of website I want to create, I think this point is particularly valid when thinking about how users will look through websites. It's essential that users don't get stuck on one page and find it impossible to move around the others. To combat this, I think a standard tab bar across the top of each page of the website that provides links to the other pages is both a practical and conventional idea. I think the website should also be set to open external links (such as social networking sites, maybe an external store etc.) in a new tab or page so even if the viewers get distracted by merchandising etc. they will still have the original webpage open.
"4. Consistency and standards: Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions."
The tab use on the webpage must be simple. Everything that ties in should be grouped together and laid out clearly on the page so the users do not get mixed up and confused. For example, if I made a tab for 'Gig dates', through which you could buy concert tickets, and then also put the concert tickets in the 'Merchandise' section, users may get confused about the correct place to buy them from. Instead, I should put the links to tickets on one page only, and then perhaps link to that page from the merchandising section. This provides the user with one clear route to their goal, without getting distracted by a confusing user interface.
"5. Error prevention: Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action."
In a band website specifically, this could refer to several things but I think the most obvious is the shopping basket. As a website maker for a theoretically small and low-budget band, I doubt in my merchandising section I will actually be able to create a shopping cart, so it is likely that I will use external sources to help sell my items. This is actually commonly found across band websites: amazon, dftba as well as specific record label websites are all used to externally sell merchandise. Similarly, websites such as seetickets and ticketmaster often handle the sale and distribution of tickets rather than an in built widget on the website. This would help prevent errors, particularly on an amateur website, as they are much more likely to have a better error control. Also, this would promote sales as most people shopping online prefer websites they know/have heard of, that are verified and safe.
"6. Recognition rather than recall: Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate."
Paths across the website should be obvious. If someone rarely visits a band website, or has never visited one before, they should still be able to navigate their way through the website without hesitation. They should also be able to grasp all the necessary information without having to search for it: this could be done through use of a homepage with a news feed and adverts for the band's latest singles and announcements.
"7. Flexibility and efficiency of use: Accelerators -- unseen by the novice user -- may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions."
In order to do this, I reckon consistency across a website is key. Although I have already suggested that the layout needs to be simple and easy to navigate through, I think on top of this it should be unchanging. Obviously, with regular updates the content will change, but the layout should remain key at all times. This allows both the unexperienced user, who will navigate through the simple website, and the experienced user to use it with minimal confusion. This means that the experienced user will know which certain elements to check for updates from and it will speed up their interaction.
"8. Aesthetic and minimalist design: Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility."
What this point is saying is that the website should not contain unnecessary information; although interesting to some viewers, it detracts from the important messages that need to be conveyed. I think what will help with this on my website particularly is small Twitter widgets and a link to the Twitter page: this allows interested users to click through and find the more irrelevant information tweeted from the band members, but also doesn't detract from the main purpose of the page. If the Twitter widget is headered with the Twitter icon, this would also stop people uninterested in tweets from reading that particular section of a page.
"9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors: Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution."
Although error messages are very unlikely to be a part of the website I'm designing, should it be a real, live website then errors are likely to occur. The fact there are no in-built shopping elements helps reduce confusion if there is an error, but it is understood that error messages should be clear and simple.
"10. Help and documentation: Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large."
One page I could include on my website is a FAQs section. This could contain questions to do with ticketing, merchandise, touring etc and would allow the users to look up answers to any queries they may have. I could also input a contact page where queries could be asked.
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