Top 10 Web Design Mistakes by Jacob Nielsen Version 2007.

Original author: Jacob Nielsen
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A new ranking of web design errors from the world authority in the field of usability, the head of the "Nielsen Norman Group" Jacob Nielsen. These 10 new ones only complement other errors from Nielsen - "creeping lines", heavy Flash, browser incompatibility, etc.

1. Inconvenient search

Overly literal search systems reduce usability in the sense that they cannot deal with typos, plurals, quotation marks, and other variations of search queries. Such search engines are especially inconvenient for older people, although they can harm anyone.

A similar problem is when the search engine puts higher those search results that simply contain a larger number of search queries, while the results should be arranged in order of importance. It is much better when your search engine places the best offers at the top of the list of results - especially for important queries, such as the names of your products.

Search is the last straw that a site visitor grabs when navigation fails. But, even if advanced search sometimes helps people, a quick search usually works best . In addition, the search should be placed in a concise block, because this is what users expect.

2. PDF files for online reading

Users hate to stumble on PDFs while surfing the web because it is breaking the wave. Even simple things, such as printing and saving documents, are difficult to do because the standard browser commands do not work. The arrangement of elements in the PDF file is optimized for a sheet of A4 paper, and this rarely matches the size of the browser window. So goodbye, smooth scrolling. Hello tiny fonts.

And, worst of all, PDF is a single piece of content in which it's hard to find a way.

PDF is good for printing, for distributing instructions and other voluminous documents that need to be printed. So let him serve this very purpose. And the information on which you need to travel, or just read it on the screen, is better to turn into real web pages.

3. The unchanging color of previously visited links.

Knowing past locations helps you decide where to go next. Links are a key factor in the navigation process. Users can exclude links from their travels that showed their worthlessness during previous visits. Conversely, they can revisit those sections that have already benefited them previously.

Most importantly, knowing which links you have already visited frees you from unintentional visits to the same pages.

All this useful knowledge is possible only under one condition: when users can distinguish visited links and new ones, due to the fact that the site displays them in different colors. When previously visited links are not highlighted in different colors, users are more often disoriented and accidentally visit the same pages.

4. Unreadable text A

solid wall of text is a terrible experience for a site visitor. She is perplexing and frightening. Drives to sleep. It is literally painful to read.

Write for the Web , not for print. To captivate the reader with texts and make them easier to read, use well-proven tricks:

  • subtitles
  • bullet lists
  • bold keywords
  • short paragraphs
  • the farther in the text, the shorter the paragraphs
  • simple writing style
  • professional jargon-free language


5. Fixed font size

Unfortunately, CSS stylesheets allow sites to disable the “change font size” browser command and set a fixed size. In approximately 95% of cases, this fixed size is very small , which significantly reduces the readability of the text, at least for all those over 40.

Respect the preferences of users and allow them to change the font size whenever they want. In addition, it is worth indicating the font size in relative values, and not in the exact number of pixels.

6. Poorly optimized page titles

Search is the main way that websites are found. It is also one of the main ways of targeting websites. A simple page title is your primary tool for attracting new visitors from search results. It also helps existing users locate the pages they need.

The page title is contained within the HTML tag. It is almost always used as a clickable heading among SERPs. Search engines usually show the first 66 characters of the title, so the title is real microcontent.

Page headers are also used as the default text to bookmark your browser when a user adds a site to their favorites. For example, it is better to start the title of the main page of a corporate site with the name of the company, and continue with a brief description of the site. Do not start the headings with words that are insignificant or “Welcome” (unless you want your site to be sorted alphabetically in a certain way.

For the internal pages of the site, start the heading with some of the most important words that describe what the user will find on this page. Since the page title is also used as the window title in the browser, it is also used by Windows users as the name of the window on the taskbar. This means that more experienced users will move between the windows, focusing on the first words in their headings. If all the pages of your site begin with the same words, you significantly reduce the usability of the site pages for such users.

7. Everything that looks like an advertisement

Selective attention is a very powerful thing, and Internet users have learned not to pay attention to any kind of advertising that stands in their direction. The main exception to this rule is text ads in search engine results.

Unfortunately, users also ignore those elements of web pages that resemble the main types of advertising. Still, when you ignore something, you usually don't study it in detail.

Therefore, it is best to avoid those design options that make site elements look like ad units. In the future, special cases of this subsection will change with the advent of new types of advertising, but for now, follow these rules:

  • banner blindness means that the user never stops looking at elements similar to a banner - form, pattern or location on the page;
  • fear of animation leads to the fact that users ignore areas with blinking text or other types of aggressive animation;
  • fear of pop-ups causes people to close pop-ups before they fully load.

8. Violation of generally accepted design rules.

Constancy is one of the main principles of usability: if the elements always behave the same, users do not need to worry about what might happen. On the contrary, they know what will happen next, as past experience tells them about it. Each time you release an apple over Sir Isaac Newton's head, it will fall on his head. And that’s great.

The more often users' expectations are confirmed, the more they will feel control of the system, and the more they will like it. And the more often the system deceives people's expectations, the more uncertain they will feel. Oh, and suddenly, if I let this apple go, it will turn into a tomato and fly away to the sky.

Jacob’s Law states: “Most of the time users spend on othersites. "

This means that they form their expectations about your site based on how it is usually done on other sites. If you shy away from these rules, it will be harder to use the site and people will start to leave.

9. The appearance of new windows in the browser

This can be compared with the seller of vacuum cleaners, who begins a visit to the buyer by tipping the ashtray onto his carpet. Do not stain my screen with extra windows. Thanks. (This is especially true because existing operating systems are not good at managing these windows).

Designers open new windows in the browser, based on the theory that this keeps visitors on their site. But, even if you do not take into account that a message hostile to a person appears on the screen and gains control over his system, this strategy destroys itself because it disables the Back button - a natural way to return to previous pages. Users often do not notice that a new window has opened, especially if they have small monitors, where the browser windows are fully open to fill the screen. In this case, the user who wishes to return will be confused by the appearance of the gray and inactive Back button.

Links that do not behave as expected from them violate the user's understanding of their own system. The link should be simple hypertext that fills the open page with new content. Users hate windows that pop up without warning. If they want a new page to appear in a new window, they can use the appropriate command in the browser - of course, if the link is not a piece of code that contradicts the standard behavior of the browser.

10. Unanswered questions

Internet users are very motivated people. They visit sites because there is a goal that they want to achieve — perhaps even buy your product. The factor of complete damage to the site is the inability to provide the information that users are looking for.

Sometimes, there is simply no answer on the site, and you lose profit because users are forced to conclude that your product or service does not meet their needs if you do not explain the details to them. Sometimes these details are buried under a thick layer of professional jargon and high-profile slogans. Since users do not have time to read everything, such hidden information is like no information.

The worst example of unanswered questions is not to provide prices for goods or services. No B2C site will make such a mistake, but it is common in B2B sites. Price is the most necessary element of information that people use to understand the essence of the proposal. Not showing the price means making people feel lost and stopping them from understanding the nature of the product.

Even B2C sites often make a similar mistake by not including prices in product listings, such as category pages or search results. Knowing the price is the key in both situations; this allows users to differentiate products and get to the most needed.

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