A Model of "Omnipresent Usability" in Website Design

The idea is that, no matter what you're doing, there's a user-centered way of doing it.
Users should be painstaking throughout the website design process. Usability should not be an afterthought. Testing and fixing a website after it has been built is inefficient and unlikely to produce good results. The best approach to take is to incorporate a model of "pervasive usability" into your design and production process.
The Remuneration of planning usability into your project are:
o Improved end-user contentment
o Improved end-user efficiency, success, and achievement
o Compact durable development costs (costs incurred from fixing poorly designed products)
o Compact training and support costs
o Return business to improve your competitiveness
1. Requirements Examinations
o Determine the goals for the website from the perspective of the user and the business.
o Determine the user desires and intention usability requirements.
o Appraise existing versions of the site.
o Execute a competitive analysis.
o Execute user interviews and appraisals.
2. Theoretical Design
o Draft out a site design and architecture at an intangible level.
o Conduct a task analysis to find critical features.
3. Replicates / Model
o Rapidly create visual representations (replicate) or interactive representations (model) of the site.
o Appraise usability through focal point groups, user tests, and walkthroughs.
o Use the evaluation results to create more mockups or improve the prototypes.
o Reiterate this process (design iteration) until the design and usability goals are met
4. Making
o Create the concluding product.
o Appraise functionality through testing, eminence assurance, usability testing, and field testing.
o Use the evaluation consequences to improve the product.
o Reiterate these processes (production iteration) until the business goals are met.
5. Initiate and Continuation
o Initiate the website.
o Continue and improve with user feedback.
o Use the feedback to create new requirements, and begin major design enhancement (system iteration).
Assessment happens at every stage of the process. Similar types of evaluation can happen at diverse stages of the design process to keep in mind the goals of the project and the users' needs. And if it comes down to a choice, diminish the scope of the project rather than the usability.

Website Design – Make or Break Brand Image

At this stage you need to decide on the design of your web site. This is very important, as it will create the look and feel of your site.

Consistency is especially important with web sites so that the person knows that they are still in the same site.
To start with it is best to draw some scathed of your page design. The only problem with designing on paper is that what looks good on paper does not always look good on a computer screen.
Next you need to try your design on a computer screen, to do this open up your favorite graphics program with a blank canvas of 783 x 398 pixels (this is the minimum live space of a web browser on a 800 x 600 resolution screen). Now you can start laying out your screen design.
By using a graphics program you can see how your web page design will look on a computer screen and if the colours don't look good or the layout is wrong you can easily change colours or move the layout around the screen till the page design looks good.
It is much easier trying out your page designs in a graphics program as it takes seconds to move things around the screen, as opposed to an HTML page where it can take hours rearranging the layout of a page.
The image on the right shows the design layout of this site in the graphics program Macromedia Fireworks before any HTML was written.

A website design can make or break your business. This is because most of the people prefer to browse through your services and products online and if the website design is such that it does not offer proper information; your customers will move on to some other company and take their services. There are numerous factors that contribute to a perfect website design and make it worth visiting again and again. The first factor is the interface of the website. You need to know that the visitor who comes to your website should be able to use the website easily and not have navigation issues.

Your website design needs to be presented in the best possible manner so that it becomes easy for the visitors to scan different pages and find links to other useful pages. Some of the visitors may also have slow download speed. So the elements in your website have to be in a way that they load easily and do not cause any inconvenience to the users. You can make the use of thumbnails so that the users can click on them and get access to other pages that may be relevant to them. This will assist the user to go through the website and find the information he is looking for. Take the help of a website designing company that understands your business well and makes the website accordingly.

The graphic design of the website is also one of the most important factors. Different audiences perceive your business differently. There has to be a visual attractiveness and contrast to the elements you use in the website. The design of your website should be thus that it matches the expectations of the audiences. The purpose of the site will help in deciding what colors are to be used along with other graphics. While you have to decide the colors that are to be used on the website, imagine the colors on a white sheet of paper. If the colors look good on a white sheet, it will surely be the same on the web page. Experienced website designers will make sure that you have the right mix of all the elements and get proper attention from the visitors.

Use of graphics and flash animation can be done at places where you need to put pictures and express your ideas in a better manner. As it is said that a picture can speak thousand words, make sure that the selection of the pictures, animation and graphic is correct and appeals to the visitors. The website will have to a particular font and text style so it also needs to be selected carefully. With all these things, the overall layout of the website also matters a lot. It does not have to be cluttered so that the users can find the information and links to other pages easily.

Choose a website designing company that keeps the image of your business intact and also provides you with good logo designers and experts who design website so that your customers are reaffirmed of your brand.