Developing a website isn’t easy. There’s a lot of things that need to be taken care of. Firstly, there’s the code, which needs to be flawless so as not to cause any system issues. Then, of course, there’s the content. Different types of media will require a specific way of presentation. Then there also needs to be device compatibility. An ideal site should work well for both desktop and mobile users in this day and age.
Oftentimes, web developers can get caught up in thinking about what they think works for the site that thinking about the user’s experience can be pushed into the background. When this happens, the site ends up looking and feeling great, but not from a user’s perspective. Luckily there are a ton of tools out there to address website usability and interface friendliness.
Advertising agency EraserFarm recommends placing the user at the core of all web design and development decisions. To help improve the user experience, here are a few things that can be incorporated into the development of a website.
User feedback
What better way to improve end-user experience than to get some comments and suggestions from end users themselves? While it’s understandable for a website that’s just starting out to have no areas for user discussions (especially if the site is a personal portfolio), websites that sell products and services should have a section dedicated to comments, suggestions, and maybe even reviews from the patrons of their product or service.
Disqus is a comments tool popular with service providers that can be integrated well into any Joomla site. This will help generate interactivity with the site being built and allow developers some insight into what the end users want to have happened.
Eye tracking
Using eye tracking software, web developers can gather more insight on how site visitors view their web pages. Certain eye tracking software allows backend users to track which part of the site a user’s gaze is fixed at and for how long. Heat maps and saccade pathways can provide invaluable data on what parts of a website affect the attention of a site visitor.
For example, a site’s social media links might not be as easily noticeable if placed in the site footer. Most site developers navigate around this by placing a widget with the links at the side of the site. Using eye tracking software on willing participants gives web developers a better idea on how to improve the user experience of the site that they are working on.
Content analytics
Improving end user experience is not just about making sure the site is visually ergonomic, it’s also about making sure that the content on the webpage is also relevant to the end user. Installing a Joomla extension such as Content Statistics or even utilizing the assistance of Google Analytics is an easy way to monitor site content and get key analytics to determine the content that is frequently visited by users.
Making use of the data gathered by a content analytics tool can help steer the direction of the site based on consumer behavior. This is also a great way to figure out what sections or categories are rarely visited by users; any sections or categories with low traffic may either need to be redesigned or consolidated with a different part of the site.
