Usability checklist

A small and useful checklist for usability. Check your resource before going to user testing. It does not pretend to the "pillar of usability", which must be followed, but here are collected quite useful things.

User experience

• Personalization. Currency, language, country-specific points, taxes and delivery options should change depending on where the user is from. IP geolocation should not be enabled without user permission.
• Registration carries a meaning. For example, the “free trial” button is quite tangible, but there is simply no link to the registration form.
• "Transparent pricing". Prices are immediately visible, there are no “pitfalls”, ala small price tags below, asterisks, footnotes, etc.
• Pages themselves are not updated. The user may be extremely surprised if, for example, on the news site suddenly pops up on the news.
• The information on your resource is reliable. There are no broken links, links lead to resources relevant to the topic, correct contacts (by which you can reach or find an office), the site contains photos of real people (which are really related to the subject of the site or its functioning). Well, do not forget about the quality design (remember, the article is not about design, but about usability).
• Images must convey all the necessary information: it must be possible to enlarge the image and look at the details.

Homepage

Here it is certainly worth mentioning the differences in the names of this item. “Homepage”, it is in most cases “Landing Page” (although not always), “start page” also refers to this page. Good article on Habré.

• Clear and clear call to action (eng. Call for action). The user knows what to do next and what benefits it will bring to him. Clearly expressed purpose and purpose of the site.
• The name of the authorized user is displayed on the page. For example, not just “good afternoon sir”, but “good afternoon Ivan”.
• All major changes are announced on the home page.
• Contact information and company information (location) should be easily accessible from the home page.
• Privacy policy. If your site collects user information, this should be stated on the home page.
• All images and videos carry a very specific meaning and purpose. No obscure stock photos of top models. Only high-quality photos and videos related to your activities. Video and sound effects should not be automatically played, unless the user expects it (notify the visitor of the beginning of the video or melody).
• The URL should work without the www prefix.

Availability

• Alt attributes must be specified for non-text blocks, such as images and maps. Signatures and transcriptions are desirable for audio and video elements.
• The color itself is not used to convey information.
• The text remains readable after disabling styles. Useful link to check.
• Accessible navigation. It is possible to move around the site without a mouse, using only the keyboard. All special keyboard shortcuts used for navigation are not hidden from the user.
• Avoid using Flash, at the moment you can do without it (I hope for the correct understanding of this item).
• Links, buttons, checkboxes are clicked without difficulty. For example, the user can check the checkbox by clicking on the text relating to this item.

Navigation

• Important links are not placed in dynamic (spinning, spinning) elements.
• Avoid alphabetical sorting where possible. Use grouping by category or other important parameters. A good article about this (in English).
• The user must know where he is, on which particular page, in which section. Here they help, everyone's favorite, bread crumbs.
• Navigation is always constant, does not change from page to page.
• The link is meaningful and indicates exactly where it leads based on the topic and content. Not just "tyrts" or "click here"
• The description of the site is in the title of the window, thus the site is easy to add to bookmarks and do not forget what he is.
• Site URL is easy to remember. And of course, it is always worth using Humanoid URLs.

Search

• The site has a search, unless of course the site does not consist of two pages.
• There is a search on every page, not just on the home page.
• The search box allows you to see what is written there.
• Search is a field, not a link to a separate page.

Links

• Important actions are indicated by buttons, not links. For example, “buy” or “pay” should be buttons, not links.
• Links do not open in a new browser window, well, or tab, if it is of course not a pdf file ( good article in English about this).
• Links are easily recognizable. By their appearance it is clear that they are clickable. Other elements should not look like links, for example, should avoid underlined text.
• Already visited links are displayed in a different color from unvisited links.
• There should not be broken links (you can check on this resource ).

Layout aka layout

• Important content is posted first.
• The site is adaptive. Works on screens of various sizes. There should not be horizontal scrolling (horizontal scrolling).
• Related information is logically located in one place.
• The minimum number of pop-up windows.
• The page layout should have the same structure.
• Site page is not “littered”, there is a sufficient amount of air on the page.

Process

• Bug tracking system (Issue tracker). necessary to resolve controversial issues in the field of Usability / UX.
• User testing was conducted on target groups and at different stages of the project. It is advisable not to involve in the user testing those people who participated in the development of your resource.
• A priority. Changes are made in accordance with their priority. Do not forget to take into account such important points as the goals of the project, budget, deadlines, cast of performers, etc.
• ROI (return on investment) changes. We consider the cost of the site before the start of the creation process and after.

Forms

• Simplicity. Only the most necessary questions are asked in your forms.
• You should avoid huge drop-down menus. To resolve this point, you can use the field that will be validated on the server and display the results as it is filled. So long drop-down lists lead to uncomfortable scrolling.
• There is a format of input data. For example, telephone numbers and credit cards.
• Fields are signed with corresponding tags. For example, address, name (support auto-complete).
• Do not forget about the confirmation form.
• A fill error message should appear next to the field in which the error was made.

Content

• Contrast. The background and the text on it should contrast. You can use this service for verification.
• Separate the content, clearly visible indents between paragraphs and parts of the text, the headings are easy to read.
• The content is written in user-friendly language, there is no overload of offers. An interesting service note - www.read-able.com
• Contact information of the company is well readable and distinguishable. Clicking on the email does not open the application for mail (Outlook and the like) automatically.
• The content is really useful and answers the basic questions of the user, it should also be relevant. There are no long instructions and welcome messages ala "Welcome to our site."
• Using upper case inside the text is highly undesirable.

Please make a mark that this topic is a translation. Thanks to userium.com