When it comes to web design, creating the perfect experience for your users is a tall order. From visual design principles to the written content, the practical, and the creative need to work together to form an effective, cohesive website. But too often, the design will trump the practicalities. And as a result, users will face blocks and barriers at all sorts of points in their browsing journey. But what are these barriers? And how can these be overcome? Well here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we work across a variety of industries with clients and companies around the Manchester region, including Blackburn and Chorley. We provide professional, effective web design solutions that can help to grow your business. As a result, we have produced this guide to the potential barriers to a positive user experience
Potential barriers to a positive user experience
When users are browsing your website, they expect to be able to flow through the purchasing or signing up process, and browse your website with ease. But sometimes, points of friction, or barriers, can get in the way of this. These barriers can include:
- Links that don’t work
- Design issues
Broken links
There is nothing worse than attempting to navigate a website with a whole host of broken links. Especially if these are broken internal links. This frequently occurs when pages are updated and edited, and the URL address is not updated for every link on the website. So while the main navigation bar might work, links in text and blogs may be overlooked. This can lead to a lot of error pages, and users simply leaving your website, instead of purchasing an item or signing up to your services. You should make sure that all your internal links work, and there are no broken links. This could also be hurting your SEO efforts, as well as the experience of your users.
Design issues
Common design issues that can create potential barriers to a positive user experience include poor design choices, and simple oversights. Poor design choices could include:
- Unreadable typography- how will your users know what you are selling, or offering if they cant read your text? Make sure your text colour contrasts well with the colour of the background, so that it really stands out. You should also be sure to use a simple font, the right font size, and the right amount of white-space.
- Not suitable for mobile viewing- most of your users will be using a mobile device to access your website. That’s why responsive design is so important. But if you dont make sure that your website looks good on a range of mobile devices, you could have a range of design issues. From images that are too large, to buttons that are too small, if your website is not suitable for mobile devices, your users will encounter a series of problems and barriers, prompting them to leave your website. Always test your responsive design on a range of devices for the best results.
For more information or advice, get in touch with the professionals today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester.