In our latest article we selected what we considered to be the best website usability testing tools. We would now like to bring you more usability tools, as selected by web design specialists:

• 24 Usability Testing Tools
• 10 Tools to Improve Your Site’s Usability on a Low Budget
• (More) Useful Web Usability Testing Tools
• Usability Testing Toolkit: Resources, Articles, and Techniques
• Website Usability

Usability is about making a website’s interface easier to use and understand so that the user’s experience becomes as memorable as possible. Testing your website’s usability before launching it is one of the most recommended initiatives one can do for their website. It allows you to discover the many possible ways in which your visitors would use your website and how it can be enhanced.

Lately, there has been a flood of new cheap or even free website usability testing tools. Take a look at our today’s post to see some useful tools for managing a usability test for your website.

• Chalkmark by Optimal Workshop: It is an ideal way to discover people’s first reactions to your website’s screenshots. It will help you to get quick feedback on design before you implement it. Click testing is a great way to ensure that your users get started on the right track when they hit your website and Chalkmark is one of the most effective ways to do it.  Clicks are also recorded by Chalkmark, and a real-time display of a heatmap will show you their location.
• Userfly allows you to place a JavaScript on your website for tracking your visitors’ actions, their mouse movements, and clicks. You can see exactly where the user’s mouse moves and what he/she typed in the search box.
• Feedback Army is one of the fastest ways to get feedback about your website. Powered by Amazon’s Mechanical Turk engine, this service is a human-powered tool that helps solve quick tasks. Feedback Army asks users questions about your website and gathers feedback so that you can improve the user experience almost immediately.
• ClickTale is a paid service that tracks user visits, mouse clicks and moves and the time it takes for users to switch between website’s pages.  Data will be available to you in the form of heatmaps or as reports.  Heatmaps display identifies zones where visitors spend long periods of time and those where they spend the least amount of time. An interesting and useful feature is the Form Analytics tool which displays form fields data. This data includes time of field completion and which form fields have the highest rate of abandon, or take the longest to complete.

At CodeMyIMAGE we know how usefull the users’ feeback can be and that usability testing is critical for discovering user needs. By implementing usability tests you are optimizing your business’ website and able to focus on what your users want.

In our latest article, we shared some tips for user friendly websites. Now, we would like to bring you some more resources from industry specialists discussing the usability matter:

• Apple vs. Microsoft – A Website Usability Study
• Website Usability Testing: Guide To The Best Professional Usability Testing Tools And Services
• Navigation Structures
• Does Your Website Suffer From These 7 Usability Mistakes?

Usability must be one of the primary goals inherent in every website in order to consistently drive traffic.  Without easy navigation or an intuitive interface, one risks having your message overlooked by users. Today’s web experience has set new expectations regarding information accessibility and speed.

Website usability is a topic that we have previously debated in our blog posts, and one which we want to elaborate with further tips and best practices.

1. Make your visitors come back to your website. Your main purpose is to deliver a positive experience to your users and to engage them to take further actions on your website like subscribing to your blog, purchasing a product, or asking for a price quote. How do you create the lasting impression which results in sustaining users to return to your site time and again? You need to think like the future users of your website when you develop it – make sure navigation is easy, strategic information is accessible, pages do not take long to load, and the user has control over their browsing experience.

2. Keep it simple. This should be a golden rule for both web design and for content structure. Improve your website’s readability by employing minimal graphics and consistent fonts throughout your web pages. Spacing is essential for your website and for capturing user attention, so make sure you arrange your website strategically. Allocate space to content, but keep it short. Imagine your users are reading their morning newspaper!

3. Keep it consistent. Visitors are coming to your website for a reason and they will be frustrated when you fall short of the hope of delivering relevant content. Whether they come to find essential information on your business services or to read articles on a specific subject, your website needs to effectively provide sufficient information to meet your visitors’ expectations.

4. Check for errors regularly. Make sure your HTML code is designed to display correctly in all browser versions. Check your site regularly for any broken links. Also ensure that your site hosting provider is reliable in order to avoid site downtime.

5. Know your users. This will help you create an intuitive website by anticipating what your users’ interests are as well as their online actions and behaviors. It will also help you in your challenge to create a customized message and a unique approach that is appealing to your users.

At CodeMyIMAGE, we believe that the simple, relevant content and the navigation experience of your visitors are essential to making your website appropriate for your business and noticeable in the online environment. Keep these five usability tips in mind for your designs and you will be sure to provide a very efficient, intuitive user experience.

Now that we have established several criteria for website usability, we would like to share with you some more resources that can help you optimize your website:

• 10 Usability Tips Based on Research Studies
• Website Usability and Accessibility Tips
• The Science of Web Design and Website Usability
• Eye Tracking Technique