User experience is the feeling of using an online service. When the experience is positive, better results are achieved. Therefore, you need a web development service to have everything that influences and shapes the user experience. But a good experience can only be achieved by understanding the needs and desires of users. How?
User experience (UX) can be described as the overall feeling a user has when using an online service. User experience is not defined by any one thing about a web service but is the sum of many details.
Since the user experience is created inside the head of the user of the web service, a solid understanding of the needs and desires of different users is required. The design of an online service must therefore be user-centered if a good user experience is to be achieved.
The best user experience is achieved when the user does not pay particular attention to any detail of the web service. Instead, the user can easily find the content he or she is looking for, quickly get what he or she requires and, almost unnoticed, gain added value from using the service. Unfortunately, the opposite experience is more common.
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Content, content, content
The importance of content in the user experience of an online service cannot be overstated. The user experience is positive when the user can find the content he is looking for, and it is presented in an easily understandable format.
The Inoxoft team wants to clarify, the most important thing is to understand what the user is looking for and why. Once content needs and wants are known, it is possible to produce content that serves the user.
The way the content is presented and formatted is also essential. For example, careful use of headings, listings, and CTA buttons makes the content easy on the eye and improves readability. However, very often online services contain long, unformatted masses of text or content that is far too limited in scope.
Pretty words, but how does this work in practice? Design thinking is summarized in five steps.
- Live – Understand users’ experiences, motivations, challenges, and needs.
- Define – Synthesize the information you have gathered, analyze and define the problems you are trying to solve.
- Ideate – Look outside the box for a solution to a concern, be bold, and spare no ideas.
- Experiment – A variety of prototypes can be used to test ideas at a low cost. In web design, this is effectively a wire-frame prototype.
- Test – Let users try out your product. This isn’t something to be done at the end of a project, but an ongoing exercise that generates ideas for developing and improving the service.
In practice, design thinking is not a step-by-step series of tasks that result in a mega-successful service. The process is iterative; for example, in the prototyping phase, a new idea may emerge that requires background research, definition, and ideation to be incorporated into the next prototype.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
When an online service is pleasing to the eye, you get a positive feeling from using it. Here too, first impressions are important, and it is the visual appeal of an online service that forms the user’s first impression of it.
The visual appearance also has an essential impact on the usability of an online service, i.e., its ease of use in achieving a given objective. The judicious use of colors, shapes, and images can effectively guide the user through an online service.
The visual appearance of an online service should follow a graphic design guideline, which, at least for the most competent operators, also takes into account the requirements of online services. On the other hand, there may also be a need to apply a defined look and feel to a service, especially if it was not originally designed to be used online. For example, new enhancement colors may be introduced to better highlight the most important buttons.
Have you ever been angry at an online service?
A user interface (UI) is any interface that allows a user to interact with the online service they are using. A poorly functioning UI of an online service can cause frustration and, at worst, even anger. The result is guaranteed to be a poor user experience.
A quality user interface for an online service includes, for example:
- a content structure that meets the needs of the user, i.e., what the different pages of the web service consist of and how they are organized
- clear and easy-to-use menus
- the shape, size, and positioning of the buttons that control the use of the web service
- adherence to certain established practices, such as placing the login link in the top right-hand corner
Sometimes the interface is mistaken for the user experience. However, it is only one part of the user experience, albeit a particularly essential one.
A good online service works
User experience is also influenced by the technical implementation of the online service. For example, long loading times make the online service slow to use. Ineffective links make it difficult to use, and poorly implemented search does not help users find the content they are looking for. The user experience goes into the red and the user is lost.
Technical implementation is linked to all aspects of the user experience. Quality implementation cannot save a poor design, but it takes lines of code to turn a good design into a working web service.
The user experience starts with the search engine
Typically, a user searches for a specific piece of information through a search engine. If an online service cannot be found, there is no user experience at all. In effect, the experience of using an online service starts with the search engine.
Investing in search accessibility requires not only an understanding of how search engines work but also content and technical expertise. To create a positive user experience already in search engines, at least the following are needed:
- knowledge of users’ search terms and the number of searches for different search volumes
- the search results of content in search engines
- quality of the titles and descriptive texts displayed in the search engine
- quality of the content on the web service corresponding to users’ searches
