UI Design — 5 Rules to Follow on Your Website’s Design
Imagine this scenario:
You want a quick solution to a problem. So you open your internet browser and search for it. But you land on a hideous website.
Graphics are irrelevant, the site is very difficult to navigate, and you see too many pop-ups.
What do you do? You leave the website in no time.
Most people would do that!
Imagine if the situation were different! If the website had simple (even if not the most beautiful graphics) and user-friendly navigation, you might have stayed there for a longer time.
This can lead to long-term relationships. For example, inspired by a good UI design, a user might spend several minutes on your website reading about your business. They might even subscribe to your newsletter as well.
This will lead them to read your blog posts on a regular basis. That leads to long-term business relationships.
Sounds too good to be true? Well, it isn’t. Actually, it’s one of a few ways random visitors can become your recurring buyers.
And it all starts with a good UI design.
Now let’s talk about 5 rules to follow on your website’s UI Design!
Make Everything the User Needs Readily Accessible
The best websites you see on the web are interactive. The example of websites coded in basic HTML is a few (Here’s looking at you, Craigslist).
Today, designers make sure that the interface is interactive.
So to make a website interactive, start with making everything available easily.
People bounce off your website (or software) if they can’t find what they are looking for easily. It can be a product page, blog, or anything for that matter. As a website owner, you should know what parts of your website people use the most. Make them easily available.
For example, people need pages like Contact Us or About Us often. Another example can the pop-up window on a product page. People might need guidance, so provide them with a popup of a video tutorial about the product featured on that page. Use tabs, shortcuts, and hover tools to help users as well.
These things will make your website more accessible. Users will be less frustrated and spend more time on your site. That is very important.
Be Consistent
This one is obvious. But it’s worth mentioning because people ignore it sometimes.
Let’s say you put a feature (for example, a menu) at the top of your Homepage. And then, if you change its place on the products page, people are going to get confused. Keep in mind that users should be able to get an idea about different parts of your website easily.
For example, they should know the navigation bar is on the top part of the page. And it should stay there consistently no matter what page they are on. If your contact button is at the bottom of your blog posts, always keep it there. Otherwise, users will be distracted.
This covers fonts and other design elements. Changing header/body fonts from page to page is not a good move.
The principle of least surprise says that the component of a system should behave in a way that most users will expect it to behave. It shouldn’t surprise users. And if it does, work on it again to make it more intuitive.
Make sure that you are designing according to your platform. For example, iOS and Android apps are sometimes different. Desktop sites don’t have the same layout as mobile sites. So don’t confuse your visitors/users.
I repeat: feature placement should be consistent within your UI design.
Give Feedback
You need to guide them through your design. They shouldn’t feel confused about things. It’s a bad sign if they don’t understand what’s going on.
For example, if they press a button, don’t leave them hanging. Let them know something happened. You can do it by animating the button or loading icons that provide feedback like, “Your request is under processed.”
Some functions take time to complete. For example, if users are uploading files, it’s going to take some time. So an indication of time left is necessary here. You can do it by providing a pop-up.
In simple words, whenever they take an action, let them know without standing out. It can make a huge difference in their experience.
Don’t ignore standards
Being creative is the bread and butter of designers. They love to get creative and reinvent everything. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes, you need to follow the standards.
Why?
Because these standards have stood the test of time.
People have seen interfaces like these standards several times. It reminds them of something they have used previously.
This is the reason why Google Docs have a similar navigation bar used in MS Word before vista.
So follow standards.
Make decision-making simple
How many times have you clicked on something, and you got bombard with popups? The internet is full of websites that have too much noise on a single page.
It’s hard to find a seamless experience.
Why can’t the web be calmer? Well, not many people understand the simple rule, “less is more.”
The more options people have, the harder it becomes for them to make the decision.
This applies to many things ranging from navigation bars to pricing pages to blog indexes. So the rule of thumb here is that the simpler the design, the easier it will be for users to take an action.
Your see why landing pages and non-newsletter emails on great websites only have one call to action?
P.S: Sometimes, it’s fine if users have plenty of choices, like in the case of tiled designs of blogs.
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