I’m tweaking my blog design bit by bit to improve the usability of the site. And usability is one topic I’ve been harping on about for years, but I still find myself learning it about again and again.

I’ve not done much - the paragraph lines are closer to each other to allow readers to scan through my articles faster, and the margin between the title heading and the article text have increased, so that they both stand out better and have a space of their own.

Readers don’t read everything - they scan for information. Which is why I spend time emphasizing text, adding headlines and sectioning my articles. It just helps readers get more out of that 2 minutes they spend on my site, which is an average for most websites.

So good usability is about giving the user the least amount of problems and allowing them to accomplish all of their intended goals within that 2 minute space (or less).

Good usability practitioners understand that you really need to use the site constantly to get a feel of the little things that are wrong with it, and understanding what users are looking for when they spend that small amount of time on your site.

Focus on your content

To help users get the most out, you should first focus on your content:

1. Write concisely
2. Use fewer words
3. Tell a story
4. Arrange paragraphs to compose your thoughts, priorities, and focus
5. Summarize at appropriate points (at the beginning, at the end, etc.)
6. Remove “I feel”, “I think”,… half-baked wording
7. Use captivating titles
8. Use lists

Adjust your layout

Then, focus on the layout to assist reading, scanning, and remembering:

1. Choose an appropriate font-size: 11 to 12px is OK
2. Balance this with the appropriate line-height. Mine’s set to 1.15em. It’s a bit technical, but you can read up about it.
3. Margins between title headers and content - too near means it’s hard to scan, too far means it’s breaks the flow
4. Put all the other stuff on the sides and bottoms - comments, tags, similar posts, bookmarking, etc.
5. Highlight things you want people to scan and remember - catchphrases, important terms, section titles, links
6. Use clean colors for text and backgrounds (black on white, etc.)

At the end of all this, spend hours and hours reading your own content, scanning your own articles, using your own website - to fully appreciate everything the user has to go through when they use your site.

Make small changes.

Rinse and repeat.

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Resources:

• Writing for a Web Audience

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