Checklists help inexperienced site owners evaluate their website usability quickly.
@IATV spotted a 25 point checklist on usability website, www.usereffect.com, which helps site owners do an impartial review.
Dr. Peter J. Meyers, a former start-up executive, cognitive psychologist, and lifelong programmer came up with the list.
The checklist covers four main topics and provides some notes to help you evaluate your site’s performance:
- Accessibility
This section contains not only traditional accessibility issues, but anything that might keep a visitor from being able to access the information on a website. If no one can load your site, or the type is too small to read, all of the usability in the world won’t matter. - Identity
A key question when someone first comes to your site is “Who are you?” It’s important to answer it quickly, and make the paths to obvious follow-up questions (“What do you do?”, “Why should I trust you?”, etc.) clear. - Navigation
Once people generally know who you are and what you do, they need clear paths to the content that interests them. - Content
You’ve heard it before – Content is king. If you don’t want the kingdom to crumble, though, content needs to be consistent, organized, and easy to skim through.
There’s also another checklist you might find helpful on Vince Flanders’ www.webpagesthatsuck.com, which you can use to test if your site sucks - a light hearted, fun look at a serious topic if you’re trying to make money online…..
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Have you got a downloadable form anywhere?