The Procedure Of Designing A User-driven Website

By Author: Krish Garison
Total Articles: 22
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The web is rife with websites where the customer would enter the portal after viewing the display window. After entering the store, the customer would notice the products that he or she would like to purchase. The user would then get the necessary information from them in context of attributes, pricing and functionalities. They would then choose the product, proceed to complete the payment and then leave the store. This is a website, with the perfect in-store experience, which is user-friendly, or rather customer-oriented. The customer does not get confused or irritated and the entire experience becomes satisfactory. The customer gets what is needed easily and conveniently. Contrasting these websites to other existing varieties, we can simply term these as user-driven websites. These websites has the end-user as the core focus of attention.

The website can be defined as the complex set of applications, content, services, processes, etc. that comes together on the online platform. Any top web design company would define the website as hosted on a set of technologies, that can be said to be user-driven only when all interactions ...
... between the end user and technologies is seamless, result-driven and informative. The amalgamation of all website components would deliver user experience (UX) that would facilitate in achieving all the objectives. Other than this, considering the design perspective, the user-friendly website would improve the understanding of the website’s features and functionalities so that the interaction with the website is seamless and result oriented. The design of the website should be exactly according to what the users want. In this article, we would discuss the designing aspect of the user-driven websites.

What are the criterions that make any website user friendly? Whenever the audience accesses the website, the browsing time is increased only when it is user-friendly. The total time spent on the site is proportional to its user friendliness quotient. Our mind is wired to acknowledge the user-friendliness and therefore absorbs the content. This is the list of qualities that we subconsciously categorize them as user-friendly:

• Improved page loading speed
• Seamless navigation
• Proficient search bar
• Structured site map
• Readable content
• Broken up content according to the hierarchy
• High resolution images
• Planned placement of call to action buttons
• Simple, minimal design with no unnecessary design elements

The first step in designing this website is to identify the users and their behaviors. Once the target users have been identified, the next step is to evaluate their demographics, interests, preferences, geographic segmentations, etc. To understand the target audience better, it is important to study the competitor’s websites to analyze the target niche. The next most important step in creating a user-friendly website is to comprehend the user behavior. The user visits a website to have an experience. The website should be able to make them feel welcome and provide a sense of security. The users should be eager participants in the website’s information distribution, absorption and its diffusion. This understanding of the user behavior would help determine the expectations of the target audience. Although, these expectations are subject to change drastically, the basic requirements would remain the same. For a user, the website has to be:

• Accessible
• Usable
• Stable
• Operable
• Reliable
• Flexible

Once the user expectations and target audience has been conformed, it is time to move towards the conceptualization of the design. Knowing the user behavior and expectations, the concept needs to be determined that would address the needs of the customer. The top web design company would begin the design conceptualization with the following process:

• Identification of the preferred design pattern
• Choosing the web design layout and identifying the necessary functions
• Identification of the accurate design elements that would serve the purpose of the website
• Choosing appropriate images that incur the right emotion that would simultaneously generate right user response
• Identification of the appropriate website design technologies that would bring the website to life

Once the conceptualization process is over, the concept would help deliver the correct user-experience.

The next step is designing the user flow of the website. The user should be able to move from Point A to Point B. The Point A is the beginning of the website, and Point B is the end to the successful web browsing experience. To ensure that the journey is shortest, before designing the website, it is important to devise the user flow that would be supported by website design. The design flow should mould with website objectives, as this would help in designing a user-oriented website. This flow is also determined by the purpose of the website and the conversion objectives. This is directly proportional to the purpose of the website.

The last step is beginning the process of the website design. We have further divided this step into two main categories. Any top web design company would begin with the wireframe for the design. This can be achieved with hand sketched solution, flow chart or web prototyping software. This would establish the website structure and present its usability status. The concept can be revised any time.

Once the wireframe has been approved, the developers can now write the code in HTML or CSS for the basic structure. It is important that all visuals and codes are validated before implementing interactive various elements.

Author bio:
The website based on user requirements and expectation is the result of careful planning and understanding the needs of the user. A top web design company would confer that there is no separate code for a user-driven website but the need to have a clear idea on the wants of the user.