Designing a web site is much like designing any other software with one key exception. That exception is website usability. Certainly other software products may require a user interface. Website design may be unique in that it is nearly all about user interface. Therefore, website usability must occupy a position of extremely high importance in your initial design. At a high level, a website design must first establish requirements from which content will be defined.

Then define your web usability requirements, since usability will guide how the content is presented to the user. What is web usability? It may best be defined as follows: “look and feel”, usage efficiency, navigation ease, user productivity, and intuitive controls. There are many more words and phrases that could be added to that list. The remainder of this document will explain how to utilize your html codes to deliver a high level of website usability.

You should have covered all of the ensuing discussion in your requirements deliverable. This list will not be exhaustive, just illustrative. To ensure web usability you must establish usability requirements in your html codes and the following areas:

• Hardware and Software - Your site should be designed to function for your target audience. This is very well defined on an Intranet site, but may not be for the general Internet user. You must account for the typical hardware platforms and browsers and connection method. What runs spectacularly on a fast PC with Vista may fall flat on an older Mac. You will never be able to account for all combinations.
  But if you write your html codes for the worst-case scenario, then everything should perform admirably. Also, do not get “carried away” with complex graphics designs or wild html code just because you can. Performance must be considered. Small html code loads faster than larger, longer sequences. Large, cumbersome graphics can slow things considerably. You must consider the variety of platforms used by the visitor.
• The Homepage - This is arguably your most important page, since nearly everyone will show up here, often first, to use the site. The exception would be a search engine hit on another page. A homepage should be organized well. This implies that it should contain every option that a user can take. Homepage text should briefly explain the purpose of the web site. I emphasize briefly because most users do not want to read a small book just to figure out where they are. In fact, most users only scan web pages. They are looking for internal keywords to see if this page is what they were looking for. The homepage should be linked from every other page on the site, even though the homepage itself may not link to all other pages.
• Other Web Pages - This is where you will deliver your content according to requirements. Your usability requirements should have influenced the design to the extent that the user will receive the content in the order and style most useful to him. This should be done, when possible, with minimal scrolling, minimal clutter and minimal graphics. However, temper your enthusiasm for minimizing if you can’t provide what the user needs on the page. The typical user would prefer to scroll and achieve his objective than begin bouncing from page to page. You can use white space to minimize clutter.
  Remember you are concerned about performance as well as content and presentation. In a very content rich website, you may have to consider frames to have a continual display of a table of contents, for instance. Frames will often hinder performance and can confuse the user, but everything in a design is subject to a trade-off. Another consideration is whether to use fixed, fluid or elastic layouts in your design to account for the differences in screen resolution. Most past designs have been fixed. Elastic offers the designer more flexibility. The requirements should dictate which method to use. And don’t forget that link back to the Homepage.
• General Considerations - Over the years most websites have developed a kind of consistency that will evoke comfort from a new visitor. For instance, if your requirements research indicates that most websites have some sort of navigation bars on the left side of the page, then don’t design with the bars at the top or the right. You want your users to be comfortable with your design. Consider having a site map, especially for sites with many pages.