Every now and then we come across a website that is so spectacularly unusable that it warrants mention. The Tuks FM site cannot be navigated. In order to navigate, one is expected to hover over a portion of the illustration, endure the associated animation and then click the link adjacent. Nothing is labelled unless you mouse over it. So, using the website is a sort of lucky-packet experience – you might just hover over the nav item you want and if you are lucky, you will be able to click it. If you are able to actually click on the links, each one is accompanied by a loading page and another confusing interaction. Flash is a usability fail. Its also an SEO fail. Elements of it are great but with HTML 5 starting to gain traction, its fast becoming redundant.
Companies seem intent on pissing users off. It takes about 10 minutes to write down what you want a user to accomplish on your site and a further 10 to write down what you imagine users want to accomplish on your site. A couple of calls or short conversations with people in your identified target group about their informational goals will give you some insight into whether you are on the right track. Then all you have to do is work toward creating an environment where people can successfully fulfil their website goals – and if you have done your homework, yours.
We often draw on brick-and-mortar analogies to help contextualise user-centric web design. Would you open a shop with no windows and a tiny door 2 metres above the ground that required shoppers to climb the wall and crawl through the hole to drop into your shop? No. You wouldn’t. So why make it so difficult for website visitors to do the virtual-equivalent thereof?
