As an engineer, things that do not work as intended drive me nuts.
As a designer, things with poor usability irritate me.
As a consumer, things that have poor usability and only work part of the time really get me agitated.
Case in Point: Web Design of Charlotte’s CPCC continuing education internet portal.
I believe in quality; in doing things the right way, the first time. When it comes to building websites you must take in to account every which way your clients might see or use your site. That means testing usability on different browsers, at different speeds, and with different load times.
I am trying to take a Six Sigma class at CPCC. Ironically, the class is about how to systematically reduce defects and achieve operational excellence. Unfortunately their delivery vehicle – an on-line teaching system – crashes every 5 minutes. It also doesn’t work in the FireFox browser at all. This is causing me to be a very irate customer.
It is things like this that your customers notice. If you have a web presence, did your developer perform a usability study? Did that firm customize a website to your unique business? Has your website been constantly tweaked based on client feedback to ensure satisfaction? Do you have a way to collect usage statistics and performance basics?
What I am getting at is “Does your website perform in the real world?”
Or did some developer just sell you on some basic 5 page solution that every one else has and that no user wants?
Always remember to design your site with the end in mind. Chances are that is a happy, paying, repeating, referring customer. Can your website deliver that?
