It’s tough being a pioneer. If your colleagues sometimes oppose your efforts to make a Website more user-friendly, here’s a way to dodge the arrows. Check out the Nielsen Norman Group’s usability site for guidelines on persuading subject matter experts to bring Web content more in line with the target audience’s needs.
The key is to study actual user behavior, under the watchful eyes of the subject matter experts. As the authors point out, many people can only be convinced if they see the truth for themselves.
Here’s a preview of what they’re likely to observe. Users react favorably to:
- Highlighted keywords, which can be hypertext links, typeface variations, color, or words set apart in other ways
- Subheadings that convey meaning
- Bulleted lists
- Paragraphs with only one central idea (readers usually skip over additional ideas)
- Inverted pyramid writing style, the kind found in good print publications, in which the main facts appear in the opening paragraphs, with elaboration coming later
- Really short copy, roughly one-half what you would see in a print publication
The Nielsen Norman Group conducted its original study in 1997. Since then, according to NN/g, hundreds of studies across numerous industries and countries have replicated the findings.
Not every test produces exactly the same results, but if you follow the experts’ advice you can expect at least a few doubters to join your pioneers’ camp.
