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Web Usability – Does it Really Matter?

By Gerd Waloszek, SAP AG, Product Design Center – 09/15/2000

Why do I ask such a question on a website for UI people? Don't we all know that usability is important? It's the mission we are fighting for. But the reality of the web is dull: Jakob Nielsen tells us that more than 90 percent of the existing websites are bad from a usability point of view. I believe him, but I also wonder how this dramatic number complies with the success of the web. Why can such a barely usable thing be so successful? There must be more to the success of websites than usability. Let me illustrate my thoughts with a few personal experiences.

 

Nobody Listens...

Some time ago, I was invited to take part in a discussion with students about web usability - together with some web designers and a spokesman from a German TV channel. In this discussion, the students were only interested in two questions - at least as it seemed to me - (1) how can I found a web design company, and (2) how much money can I make with it. Usability was not a major issue. I was somehow puzzled and - yes, I admit it - annoyed with the course of the discussion. Wasn't this a discussion about web usability? Nobody seemed to care. Well, I said to myself, maybe usability is not the first thing which comes to mind when people think of the web and websites. The real reason for my annoyance, however, was that my "well-prepared" arguments did not weigh. Being usability-focused, I assumed that everybody would stress the importance of usable websites. So I thought it would be a nice idea to play the devil's advocate and take a counter position, namely state that usability does not matter much for websites. A complete waste of time! Obviously, there is a fine difference between stating that usability does not matter much - that's what some usability people may do - and simply disregarding it - that's what the majority of web designers seems to do...

 

It's the Content that Matters

So, back to field one and let's start anew! I still believe that my arguments contained - at least some - of the key elements, why usability does not find much attention in the web. Let me briefly illustrate them here. There is a lore about websites, fostered by Jakob Nielsen and many others, that people hit the "Back" button if they do not get what they want in three easy clicks. Though I sometimes hit the "Back" button if a homepage takes too long to load, I usually take the pain of clicking all the 20 to 30 links that a company forces me to click in order to just get that "damned" new printer driver. Why do I torture myself? I simply urgently want that new printer driver - and the new computer specs, and the new camera software, and so on, and so on.... Not that I am happy with the situation when a company forces me through all those input, output and whatever tunnels some designers - in the spirit of David Siegel - found necessary to drive their visitors through like cattle. Maybe that after 20 clicks I even consider to give up, but now I already went so far and perhaps the next click will show the light at the end of the tunnel. The bottom line is, I subject myself to all that pain and hassle because getting this stuff otherwise takes much, much longer, or is even impossible. So why should I as a web designer care much about usability? The situation resembles somehow the horses which are shown the hay (that's stuff which people want), but can't get it, because it is always moved further and further ahead of them.

This is not meant as a justification for bad websites. On the contrary, I regard those badly usable websites as inhumane, because they - be it on purpose or unwillingly - steal my most valuable resource, my time. They waste my time and strain my nerves. Hours may sometimes be wasted just because an order process for some books is badly designed. I once had such an experience with a competitor of the highly praised www.amazon.com. Problems forced me to step back in the ordering process, which increased my order, so that after a while I had 12 books in my shopping basket instead of 3 - just to mention one of the problems. Did I go to the competition because of the problems? I would have liked to, but I could not - the competitors neither offered the services nor all the books I wanted to order. In addition, the books had to be delivered in time, because they were intended as a birthday present for my niece. It is unfortunately - or fortunately? - not the case that all competitors are the same, and you can simply go to the one whose website offers the best usability. It is still the uniqueness of the provided content that counts most.

So, I have come to the conclusion that there is more than usability to a website: It is the content that is offered and my motivation to get it. These two elements form a perfect pair which counteracts all the pain that a badly designed website imposes on its users.

 

Conclusion: Yes and No...

Web usability does matter, but it is not the only thing that matters. Content and my motivation to get that content may even matter more. At least, it often causes me to subject myself to all the pain, which a bad websites provides for me. I really would consider it as a "user-friendly" act if web designers would exert the utmost efforts to make the visit of a website an experience which is as pleasing and comfortable as possible - instead of wasting my time and straining my nerves. Because I know one thing for sure: In the long run, I will try to avoid all those pain makers, if there are alternatives to them on the web.

 

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