User Experience for Web Applications

User Experience, what does it mean? Well, in simple words it can be defined as the feel a user gets when he/she visits the web application. Companies focusing on user experience for their web application; normally makes their efforts effective, efficient and valuable.

Now think of yourself as a business, what would you want your visitor to do when he/she first comes to your web app? This is the most important thing which is involved in user experience.

A good web app, we say, is the one which provides easy accessibility to user for relevant information he/she is looking for. However, it is difficult to understand the user-behaviors online. We cannot speculate what every user is thinking.So here are some of our suggestions which should be taken into consideration by businesses for their web apps:

1 – It’s not only a design

Your web app’s design is very important, do not think of it as just a design; think of it as your representation in the world of internet. You need to make sure that users do get a feel of the message you are trying to convey to them. Do not add everything that looks good to you, user might have a different perception. If only done in a right way your web app can look great without putting everything you think is cool.

2 – Fonts

Use appropriate font size so that the user doesn’t ignore the important things you want them to see. The most common mistakes on the web apps are the use of small fonts, which usually is avoided by users.

3 – Autoplay

Have you ever gone to a website which loads and without asking you it starts to play music or videos; Annoying isn’t it? Do not annoy your user by putting unnecessary music or videos at the start, especially if it’s on autoplay. If the video or the music is so important for you to play, why not ask your user first and use his consent to go ahead with these things. Autoplaying music or videos is universally marked as annoying so we suggest you do not do this to your web app.

4 – Do not do what everyone else is doing

You need to create your own identity and if you follow the steps of your competitor than what value addition are you providing? Why the users would switch from your competitors product to your product? If your web app looks exactly like your direct or indirect competitor then users might not be excited to use your app as they would not have anything new at hand.

5 – Competitive Advantage

You need to define your product’s value against your competitor. If you have a competitive advantage over your competitors product highlight that and let the users know about it. This is a very effective way to attract users.

6 – Cost & Benefit Analysis

Before performing anything, make sure you have done the cost & benefit analysis so that you may not take the decisions which might affect your product in the wrong way.

7 – Simplicity

The essence of your web app lies in the simplicity of the design for users. Make user experience good by providing them with simple and easy to use interfaces instead of complex designs, where users usually are lost and wonder where to go for the information reuquired.

8 – Clearly Defined Targets

Make sure that the designers and developers know exactly what you are looking for and provide them as much of information as possible for the targets you have set. With deep interaction with the designing and development team your web app development process would be smooth and the results would be great.

9 – Do not Commit More

You need to make sure that you provide only the relevant information to the user, i.e. the things which you can perform. Do not provide any information to the user which you cannot perform.

10 – Design and Product Relation

Your design should incorporate or back-up your product so that it does not look awkward and provide a nice feel to the user of your app. For example: If you visit a hospital website and you see images of nicely suited people in a meeting looking at their laptops you might feel awkward, as you have the perception that for a hospital website the images used should be of doctors wearing scrubs, nurses, medical equipment, or the smiling faces of the patients, not the suited people with their laptops sitting in the conference room.

To conclude all of the above, we can say that taking consideration of the above points can help you get good user experience for your website. There can be more things which can effect on the user experience; we will discuss those later on. As for now, just remember one thing that your online presence is for the users, and if their experience is not good with your website than you have failed. You need to know what you offer and how you should present it to the users so it can create great user experience for your web app.