When designing a web site, you are never sure how it appears to all people. This is because people use different browsers, resolutions, computers and connection speeds to Internet. Your site may look good with your browser, but absolutely horrendous in other browsers. This is why you should test usability of your site, before you expose it to world.

What is usability testing?

This indicates ease with which folks can use your web site. Let’s look at a few usability factors.

Who is winning browser war?

Here are browser statistics: 39% Internet Explorer 6.0 51% Internet Explorer 5.0 2% Internet Explorer 4.0 3% Netscape 4.0

A few years ago Netscape was dominant browser, however Internet Explorer now has 80% of market. With introduction of Netscape 6.0 and 7.0 (their latest release), this may eat a little into IE’s market.

The latest browsers support latest designing technologies, such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS1, CSS2) and XML.

Installing different browsers

Test your web site in different browsers, so your web site can be seen by as many people as possible.

Internet Explorer Download Internet Explorer 5 and 6. The way to do this is to either have each one installed on a different computer, or to have 2 operating systems on your computer. You can do this with partition magic.

Trying to install IE 5 & 6 on same operating sysytem doesn't work. One overrides other.

Netscape Download NN 4.79 and 6.2. You can install them on same operating system as Internet Explorer.

Other browsers The Opera browser This is often known as “third browser” after Internet Explorer and Netscape. It has received international recognition for being faster, smaller and more standards compliant than other browsers.

Resist temptation. It's hard. But there's a good reason to leave them alone.

From earliest days of web, text links have been blue. People intuitively recognize that blue, underlined text is a link. They know they can click on it.

The combination of blue and underlines means "If I click on this, it goes somewhere". We're conditioned to recognize those distinguishing characteristics. We're like Pavlov's dogs--we see link and instantly know what it means. There's no time wasted in trying to figure out whether or not that particular word or phrase is clickable.

If you mess with natural appearance of a link, you lose that instant recognition. People have to stop and think (and often click) to figure out what your colors mean. I have watched countless people try to navigate websites and spend half their time figuring out what's a link and what's not. They have no way of knowing.

In addition, people scan a page for links. They like to be active on internet, and they like to know what they can do. When they recognize a link in your copy, it's a clear signal of someplace to go. Visitors want to know what their options are. It's not a good idea to make life difficult. They'll appreciate coming across a site that's easy to use and doesn't try to confuse them (for once!).

It is becoming more acceptable to use other colors for your text links, as long as they remain underlined. But if you can, it's still best to use blue. This is because so many people use underlined, colored text on their sites that is NOT linked. Visitors have a tendency to get confused. They never know what to expect. With blue, it's obvious.