above the fold (design)

A beautifully designed web design is terrific. But sometimes form can complicate function. We’ve all been there. You find yourself on an awe-inspiring website. You’re a couple clicks in when it happens.

What do I do now? How do I… ? Hey, what just happened?

Enter the dreaded back button. Or worse, you abandon the site.

A good rule of thumb is, if it’s not obvious, it’s obviously not working.

Here’s a baseline checklist to help you keep your site’s key functional elements in check.

1. Don’t lose primary navigation in internal pages.

• Users get lost and can’t find their way back to your homepage easily. This is one of the quickest ways to lose them.

2. Give the user a way to contact you at all times.

• Make your contact information a static part of your site’s header and footer.

3. Monitor your analytics.

• Find out which pages have an increased bounce rate and take a long, hard look at the content on them.

4. Write good content with a purpose.

• DUH.  

5. Don’t over saturate your website with social feeds and sharing icons from all over the universe.

• This is distracting and in some cases downright overwhelming. Be analytical about where social media integration makes sense on your site.

6. Use Flash animations sparingly.

• To much Flash animation hides keywords from search engines and creates slow page loads. Use Flash graphics to compliment the great content on your site, not mask it. 

7. Don't reinvent the wheel. 

• You would never think of publishing a book that reads back to front. Navigational elements that change the way people expect to use them are counterintuitive. Be creative with your site, but keep usability in mind.

Bottom line -- If you think about web design as a way to enhance its functionality, you're in a safe place. If you're using the design of your website to make up for a lack of purpose, then it's time to re-examine. Approach your website as a user would. Use design to guide them in doing what you want them to do. 

For creative takes on user-friendly navigation, check out Web Ledger's 30 Examples of Excellent Website Navigation or consult W3C for the latest in web  design standards and best practices. 

Image by Jeezny on Flickr, licensed by Creative Commons.

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