Redundancy Good and Bad
Users are
easily confused when single feature is presented in multiple ways. For
example a hyperlink is presented as text link and also included in a drop
down box. Users often waste time trying to figure out where they are going
and duplication usually confuses them.
Take for
example a site like http://www.cisco.com,
which has two drop down boxes and two columns of links. Selecting either
takes you further into the site where you face even more choices of drop
down boxes and links. Which do you use?
Unfortunately,
many users will be intimidated by the elaborate choices. As is too often
the case, each new feature made the old features more difficult and error-prone.
Simplicity
Simplicity
may be the single most important principal for web site usability. The
less stuff you show users, the less they'll have figure out, and your
chance of completing a sale will be increased. Duplication of features
adds costs to your web sites maintenance and it also requires the user
to spend more time trying to figure out where they are going.
Furthermore,
because users don't know for sure when a feature is duplicated, they'll
have to spend additional time figuring out whether the redundancy is a
new feature or an old feature. In some user tests, it has been observed
that users frequently click a second link to a page, even though they'd
already visited that page earlier through a different link. Wasted time.
Web site
developers typically add duplicate links with the best of intentions,
often after discovering that users overlooked certain links. This methodology
only addresses the indicator rather than the illness and results in further
disorder.
If users
overlook a link, you can move it or make it more prominent rather than
duplicate it. However, a better solution might be to remove other distracting
design elements.
Accomplishing
simplicity requires approaching the problem in ways that many are not
use too. Removing duplication features leads to better web site usability.
When a site flaw is discovered make the necessary changes by removing
or downplaying the distracting feature and at the same time amplify the
links and features that increase profitability.
Many e-commerce
sites that have hundreds of products to market often use a featured box
prominently located on the left or right side of home page to show case
a product. With some good scripting products can be rotated to feature
something new on each visit or changed out every few days.
Good Redundancy
Navigation
Acceptable
redundancy should be limited to the navigation paths located at the bottom
of a page. These paths should be relevant to the information contained
on the page or can highlight the main themes of the web site. If you have
500 pages don't over load the viewer with a link to every page.
Consider
this example your at an e-commerce site and you are trying to locate an
auto CD Player. Some users might assume the CD player was a car product
some may be looking for a computer CD player and others may be looking
for a portable CD player they take with them when they are running. In
this situation some navigational redundancy via cross-linking would be
acceptable and beneficial.
It's impossible
to design a perfect information architecture in which all users associate
each item with a single category and take the one and only true path to
the destination every time. Can't be done. A few cross-reference links
on opportune pages are a lifesaver and can stop confusion before the users
give up.
Still, too
many cross-references will create an overly complex interface and prevent
users from understanding where they are and what options they have at
that location. It's thus essential to limit cross-references to those
alternatives that are both most important to users at their current location
and most likely to help them overcome navigational dysfunction.
An essential
element that helps eliminate navigational dysfunction is to provide a
site search engine feature at the top of every page preferably on the
right side; if the user becomes lost they can quickly get back on track
provided the site search engine works. The topic of sites search engines
will be discussed in a future article.
To find out more about redundancy and better structuring of your web site please visit Jakob Nielsen Web Site the King of "Usable Information Technology" this article draws from the wealth of excellent information found at useit.com.
|
