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  How Friendly is User-Friendly? (continued) Nothing baffles me more than "experts" that have inflexible views regarding Web site design and implementation. The fact is for every postion these experts take, there is oftentimes a logical exception to their postion. So the general rule regarding usability is: be sensitive and use common sense. The first step toward good usability is creating a design that makes navigation effortless. Developing Web pages that download quickly is another must. Beyond that, the most important steps you can take to ensure good usability is to study your Web site log files, listen to your customers, and cater content to your visitors.
Study Server Log Files
Your Web server acts like a voyeur, observing everything that happens regarding your Web site, then reports it to your log files. These log files contain a wealth of information that can be used for making design and content usability decisions. Have you looked at your Web site log files lately? If not, you may find it surprising — who's visiting, from where, what browser and version they use, what pages they view most often, and what pages they abandon most often. Beyond hits and page views, your log files provide so much more. Make sure you have a good log file analysis program for making sense of these rather large log files. WebTrends and Webalizer are two of the more popular analysis packages available today. Once you analyze your log files, you will be better able to develop content which caters to visitor demographics, and ensures user-friendlienss.
Address the Browser Demographic
Recent studies show that Internet Explorer controls the lion's share of the browser marketplace. But yes, Netscape still has a browser — so do a half-dozen other browser developers. WebTV has a growing share of the set-top box market, Microsoft and AOL are both entering the set-top box marketplace, and other new set-top boxes are being announced as we speak — some with proprietary browsers. Studies also show that greater than 75% of mainstream browsers in use (Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator) support 4th generation functionality or higher. None of these browsers are fully compliant with HTML, CSS, or DHTML standards as set forth by the World-Wide Web Consortium. So, which browser(s) should you support? That's your decision. The point here is to know your browser demographic. More importantly, make sure your Web developer knows it - preferably before the big site design. Without this knowledge, you risk loosing a sizable portion of your market.
Site Usage
Your log files also tell you which pages are being used most often. For some time, hits were the standard for measuring a site's success (hits are every element on every page of your site). Forget hits and files. Today, page requests have become the standard unit for measuring site usage. If you know which pages are requested most often, you can be sure to update the most popular content. Additionally, make sure to observe where visitors are abandoning or exiting the Web site. Ensure that your visitors don't abandon a given Web page more often than others. Pages with high abandon rates can often signal usability problems.
When In Doubt, Ask
If you want to know what works well and what doesn't, ask your customers. They will appreciate your caring attitude. You'd be surprised how many visitors will take the time to fill out an online survey with or without the promise of a giveaway or incentive. If they do share their input, keep an open mind and make sure to thank or reward them. Discounted pricing, mouse pads, screen-savers, and t-shirts are just a few of the many incentives possible.
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