When assessing a corporate website, colours, images and animations attract attention first. Yet quieter details often influence a visitor’s decision: whether they can find the information they need, understand a heading or see what happened after submitting a form. User experience is the whole formed by these small decisions. The following five principles can be used at the start of a redesign or when reviewing an existing website.
1. Each page needs a clear purpose
A service page, a project detail page and a contact page do different jobs. Users seek a different answer on each. Start by writing the page’s main task in one sentence. A service page, for example, can help a visitor understand whether its scope meets their needs. Headings and calls to action should support this task. Highlight a meaningful next step instead of presenting many competing links, but do not hide secondary options completely.
2. Information architecture should follow users’ questions
Your company’s organisational chart may not reflect the way visitors organise information. A technical team may use a term that accurately describes its expertise, while customers think in terms of an everyday problem. Consider this difference when naming menus and defining page relationships. When deciding where information belongs, think about the question that would lead a user to it. Asking a few people to find particular content can reveal unclear headings faster than a lengthy design discussion.
3. Performance is as much part of the experience as appearance
The first image loading does not mean a page is usable. A large image or a component that appears later can shift the text; a heavy script can delay the menu’s response. Try essential tasks on real devices and connections. Preparing images for their displayed size, reviewing unnecessary third-party resources and reserving space for content are useful starting points. Assess speed decisions by the delays users experience, rather than by a single score.
4. Accessibility should be evident in essential journeys
People do not all use a website in the same way. Keyboard access to menus and forms, a visible focus position and clear field names are basic requirements. Explain errors instead of marking them only in red. An animated section must not prevent someone who prefers less motion from accessing its content. Do not make important information available only on hover. Adding these checks to component acceptance criteria, rather than leaving them until the end, reduces rework.
5. Measurement should answer a clear question
Counting every click does not by itself produce a useful report. First decide which decision you need to make. Are people reading about a service but unable to contact you, or starting a form but unable to finish it? These situations require different information. Distinguish a successful submission from a button click, and review user feedback alongside the figures. When assessing a change, consider other factors such as traffic sources, devices and content changes.
Start with a small assessment
Choose the tasks of finding a service, understanding a project and making contact. Complete each task at a different screen size and note where you encounter difficulties. Rank problems by how much they obstruct the task, rather than only by their appearance. This work can reveal priorities before you begin a major redesign.
Explore our UX/UI and web design approach to see how these decisions shape design, and read our article on performance and visibility for the technical aspects of measurement.