The interaction within a user interface plays an essential role in the use of a website. Clear and precise businesses allow the user to focus on the critical elements in navigation. Let’s find out together what are the main interaction rules to follow to provide a good user experience.
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1. Affordance
The affordance is the ability of an object or system to discuss its use and function. On a website, its role is to inform the user that an action must be possible. For example, the fact of underlining a text is generally synonymous that this text is a clickable link. It is, therefore, important to tell the user the different actions that he can perform on a page.
One of the best practices when deciding to use icons is to add text below them so that the user clearly understands the possible actions.
2. Feedback
Just as crucial as affordance, feedback provides feedback on the action that has just been taken by the user.
For this, it is necessary to inform the user by indicating the state of the system following the progress of his actions. The task in hand should be displayed – in simple and understandable terms. For example, loading, searching, downloading, etc.
The successive feedbacks of this drag & drop allow us to follow the different stages of downloading a file.
3. The Limits
The fact of limiting the actions of the user to simplify his route by offering a path to follow and avoid the overload of useless information.
Thus, only the most relevant actions will be present on the page. You can decide to highlight specific activities using size, proportion, and emphasis on different elements. This helps to create a hierarchy and influence the users.
The home page of the Foursquare site is an excellent example to illustrate this idea. It allows the user to focus on the action he wants to achieve.
4. Consistency And Standards
Consistency of elements plays an essential role in the use of an application or a website. It allows the user to recognize paths (or patterns) that are familiar to him and to facilitate the general use of a product.
To ensure maximum consistency within a website, it is necessary to use components, each having particular functions. Thus, it is, for example, essential to limit oneself to one or two (max) type (s) of
button to allow the user to recognize its function instantly. The same goes for other components of a website, such as “checkboxes,” “radio buttons,” “spiders,” or different “dropdown menu.”
More and more designers are now opting for the use of “design systems,” which bring together reusable components and structures from project to project. This allows for greater consistency and compliance with standards than before.
It is also necessary to respect web standards that evolve over new uses. Thanks to techniques such as “eye-tracking” in particular, it can be seen that users generally scan web pages with the same “F” movement. We can therefore conclude that the hierarchy of the website must be thought upstream and that the critical contents of the page must generally be located on the upper left part of the page.
5. The Choice Of Words
When developing a site, it is necessary to keep in mind that end users are often people who are not used to technical jargon and also have limited time. It is, therefore, required to support them as best as possible by using clear and precise vocabulary.
The interface messages grouping, in particular, the texts of the action buttons, the form fields, and the error messages, are of capital importance to reassure and allow the user to understand the service.
Regarding error messages, it is necessary to be as exhaustive as possible in writing the text. Thus, for the case of a telephone number incorrectly indicated in a form, it is advisable to report the error message by addressing the specific point “It seems that the telephone number indicated is not complete (10 digits)” rather than to be satisfied with a generic message “The form contains errors.”
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