Each of the three surveys incorporated several questions regarding important elements of web site design, ability to find information, the presence of an information gap, and how to make sites more effective. A summary of findings is provided below.
The ability to maintain orientation on a web site was defined in the survey as visitors’ ability to know “where they are, where they can go next, and which pages are related.” The majority (about 70%) of designers believe that visitors are almost always able to maintain orientation. That drops to about 30% when organizations express their views. In contrast, only about 10% of visitors report being able to almost always maintain their orientation. Fewer than 5% report that they tend to get lost frequently.
Over 50% of designers and organizations believe that an engaging writing style is very important. However, only about 30% of the visitors believe the same. This could be because designers and organizations place a greater value on quality writing than does the public. However, visitors appear to have low tolerance for spelling and grammatical errors. Among the designers, those who spend most of their week on web design think that an engaging writing style is important, perhaps because they are more immersed in the overall process of visitor satisfaction on an aesthetic and communication level, as opposed to thinking more about technical functionality.
While designers focus on complex functionality and organizations focus on good visual design, web site visitors are looking for simple, accurate, fast, and easily navigable web sites, preferably with links to information they seek. A significant number of comments revolved around the need for speedy access, including but not limited to download speed, in order to find the information visitors are looking for. Only a handful of designers and organizations mentioned speed of access (including download speed) as a critical element of site design. Since the importance of speed of access was not a question on the survey, the results were gathered from information typed in the comment field by the respondents. Even in a broadband age, visitors value fast sites, both those that are fast loading and those that quickly deliver sought-after information.
Over 80% of designers and organizations believe that good visual design is important. A healthy 50% of the visitors agree. Visitors also commented that they prefer designs that are easy to read, quick to download, and clutter-free. There was no observable difference in opinion by site type. Visual design matters, but it is not as important to visitors as organizations and designers think. Organizations whose web sites had fewer pages believe that good visual design is more important. Likewise, designers who design fewer pages tend to believe visual design is more important, probably because small/boutique sites focus more heavily on design. Organizations with fewer visitors believe that good visual design is important, perhaps because they consider the site more personal, as opposed to large sites with separate communications staff who focus on content over presentation.
Fully 80% of visitors and organizations believe that up-to-date information is very important. Only 60% of the designers believe that to be the case. Compared to other designers, designers of social networking sites are more likely to consider up-to-date information important. This finding makes the case for emphasizing strong, clear design and simple methods to quickly deliver current information to visitors.
Relative to designers and organizations, visitors more strongly believe that a broad range of topics is important. Compared to visitors, designers in particular underplay this factor. Organizations with large numbers of visitors believe in the importance of a broad range of topics, probably to cater to the diverse tastes of and to provide more content for their visitors. Designers and content developers can address this issue by providing ample sidebars that link to other recommended pages, and extensively cross-linking to other pages based on keywords.
