What Causes Usability Problems

What is it that drives otherwise sensible organisations and businesses to build products and services that are counter-intuitive and actively annoying for many users?

With so much good advice available, and the need for user input being so much a matter of common sense, it seems fair to ask why usability issues are so common amongst websites and applications - even those which have invested significant resources in development. What is it that drives otherwise sensible organisations and businesses to build products and services that are counter-intuitive and actively annoying for many users?

The answers to these questions are revealing, in the sense that they illustrate how easily usability can be subverted by alternative agendas. And they highlight the need for a user champion within the organisation, an individual outside any internal interest groups, and potentially the company itself, who acts as a corrective to the forces that can leave usability on the back burner.

This list is not one of objections (no time, no money, etc.), most of which are spurious, but rather of explanations for apparently baffling decisions that are often taken without even thinking about the consequences. Some of the more common reasons for compromised usability include:

Technical Vanity

Just because you can do it, doesn't mean that the user wants it. It can be difficult to resist the lure of advanced technology, especially when you've just hired a hotshot new programmer who can do the job in a couple of hours. But animated splash-screens, for example, are nothing more than a waste of your customers' time. If your customers wanted movies, they would go to the cinema. The same argument applies to the myriad of gimmicks which can currently be used to clutter up a website or application.

Organisational Vanity

You may be extremely proud of your new organigram and 'business units', but again, that doesn't mean your users and customers care. Too many websites are designed by committee, with each head of department or product manager insisting on their own 'section'. But a site should reflect how a user experiences the company from the outside, not on what the structure is like on the inside. Similarly, using internal language (such as product or program names) without accompanying explanation will lead to lost users. You might be pleased with a clever moniker, but on its own it could be meaningless.

External Business Goals

Of course business goals are important, but care should be taken when they effect a website or product. It isn't necessarily a good idea to change a well-established site with a loyal user base in order to 'push the new corporate colours' or sell more of one particular item. Web users are not passive victims of whatever you choose to send their way - if their experience suffers at the hands of your short-term goals you may never see them again. The same principle applies to tinkering intended to 'standardise marketing across diverse media' or 'reflect offline advertising'.

Feature Frenzy

Sometimes less is most definitely more, but it can be hard to stick by this principle when the web offers the ability to provide practically limitless content and features. When internal departments and a variety of products are all clamouring for attention, the result can be an online mess that obscures what is really important to the user. Of course, this is not a hard and fast rule but a matter of degree. It is important to think very carefully before adding additional areas, sections, graphics or pages to a site.