A well-sharked site makes its visitors feel like they know where they are and they know how to get where they want to go. It inspires a fitting mood and leaves a fitting impression. And, for collaborative sites in particular, it makes them feel like they, too, fit in.
experience+Feature
User experience isn't about a single feature or color choice; it's about the whole. But there are some key features to consider when refining user experience on your deck.
experience+practices
Some sites want to project professionalism, others informality. Some want high energy, some quiet peace. But almost all want clarity, usability, and efficiency: things that no technology can offer out of the box. Great user experience requires thoughtful design choices; these practices can help guide those choices:
- 5ish items - a navigation list of twelve options is hard to process quickly. Psychologists refer to our capacity to hold 3-7 items in our head as "chunking". Try to break your navigation into digestible chunks of five or so items each.
- pictures! - images, even irrelevant ones, have been shown to improve reading comprehension simply by waking up your users. Where possible, incorporate images into your site
- concise labels - users skim. They want to find information quickly, and they'll appreciate it if you help them. Label your content clearly, and use one word instead of two if you can get away with it.