In addition to the two books I mentioned in a previous note, here is a pair of websites I found when doing some shopping recently for a memory chip for my laptop computer. I wanted to buy in Australia (since I live here), but I failed to find a website that (a) gave me the information I needed, quickly and easily, and (b) made buying easy.
Here is the bad example: http://ww.memex.com.au/
And here is the good one: http://www.crucial.com/
The main differences (from a usability point of view) of these two pages are:
(1) The Crucial site puts a search box right in the middle of the page, with a graphic to catch your eye. You don't have to think about where to search: it's right there, and it's obviously a search box.
On the Memex site, you have to read a bit until you find a text link that says "Search our database", unless you happen to notice the "Search database" link on the left by the irritating little blinking icon. So a visitor needs to (a) think more to find how to search, and (b) make an extra click to get to the search.
(2) The Crucial site puts other elements in places where people expect to find things: the "menu bar" and a series of text links to the left under it, as well as other places. The site uses good contrast between text and background colours.
The Memex site has an odd collection at the top of the page next to the logo, with poor contrast between the letters and the background colour.
I could go on, but it's late and I'm tired. Someone else could probably find at least half a dozen other things on these pages to demonstrate the points from the sources Daniel quoted.
I'll try to find some more examples for you tomorrow.
Regards, Jean
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