Today, we will be talking about UI/UX for Web.

So, all you will be reading in this article is the role that UI/UX plays on a website or web page. Be it a landing page, blog site, e-commerce site, portfolio website, forum, NGO business-centric webpage, governmental website, etc.

Before we move on, let me take you some steps back to the last article on UI/UX.

What is UI/UX? 

UI (User Interface) refers to the visual elements and functionalities a user interacts with on a website. This includes buttons, menus, layouts, typography, and colour schemes. UX (User Experience) refers to the entire journey a user takes while interacting with a website. It focuses on user satisfaction, ease of use, feeling, and general navigation.

To paraphrase, UI/UX is the skill and input that goes into the development of the look, feel, and architecture of a website, software application, or any other digital platform. 

UI is the face of a website that an internet surfer sees while UX is the way an internet surfer feels when browsing through a webpage or webpages, and any other digital platform. 

UI/UX for Web

According to Tech Target, a “digital platform is a medium that facilitates the exchange of something of value between two or more parties.”


The value here can be products, services, information and news, content for entertainment, games, etc. 

Hence, the Web is a digital platform. 

Let me use this scenario to bring home the idea of UI/UX for the Web.

Imagine you're searching for a new restaurant online. You find a website with mouthwatering photos, and you start looking for the menu. You later found out that it is placed at the footer (bottom) of the home page. How will you feel? Frustrated, right? You sure will be thinking of abandoning such a page and heading to a competitor's site. This scenario highlights the impact of good UI/UX design on a website or webpage.

Why is UI/UX Important for The Web?

Unlike physical stores, websites don't have salespeople to guide users. Clear UI and intuitive UX become crucial for guiding users through the website and ensuring they find the necessary information or complete the action they desire.

Additionally, with the ever-increasing variety of screen sizes (desktops, tablets, and phones), websites need to be responsive and adapt to different devices for an optimal user experience.

UI/UX for a website can be better understood and implemented when seen through the following categories:

The User Journey on the Web:

A typical user journey on a website involves several stages, including:

• Landing: This is when users arrive at a website’s homepage.
  
  
• Navigation: Here, the user explores the website using menus and links to find the information they need.
  
  
• Information Gathering: This is when users scan to read content, view product details, or engage with various functionalities and information.
  
  
• Action: No website visit is totally complete without an action. Here, users may complete a purchase, sign up for a service, or contact the company.
  
  
• Exit: Users leave the website, hopefully satisfied with their experience.

I am sure, you are already getting the idea of UI/UX for the Web through these stages. Looking at the stages that I highlighted above, there is a unique implementation of UI/UX for each of these stages. When I say unique, they are actually unique. 

Information, icons, and navigation at these stages are meant to be uniquely displayed and presented.

Common Web UI/UX Mistakes:

Having looked at the stages of a website where UI/UX is important, let’s now look at some common Web UI/UX mistakes:

• Lack of Mobile Responsiveness: Websites that don't adapt to different screen sizes can lead to frustration for mobile users.
  
  
• Cluttered Layouts: Websites crammed with too much information or overwhelming visuals can be difficult to navigate and understand.
  
  
• Confusing Navigation: Menus with unclear labels or inconsistent placement can leave users lost on a page.
  
  
• Slow Loading Times: Websites that take too long to load can cause users to abandon the site before they even start navigating.

Things that UI/UX will focus on a Website

Now, let’s look at the things that UI/UX will focus on a Website Usability:

• Clear and intuitive navigation: With a good UI/UX, easy-to-understand menus with consistent labeling and placement across the website become essential. Users should be able to find the information they need with minimal effort.
  
  
• Simple and Scannable Layouts: Clean layouts with ample white space. Clear organization of information, and logical hierarchy (headings, subheadings, and bullet points) improve readability and user flow. UI/UX makes calls to action (CTAs), like buttons or forms, visually distinct and easy to locate.
  
  
• Responsive Design: Websites that adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes (desktop, mobile, tablet) ensure a positive user experience on all devices. This is also a key part of UI/UX for the Web. This also includes adjusting layouts, optimizing images for faster loading, and ensuring menus and buttons are easy to interact with on touchscreens. Visual Design (yeah, UI/UX also affects the visual layout of a website).
  

• Aesthetics and Branding: Visual elements like colour schemes, typography, and imagery play a significant role in creating a visually appealing website. These elements should be chosen strategically to reflect the brand identity and evoke positive emotions in users.
  
  
• High-Quality Visuals: Using high-resolution images, videos, and icons enhances the user experience and avoids slow loading times. Compressing images effectively can maintain quality while keeping file sizes manageable.
  
  
• Accessibility: With a UI/UX, websites would  be accessible to users with disabilities. This can be done using adequate color contrast between text and background, ensuring appropriate text size for readability, and providing alternative text descriptions for images to aid screen readers.

Let’s put a little touch to User Experience (UX)

• User-Centered Design: Understanding your target audience and their needs is paramount to creating a positive user experience. Conducting user research, analyzing website traffic patterns, and gathering feedback to identify user pain points for web design decisions is also a key and progressive part of UI/UX.
  
  
• Clear and Concise Content: For the write-up or text on a website, UI/UX comes in by ensuring they are written in clear, concise, and easy-to-understand language. Avoiding technical jargon or overly complex sentence structures, organizing content logically with headings and subheadings for easy navigation and scanning is a sign of UI/UX.
  
  
• Fast loading speeds: Website speed is a crucial factor in the user experience because users are more likely to abandon a website if it takes too long to load.

Conclusion

In the ever-evolving landscape of the internet, one thing remains constant: the need for a good UI/UX design. This message of good UI/UX is for newbies who want to learn UI/UX, businesses, and budding entrepreneurs ready to take their website to the next level. Also, it is for existing UI/UX designers. 

The key to success in UI/UX for the Web lies in creating experiences that are seamless and interfaces that are intuitive as well as beautiful. 

You can reach us for any UI/UX service, no matter the project or kind of website. Next, we will talk about UI/UX for software applications and other digital platforms as well.

See you again.