Evaluating the Quality of Web Design and its Importance

Evaluating the quality of your web design is a fundamental aspect to your website performance.  It’s important since it enables you to know how well your website is functioning.  In addition, it puts emphasis on some key areas for improvement during web development. However, evaluation of the quality of web design may become complicated if you don’t have the right metric for assessing its quality.  

To reiterate the difference between web design and web development: design is the ‘look’ and the basic layout; development is the inner workings of the site and the on page SEO and keyword strategy that drives the performance vis-à-vis the algorithms.  

​The following are the ways to evaluate quality of web design:

Usability

​Usability is the wide ranging consideration of what goes into the web design such as: friendly user interface; speed; technical details; and security. Usability is the backbone of a quality web design because- if users don’t get what they are searching for, they tend to leave the site, increasing a very unwanted metric; bounce rate’ which can cause penalties by the Google bots. Moreover, if the pages are loading at a slower pace, loading should be under one second), users give up and leave the website.  So evaluating the usability of your website starts with the following:  the ease of finding information, existence of a search button for users, the time taken for pages to load, flexibility on different browsers, and mobility, how well your website works on other digital platforms such as mobile phones and tablets.

Website Content 

When it comes to content there are two key issues that you should consider: readability (font size, color against color) and usefulness (the knowledge based quality).   When it comes to readability, you have to ask yourself if the content on your webpage is in a readable font, in ideal size (should not be too small), and the style (artistic fonts and serifs can be irritating in short order.  Whether the background color is ideal and contrasting so that we aren’t straining to focus the words.  When the content is in a format that cannot be read by all users, boredom sets in quickly and the content suddenly becomes perceived as incompetent or plain unimportant. Usefulness of the content is a key feature that must be regarded when it comes to the evaluation of the quality of web design and moving towards web development. It is important to note that users have accessed your page with the core objective of benefiting from the information you share.  When evaluating the content, you should consider the uniqueness of the shared information, that it is not plagiarized or a retelling of the same old thing. Admittedly, it is difficult to confer your relevance and importance to the marketplace considering the amount of competitors who are all trying to say the same thing but it can always be done. This narrative is very related to your value proposition so it’s got to be good and fresh.  Also consider the relevance of the information, correctness and actuality of the content, and whether the content is in line with what users are searching for.

Website Style Evaluation

Human eyes are attracted to pleasing aesthetics or anything with a unique style, perhaps a well thought out presentation that has developed recently. Beauty may be relative when it comes to web design and development, but there are norms and rules that can be followed.  The best quality website style designs create impressions and visual appeal to users, and complement the content one is sharing. When evaluating the style of web design during web development it is important to consider the following: whether your web style aligns with the brand in terms of graphic and colors, whether the style of your website is consistent throughout the website, whether you have decorative or imaginative content, and whether the style meets the demands of the target audience.  ​

Search Optimization Evaluation

1. A strong Search Engine Optimization is the underlying quality of the web design. Necessary ALT tags so that the search engine can know what you are showing through a photo, (Google bots don’t interpret photos, they need a description).  To evaluate the quality of your search Engine Optimization in your web design, you have to consider the following:

 

1. whether all images are optimized with ALT tags;
2. Titles are optimized;
3. An accurate sitemap;
4. Whether you have used the relevant words in your web design and web development, (keywords);
5.  That your coding is efficient.

​Evaluation of the quality of web design is imperative when it comes to web development. Through this, you will be in a position to know what to insert and how to develop the design of your web. Thorough evaluation increases the quality of your web design which in turn will increases traffic on your website. In addition, you will be able to address the short comings of your website and improve its quality.