Generation Digital is an intolerant, unforgiving cohort when confronted with unnecessary changes or avoidable complications in the usability of an app or a website. Facebook veterans regularly witness the outpouring of resentment, when company commits the near mortal sin of an interface upgrade. Tempers flare and keyboards smashed with website-traffic-increasing opinions abound.

Still, Facebook has a huge advantage over the vast majority of online businesses, enabling them to commit user experience (UX) upgrades without fear of excessive recrimination. Most of the time folks just grumble, accept and forget. What are the vast majority of Facebooker going to use instead? They have bought in; they are invested. If the sin of the upgrade is too severe and mass dissent is on the horizon, Facebook's expansive development teams can efficiently roll-back the changes to restore their ecosystem.

If you have just launched your website, unlike Facebook, you are probably out of luck. Websites in their infancy can lose their user base remarkably quickly with one serious UX mistake made on a typical key user's journey. And once you've lost a user, it is nearly impossible to get them back. Do not inhibit website visitors with an unwieldy menu system or too many cryptic icons. Inadvertently create hurdles that slow the user experience and you are potentially hemorrhaging customers.

This is precisely why UX designers are a crucial component of any website or app project. They make sure that even the most apparently inconsequential choice about usability doesn't prompt a mass departure of users. Your project needs to subtly balance your company's requirements with that of your customer. A website development agency like PiP Coders, who really understands user experience (UX), delivers a wealth of expertise. We can act as a mediator between your business requirements and your user's site experience. I have selected few basic UX principles of website and app design that are often overlooked.

User digit dexterity

Gone are the days when users shied away from scrolling. Most users will have most of their fingers and presume that their use will be called on to scroll or swipe. And for your site visitors who don't have fingers or have difficultly using them, we should design the scroll with accessibility in mind. There is still apprehension regarding web page scrolling, yet this fear is now a redundant consideration, consigned to the past, like flash plugins or phone cords. Millennial attention spans may be ever constricting but once engaged with a subject, they are captivated. Compelling content and interesting information about your service, business or industry will keep your users engaged.

Don't require the Rosetta Stone

There are a few icons that are intuitive that most website visitors invariably comprehend. For instance, the hamburger icon indicates a menu on a mobile device and the five-star symbols for demonstrates favourability. Iconography should be obvious. It shouldn't require a post-grad in Greek mythology. Also, a website developer shouldn't change fundamental menu concepts like 'Contact Us' for 'Get over here!' There is no benefit to trying your customers' patience. Don't make navigating a website into a game or puzzle. The goal of your website is for everyone to find their chosen destination quickly and painlessly.

Navigation shouldn't require odd shaped dice and a dungeon master

Website developers who are cognisant of UX spend many hours analyzing a website's user journey. We should think less journey, more quick errand. The less arduous the journey and the quicker users reach their destination, the better. Businesses think long and hard about their information structure, sometimes to the detriment of the user journey. Limitless options confuse website visitors, creating too many clicks for them to reach their final happy place. Structuring your site's information architecture is the job of a UX professional.

And then there are forms

Hopefully, I don't need to labor the point. Forms, as with structuring information architecture, website menus and icons need professional forethought. This is the job of a UX professional.

Please do not hesitate to contact PiP Coders via the contact page if you have any further questions.