Accessibility & Usability

Usability is a term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular goal. Usability can also refer to the methods of measuring usability and the study of the principles behind an object's perceived efficiency or elegance.

Accessible websites

Nearly all modern websites are designed to be 'accessible' which allows a variety of users and devices to view the website. The term simply means 'accessible to all' regardless of the device or user-type, and does so consistently and without prejudice. The web development team at Hutchhouse constantly striving to meet accessibility standards, whether using an industry standard or a specific standard developed for the individual client.

Cross Browser Support

Supporting the most popular modern browsers is extremely important. Badly written websites which do not display correctly accross this group of browsers could cost you potential customers and enquiries. We always test on the major browsers; IE6, IE7, IE8, Firefox 2, Firefox 3, Safari 3 and 4.

Usability and Usability Testing

Key to the success of your site will be how easy users find it to operate. Your site is software and should be treated as such, so usability tests like card sorts, A to B testing and various observational testing should be considered to heighten the user experience.

In human-computer interaction and computer science, usability refers to the elegance and clarity with which the interaction with a computer program or a web site is designed. The term is often used in the context of products like consumer electronics, or in the areas of communication, and knowledge transfer objects (such as a cookbook, a document or online help). It can also refer to the efficient design of mechanical objects such as a door handle or a hammer.