My denomination recently did an excellent redesign of their Web site, making it completely responsive and easy to view on tablets and smartphones.
My denomination then updated the denominational bylaws so they are now only available as a PDF. Which means the bylaws are now neither responsive nor easy to view on tablets or smartphones.
Improve a Web site. Yay!
Then break it. Oops.
This is why it is essential to have processes in place to continually monitor a Web site’s usability. Because it is way too easy to do something stupid that breaks the functionality of even a modestly complex Web site (he says, speaking from personal experience). And because when you go from “Yay!” to Oops,” you need to be able to get back to “Yay!” as quickly as possible.
Too often, the Web developer is not sensitive to usability and the user experience. I’ve had to explain this to too many web developers. Usually it’s about burying important links in dropdown menus and creating too many navigation paths requiring the user to click more than once.
And it helps to know your audience. What is user friendly for many may be ho-hum to others. Easy, intuitive navigation works for me. Bells & whistles are more engaging for others.
Stephanie, really good point. When doing usability studies, it would be wise to consult users who actually use your Web site!