Analysis of Web Design Guidelines

Abstract

There are numerous design guidelines and study results to provide guidance on the way to design web sites so that they are usable and accessible. However, practitioners experience difficulty in applying guidelines, at least in the format in which they are typically presented; they are often discussed vaguely and sometimes conflict with one another. For instance, there is a wide gap between the recommendation “make the site consistent” and its application. Automated evaluation tools, guideline review tools in particular, were developed to assist practitioners with conforming to design guidelines. However, we have demonstrated throughout Part III that the tools have not evolved to the point where they adequately simplify this process. How might we help practitioners to better adhere to guidelines in the interim?