A few posts ago I wrote about the importance about considering the user in all aspects of a website project. It has become apparent from looking at a lot of what various cites label as Best of the web 2005 that 2005 was the year website users developed the ability to mind read. A great deal of these labelled "marvels of modern web design" really require the user to not only be an expert but have the ability to channel the web designer of the site to just get around. I think that this assumption is a huge mistake. I am not arguing that users are stupid, it is just that when navigation makes someone who uses the web all day stare at the screen; really is not this a major fault of the website?

I am all for innovation and addressing navigation in new ways. There just seems to in this pursuit for the new, be a missing of the point of these websites. This rash of unusable websites seems to stem from the flash camp where experimentation so often just leads to confusion. This is not an anti-flash rant, I like flash but where it is used with some thought to the user. Ultimately, there is nothing wrong with being clever in your design. The problem comes when you are trying to be too clever and not thinking about how the website is being used. I also doubt the use of flash for naviagtion purposes in almost all cases anyway.

What I am seeing in the sites so far this year is a pleasing emergence of logical web navigation and consideration of the user. This is a bit of a minor trend, but I am optimistic that 2006 will become the year of the user. The single most important point to note is that when you put the user forward it is the option that requires a lot more thinking. I would go so far as to say this is the really clever option. The site is given a kick start to success in the sense of pleasing and welcoming visitors.

There has been a lot about creating a community behind any website being important. I am going to talk about this in a number of planned posts. I always think that one of the main areas that you can start thinking about your users is the navigation and content flow on your website. No matter what type of website it can always benefit from a bit of naviagation sense. Next time you look at a website have a think about the way you are using it and see if it is out of habit or the site actually makes sense.

I would always suggest having a non techie in your web testing phase. I am lucky enough to have a few keyboard head hitters I always call on when it comes to my testing phase. I might joke about their lack of web know how as the joke about my lack of cooking skills amongst other things, but these people are the ones that you have to take at the end of the scale along with your webby mates. It is a simple application of real world basic accessibility when it comes to naviagtion. How can you expect to achieve accessibiliity and web standards when you don’t even think about your users.