There is a phrase “Jack of all trades and master of none”. To me this is a sort of gentle reminder that you shouldn’t try to do everything with a website. Of course, this depends on the scale of that site. It’s sort of automatic that you will cover the basics of usability when designing - a small amount is of course common sense. The problem I have really is that as designers we complain a lot about people doing it for themselves and assuming they don’t need to go to a designer to get a great site. So, why do we assume that the sites we designer or develop don’t need a usability expert?

It’s a phrase I like and it’s a sort of mini motto for me really. Unfortunately it’s not one always adhered to when creating websites. There are many sites that simply don’t adhere to this though. It can be through what functions there are, through the design or through even their concept itself.

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?

Who would you say was the most important person in any website project? the designer, developer, client or the user? Really, when it comes down to any project the most important person is the user. Without users websites are pretty much pointless. Yes, they look pretty and show how great you are at CSS and might be making the client go “oh and ah”. When it comes down to it though as with most things the proof in any website is not the pudding but in use. Therefore, this makes the user the most important person in any website.