Changing Websites for Our Users

Web usability guidelines remain fairly constant despite the rapid changes in many parts of the web industry. In a recent article by Jakob Nielsen, he reports that User Skills are Improving, But Only Slightly. In the event that our users are becoming more keen to web technologies, there will be a need at some point to change our websites to better accomodate them.

It is important to design a website that will be usable for all of its users. This means accomodating those with varying levels of web experience. Often the industry and purpose of a website can usually narrow down the target user group.

Until we see proven results in user change, we need to remember to design for the lowest common denominator when it comes to web experience. I believe that as our population ages, this will change significantly due to the amount of web experience the younger generation has.