On today’s Internet the term usability is flooding web design firms, design freelancers and standards Blogs alike. Usability is an important task in developing web-sites and web based software applications, however, I believe that the real term or keyword we should be focusing on is not “usability” but “usefulness”. You can have a useable web-site or application but if it’s not useful it’s not going to give the user much benefit or value. In the long-term, big picture scheme of things; the application or web-site, will fail its audience.

Usability allows developers to make applications and web-sites usable to a variety of possible end users. Usability allows a blind or other differently-abled individual to access, read and/or view our content and features on their terms not ours. Without usability we cannot reach the same amount of people as when we utilize its core function. Without it we’ll be pigeon-holing or type-casting ourselves for no reason aside from inept laziness or any of the other classic excuses we use to keep ourselves from learning and implementing something that hurts no one and helps everyone. I’m an enormous believer in the ideal of usability and I try and make all my projects maintain and utilize a high level of usability. That’s all we, as developers need to do. Just try.

Usability is a fantastic and–I believe–necessary part of any project’s development and in the long run it makes our projects so much better, but without coupling usability with usefulness you’re short changing yourself, your clients and both your user groups.

Usefulness directly correlates to the content and information your web-site or application produces, if you produce nothing of use, your usability matters not. The best way to make your usable web-site useful is to tone it down, make it simpler, and increase the features worth by making them more useful and less specific. Think from the point of view of the average user not the average developer. Increase your usefulness by making examples and giving instruction that is inline but unobtrusive (it’s there if they need it). Tell people how to use the web-site or application, don’t assume your audiences level of expertise and make it useful to all possible users.

Stating what may seem obvious to you or other developers will be not obvious and useful to another user. Build software and applications as if you personally were going to depend on them to get your job done daily, make them useful and usable.

Usefulness should be on your to do list, usability should be there too, but just under usefulness, or better yet on the same line, as if they are the same thing. Thinking of it in those terms your products and services will increase in value and usefulness as well as usability and accessibility.

I sincerely hope you found this useful.