The e-learning experience of most users is not always perfect. Certain flaws, which may be due to media use, or unwise use of technology, blemish this experience. Hence, there’s a need to exploit this technology and channel it for others, in turn improving user experience.
Nobody Wants To Read A Lot of Text
Keep it concise. That should be the first thing you should focus on. Heaps and heaps of text, however interesting or informative, are not going to get even a minute worth of time from the user. Instead direct, to the point and usage of common words and phrases are more likely to hold user’s concentration. A recent study shed some light on this fact, it said that users tend to be rather economical when reading pages bursting with text and jump to where the information they want lies.
Headings And More Headings
If it’s absolutely necessary for you to write long articles, and there’s no way you can cut it short without deleting essential information, then put in a lot headings. Break up your article with headings and sub headings. It would enrich a user’s experience, because then he’ll have the choice of jumping to his favorite part without wasting time. Also, this way you can ensure that he’ll know what the articles about, as he will have to read all the headings while he’s skimming through the article.
Not So Subtle – Bullets
Bullets are the way to go, if you want your user to appreciate your content. Bullets tend to help users avoid chunks of letters that are of no use to them and go directly to the point that interests them. You can do this by breaking up your paragraph further into bulleted points. Also, you can highlight the important parts in either bold or italics.
A Picture is Worth Thousand Words
Make this old adage your mantra and you will not go wrong. There is a lot of truth in this saying, as a picture can speak a lot while holding our attention. A recent study stated that people tend to visit visual prone articles more as pictures, maps and graphs fascinate them. So don’t lose hope if you can’t include a picture in your work, go with maps or graphs, they are all user friendly. But make sure to not stock the pictures up. These pictures are replacing text, so use images which assist textual content.
Make Help Pages Easy To Find
Help pages such as FAQ’s or technical support should be out there in either the menu or the footer. This helps to reduce user’s frustration in seeking help.
Window Shopper Friendly
Put description, prices and specs in your list or index pages as that keeps users pleased and ready to expend their time. It might even go as far as to sway them to spend their money.
Name\Logo Should Scream From The Top of The Page
If you want your users to know where they are constantly, you should put the name or logo on the top of the page where it’s instantly viewable.