In this edition of Web Enlightenment we'll be talking about the style usability curve and how it can impact your web efforts.

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The Style Usability Curve

The Internet - just like real life - contains a variety of "or" questions to which the answer is "yes".

Do I need to worry about fat grams or calories? Yes
Do I need to worry about the interest rate or the payment terms? Yes
Do I need to worry about how good the food tastes or what it looks like? Yes

So how does this relate to websites - the age old question:
Should your website be stylish or usable? Yes

Every site has to find and strike a balance between style and usability.

Style is just what you think it is, how "cool" the site looks, the overall visual image it evokes, the pretty factor.

Usability is a measure of how easy it is to use each web page, the rate at which people are able to successfully get things done.

This can also be thought of as "pretty" vs "works" - and overall this is more complicated than you might think.

The reality is that both of these factors have a point at which they cause a problem, people dehydrate from a lack of water but they can drown in it too. Let's take a quick look at a couple of examples to see what I mean.

Oakley Sunglasses has been held out for many years as an example of a site that is too darn "stylish" for its own good. Now it is fair to say that the product here is meant to appeal to people that are really "cool" but there is no doubt that this site is so "cool" that it makes it difficult to get things done. This site is just hard to use, and it being too stylish is the root cause. I know it is possible to order custom sunglasses on this site and I also know lots of folks would have a really hard time actually doing that.

At the other end of the spectrum we find our friends at the IRS. Ok, Ok, they really aren't anyone's friend but like most sane people I hesitate to speak badly about them in public. For years the IRS was criticized for not having a site that was usable enough, regulators even passed laws to mandate that all documents would be available online.

Here is the result. This is a great example of a site that is so "usable" it sucks. Now obviously the IRS is not selling a product here and they are aware that a fear of tax prison is a good motivator for people to get what they need from this page, but the fact is that if this page was judged on conversion rate it'd be a serious loser.

So what does all this mean for you as an Internet Entrepreneur?

You need to know that the "sweet spot" on the style usability curve is different for every business. Your job is to balance between the "Designer" who judges all they survey by beauty and the "content" person who is totally focused on making things usable - neither of them are completely "right".

The best way to find your sweet spot? Testing and statistics, the subject of a future issue of this newsletter.

Speaking of new customers...

The Internet Educator is proud to be working with Skowhegan Savings Bank. Skowhegan Savings Bank is an independent, mutual savings bank that first came into existence in 1869. I'll be creating a web strategy plan for them while my friends over at Nancy Marshall Communications are working on a Marshall Plan.