Pervasive Usability - Planning For an Uncertain Future

Step 3. Final Design, Hosting and Maintenance

• In accordance with the prototype that results from the evaluation, create the final design
• Conduct the usability test again to evaluate the site’s functionality
• Even after the site’s launch, maintain scope for refining the site further with user feedback

Apart from the cosmetic changes done in this stage, the work of the designer and developer are now assembled into a single product, the final Website. Functionality and aesthetics now fall into place, and the last tweaks are made on both the fronts. The interactivity of the site is designed in such a manner that it retains visitors and provides them with what they want, when they want it -- this could also include what we want users to want!

Building the Website and finally hosting it doesn’t complete the job: maintenance is of the utmost importance. As the Internet changes shape continuously, the site owner usually wants to keep the site updated with the latest information. This would require efforts on your side to feed in the latest information, and, where necessary, change the site design and/or functionality in a matter of hours. So, right from the start, it’s important to the Pervasive Usability approach that you build your Website so that it has scope for growth.

Accessibility Essentials

It should be obvious that the above-mentioned guidelines on following the Pervasive Usability approach must take into account accessibility issues. For example, using regional signs and symbols that are not accepted universally can reduce the acceptability of your Website across a global audience, just as providing audio files without textual descriptions can exclude the hearing impaired.

Once you decide to increase the reach of your site, your layout should be such that it takes only minor changes here and there to incorporate the new design and functionality, while simultaneously catering to the demands of users of differing capabilities across the world.

Pervasive Usability – The Solution for a Morphing Medium

With the change being the most permanent aspect of today’s Internet, it’s important to ensure that the basic identity of your Website is not lost. Change in the design of your site should not confuse the visitor, or worse: make them search for another option.

Move ahead with the changing environment, but at the same time, ensure that the basic paths you create for visitors to follow remain common in all your designs or iterations of the Website. This is one of the most important issues that affects the life of your site.

An integrated approach to usability saves money by catching problems early in the design life cycle at a point where changes can be implemented much more inexpensively. Any organization that takes these user-oriented principles to heart, and implements the Pervasive Usability principles, will be well on its way to creating usable products, and pleasing a host of satisfied customers. Ultimately, what matters the most is the user!