The Coffeehouse Dilemma

There’s a common scene every morning at the local coffee house—doesn’t matter which coffee house it is. I see it everywhere. In an effort to add cream and sugar, you end up stepping on an old man’s foot, knocking over a baby stroller and wandering looking for a trashcan like Miley Cyrus looking for a career boost. The problem—the “condiment bar” lacks usability.

So do most websites. See where I’m going with this?

Here are the website usability lessons to be gleaned from your next trip to Java Joe’s:

1. Put things that people need first in a place they can easily find, and BEFORE the things they need next. Don’t put the paper cup sleeves at the opposite end from the actual coffee dispensers. People need those FIRST as to not burn their flesh off. If you want a new user to sign up for your services online, you first have to sell them on your services.

2. Group things in a logical fashion. It might be nice to find a trashcan near the stir sticks and Equal packets, rather than over by the ice tea dispenser. Websites abuse this rule when they have too many navigation items—if things relate in an obvious fashion, group them together under a single navigation item, rather than spreading them out and making people hunt.

3. Don’t crowd the table. You don’t want to have to delicately reach over the stack of giant lids to reach the human-size ones. When it comes to web design, white space is your friend. When you throw everything and the kitchen sink on a single page, the result is a noxious mess we like to refer to as “info barf.” Appetizing!

Really it’s about putting yourself in the user’s shoes. Would I look there to find that info? Does the navigation path seem clear to me? Do I need to put a trashcan closer to the damn stir sticks?

Yes. Yes, you probably do.