Nine out of ten websites fail design test

NEWS The bigger the company the more likely it is that its website will fail to meet end users' expectations, according to one of the world's top web design gurus. Jakob Nielsen, an author of web usability books and a well-known design evangelist, told silicon.com that he thinks 90 per cent of websites are poorly designed. He said most companies are confusing surfers by over-complicating their online presence, and many still see the web as a simple advertising media. "Most companies have very little idea in terms of user friendliness and good design of their website," he said. "They really don't understand what the web is used for. But our studies show that if users don't get what they are looking for in 10 seconds, they'll go elsewhere." Nielsen said good web design is not a question of spending large amounts of money and sometimes, smaller companies get an advantage because they are closer to their customers. "Large companies have huge teams of people designing for them, but they forget who the site is actually meant for. Bigger the company gets, the poorer its site often is. The SMEs often have great sites because they are closer to their customers, their web guys might be dealing directly with the customers," he said.