2008 was an exciting year for those involved with political websites. When the Presidential campaign sites were first released, people were in awe. The use of social media, new technology and thought out design was something candidates had never done before. By connecting with supporters online, it made it easier to reach a broader audience as well as a large portion of young voters. Because of the  2008 presidential campaign, local and state candidates are now running with much stronger online presence. As more political websites emerge online, we begin to see many similarities between them.

1) Engaging voters using social media

There is no significance in having a website in which users cannot find information. So in this first post of a series of web usability, I will present 10 principles of user-friendly design.

Jakob Nielsen, a web usability consultant well-known in his field, developed 10 Usability Heuristics. These are the rules of thumb that can help improve the interface of computer systems. I’ve listed them below and also provided a “translation” and questions you can ask yourself to see how this applies to your own site. Feel free to share any thoughts, comments, or ideas.