Web Development Courses: Crafting Great User Experiences & Websites

With constant digital transformation, the online world has become all the more competitive.

So much so that businesses invest significant sums of money to make their websites more user-friendly, secure, and interactive.

MANCOSA offers several IT and web development courses to sharpen your knowledge and skills for creating better and safer websites, including cybersecurity, automation, and more.

This article will discuss user experience, why it’s essential, and what web development basics you should consider taking to become a more desirable employee.

The importance of user experience and user-friendly websites

IT skills are so crucial that many South African businesses agree that critical ICT skills are vital to their success and ongoing operation.

User experience (UX) refers to a user’s overall experience when using a product or interacting with a company’s website, and could refer to things like:

How easy is it to use?
How pleasing is it to use?
How helpful is it?

User experience is crucial for websites since it can help companies make more sales or conversions, and achieve better customer engagement.

It will also result in lower bounce rates. A website bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who abandon a site after viewing only one page.

Thus, a high bounce rate means more viewers are leaving the website because they struggle to use it or aren’t finding what they want. So, by implementing UX, users will engage better on the website.

Below are some of the primary elements of user-friendly websites with a good UX structure:

Accessibility and compatibility with different devices and platforms: UX websites can be used on several devices, including mobile, tablets, desktops, etc.

Straightforward and intuitive navigation: Users can easily navigate the website’s pages and find the information they want.

Fast loading times and page speeds: Good UX design will help the website load faster since the site isn’t cluttered with big files.
Visually appealing graphics and design: Good UX design ensures the website looks attractive and keeps the user’s attention. This gives them a better impression of the business or brand and makes them more likely to purchase or convert.

5 UX techniques used by web developers

Below is a list of five standard UX techniques web development courses teach web developers in order to create a better user experience.

1. Make it simple

Often, more simplistic designs fare better than extravagant ones since they’re easier to use and navigate. The UX designer needs to know organisation, hierarchy, and design patterns to ensure the site’s layout is straightforward.

They also need to use simple language that gives the user a clear and immediate understanding of what services or products the company offers and how it can help them.

2. Be consistent

The UX designer needs to make sure they maintain consistency in terms of branding and uniform aesthetics when creating user-friendly sites.

Furthermore, more consistent functional components will allow users to interact with the website more effectively since they’ll know how to use the buttons, menus, etc.

3. Make it accessible

Good websites must be accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities and impairments. UX designers must keep this in mind to add all essential functionalities.

For example, to make the website more accessible to people with hearing impairments, the UX designer can ensure captions are added to all videos and that there are multiple means of contact.

4. Perform tests

UX designers rely heavily on feedback to ensure the website is user-friendly and consistent. They get feedback in multiple ways, including:

Asking users to play with the website and give them direct feedback on what they liked and disliked.
Doing AB testing where they compare two versions of the same website to see which version performs better.
Performing bug tests to find any glitches.

5. Keep psychology in mind

The marketing and web design industries have a lot to do with psychology. UX designers must understand the company’s users and how they typically interact with a website.

This includes psychology related to navigation. For example, users know that they can find terms and conditions and policies in the footer. It also includes colour psychology, where the designer can use certain colours to evoke specific emotions.

Tools and technologies for web development

Effective web development requires several tools, technology, and skills, such as learning languages for web development, coding in Python, etc. Here are some of the most crucial tools that need to be used for web development.

1. Front-end development tools and techniques

These tools enhance user interaction, efficiency, and website usability. Developers use these tools to create a website’s structure, design, and all the elements you see on-screen.

HTML and CSS
Javascript learn
Front-end frameworks, like Bootstrap
Design tools like Photoshop

2. Collaboration tools

Web developers and designers use collaboration tools to communicate throughout the project and to ensure they know which tasks must be completed and by whom.

These tools promote effective teamwork and better project results since team members can put their heads together and develop better ideas and solutions.

GitHub and Bitbucket
Trello and Asana for project management

3. Testing tools

These tools are used to test the site’s design and functionality. Web developers and IT professionals can use these tools to ensure the site has no bugs and that users can use it on multiple devices without any trouble.

Automated testing like Jest
Debugging tools like Firebug

However, while many people take the full stack developer course route and consider this the best way to learn web development, you can also learn web development online by taking several short courses that teach you more about IT and web development basics

Choosing suitable web development courses

A lot is involved in website development. Aside from design and development, a lot goes into ensuring the website is secure and set up for the best results, such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and more.

Mancosa offers several online learning short course options that you can consider. These include, but aren’t limited to:

Register to learn web development online with MANCOSA

Now that you know the importance of a well-designed, secure, and automated website for all businesses, you can take IT and web development courses to build your skills and knowledge.

MANCOSA offers a wide range of short IT courses designed to help you build your abilities and expertise in web development and information technology.