Usability standards
Standards for making your website easy to navigate so people can find what they need.
| Indicators | Standard | Why | Guidance |
|---|---|---|---|
The page has a unique, descriptive title shown in browser tabs and search results. | Identifies the page's content, helping users and search engines understand it quickly. | ||
The page has a meta description that summarizes its content for search results. | Describes page content briefly, helping users understand what to expect and improving search engine results. | ||
Page content is written at a reading level most users can understand. | Improves communication by helping readers quickly understand messages without confusion or frustration. | ||
The page scales correctly on mobile devices and tablets. | Optimizes page display for various devices, ensuring content looks good on all screen sizes and enhances user experience. | ||
The site works whether users type www or not. | Ensures consistent site display whether users type with or without 'www,' preventing errors and improving overall accessibility. | ||
Page content stays in place as the page loads. | Minimizes unexpected page movements, improving user experience by keeping content stable while it loads. | ||
The page starts displaying content within 1.8 seconds. | Measures how quickly important content appears, improving user experience by reducing wait time when loading a page. | ||
The page responds to user interactions in under 0.2 seconds. | A fast response time increases interactivity and user satisfaction, leading to a more engaging experience. | ||
The page's main content loads within 2.5 seconds. | Measures when the main content fully loads, improving user experience by showing the most important part of a page quickly. | ||
The server sends the first byte of content within 0.8 seconds. | Measures how quickly a server responds, impacting page load speed and user experience by reducing wait times. | ||
The site has a name for social media and browser display. | Sets the website's title for social media sharing, ensuring consistent branding and better previews when content is shared. | ||
The page declares its content type for social media cards. | Specifies content type for social media, improving how links are displayed and enhancing engagement when shared online. | ||
The page has a title for social media previews. | Sets a clear title for shared content, ensuring accurate and engaging previews on social media platforms. | ||
The page has a description for social media previews. | Provides a brief summary of content, helping users understand what the link is about when shared on social media. | ||
The page has a canonical URL for social media sharing. | Defines the URL of the shared content, ensuring correct linking and improving how the page is displayed on social media. | ||
The page has a preview image for social media cards. | Sets an image for social media previews, improving engagement by displaying relevant visuals when content is shared. | ||
The social media preview image has alt text for screen readers. | Provides a description for the image, improving accessibility and helping search engines understand the image content. |