Web Site Usability Issues - Low-end Users

A site's usability, first and foremost, must be measured in terms of the customers' capabilities, not those of the firm itself. As much as designers may wish to exploit the latest technologies, design techniques, and browser capabilities, conscientious and business-wise Web managers would do well to keep their entire range of customers in mind. Specifically, designers must remain cognizant of their lowest-end users—those users and potential customers with the least advanced browsing capabilities. It's extremely common for corporations to maintain cutting-edge technology, but more important is the technological capacities of the customers.

For example, a designer may wish to include fancy, intensive graphics and advanced search mechanisms to offer the best-looking and shopping-optimal site, but if a segment of the company's customers still operate on low-end browsers, they may be unable to utilize the site at all, in the process driving those customers away. If a corporation's customer demographics include a strong focus on lower-income groups or other demographics that are less likely to enjoy the latest broadband or other technologies, then the firm would be ill-advised to focus their Web sites too heavily on streaming media technologies or complicated graphic schemes, no matter how aesthetically pleasing or even how user-friendly such designs, in theory, may be.