Website Design & Usability

RobMax website design philosophy is 'Usability before visual Design'. Or in other words we believe website usability or function is more important than visual design to your customers. But that doesn't mean we build ugly websites.

Website usability is more than just how the buttons work. Usability is how a website is organized, what information is available, where that information is located, how that information is displayed, how the website works on different screen sizes and mobile devices. A website with well designed usability will out perform a website that places visual design first.

Usability is the Priority

We believe the priority of a business website is to benefit and satisfy your customer's needs. The visual 'look' of a website is a personal opinion based on emotion. And it is your website users' (your customers) needs rather than the business owner's personal preference that should be the priority! This takes us full circle back to the question of WHO your website is built for?

Why Such a Simple Design?

Some shop owners have questioned the simple, clean layout and design of our websites. We take the view that our customers choose business tools based on function and performance rather than just “looks”. Or at least we hope so!

Website design should be a business decision – not a decision based personal preference. Our auto repair shop websites are built from industry user interface research and sound design principles for ease of use and optimum performance. Simplicity, clarity, functionality leads to more auto repair customers.

How to Judge Good Website Design

When planning a website, business owners commonly experience frustration trying to judge the "quality" of website design. Shop owners all want to have the best "looking" website. But what they need is the best functioning website.

Ego often interferes with making good business decisions. Opinions of what a good website looks like vary greatly. Visual feelings are just too personal and emotional. Fortunately, good websites aren't (or shouldn't be) based on emotional opinion. Well designed auto repair shop websites are based on research and results.

What To Look For

The look and feel of well designed auto repair shop websites does vary greatly. However, great websites tend to share a number of common key characteristics. Website designers and website architects use guidelines to provide them with a deep understanding of these characteristics. For example, the three guidelines that score highest in both relevance and supporting evidence include:

1. Provide useful content -- While it seems like common sense, it's not uncommon for websites to contain a company's sales pitch instead of the information that site visitors want. Studies have found that content is more important than visual design, navigation, functionality and interactivity.
    
2. Ensure visual consistency -- Design creativity must be balanced with consistency. Studies have shown that tasks performed on more consistent website design resulted in greater user satisfaction, quicker user task completion, fewer errors, and a shorter user learning curve.
    
3. Use dark text on plain, light colored backgrounds -- People read dark text on a white background up to 32 percent faster than white text on dark background. The decreased eye fatigue also has a positive effect on website SEO. When people spend more time reading your website it increases website popularity ranking and search engine result position. And more website visitors who contact you and become customers.

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