1. Functionality/Content: What does the site or app do (or allow the user to do)
2. Usability: how easy and intuitive is it to use (for the target audience) without reading a bunch of docs
3. Visually appealing: how good does it look
Here are my observations on this subject:
1. There are many web sites and web apps that are ugly but freakishly popular because they offer functionality or content that people really want (craigs list, e-bay). I don't know of any freakishly popular web sites where the reverse is true.
2. As a user, I have often put up with ugly, counter-intuitive web sites because I really wanted the functionality or content.
3. Many organizations that create web sites or web apps tend to lump metric #2 and #3 together. But they are really different skills. I don't think it is a valid assumption that someone who is good at making things look pretty is also good at making an application easy to use.
4. I have seen web sites that have spent extreme and disproportionate amounts of development effort on a feature that adds no functionality or usability gain. But it looks cool.
Thus my preference (both as a user and developer) for prioritizing these 3 metrics is:
1. Functionality/Content
2. Usability
3. Visually appealing
There are always exceptions. For example, a web site for a graphic art company or a web site trying to promote their product's image/brand may prioritize differently.
1. Functionality/Content
2. Usability
3. Visually appealing
There are always exceptions. For example, a web site for a graphic art company or a web site trying to promote their product's image/brand may prioritize differently.
