Customisable Websites - The Definitive Guide

Customisable websites have recently become more and more popular - get the lowdown on when and why you should and shouldn't allow users to change pages on your website.

Warsi, Abid. Webcredible (2008). Design>Web Design>Usability>Personalization

Personalization is Over-Rated

Web personalization is much over-rated and mainly used as a poor excuse for not designing a navigable website. The real way to get individualized interaction between a user and a website is to present the user with a variety of options and let the user choose what is of interest to that individual at that specific time. If the information space is designed well, then this choice is easy, and the user achieves optimal information through the use of natural intelligence rather than artificial intelligence. In other words, I am the one entity on the world to know exactly what I need right now. Thus, I can tailor the information I see and the information I skip so that it suits my needs perfectly.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2001). Design>Web Design>Personalization>Usability

Usability wins over Personalisation in Cost Effectiveness

Jupiter Research reports that only 14% of consumers say personalised offers or recommendations on shopping Web sites lead them to buy more often from online stores, and just 8% say that personalisation increases their repeat visits to content, news or entertainment websites. By contrast, the majority of consumers said that basic site improvements would make them buy or visit websites more often - 54% cited faster-loading pages and 52% cited better navigation as greater incentives.

Light, Ann. Usability News (2003). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Personalization

Customization of UIs and Products

Websites that let users customize the UI have the same measured usability as regular sites. Sites for customizing products, however, score substantially worse due to complex workflow.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2009). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Personalization