Is There Any Difference Between Usability and User Experience?

For the SEO experts of the leading Web Design Dubai agency, WS Centre the struggle to understand the actual meaning or to put in better terms, to understand the difference between the two conceptually interlinked terms is going on for quite a long time.

Earlier the problem wasn’t really that prominent because of the minimal nature of web design and development technologies that were being used. Today the internet is filled to the brim with the abundance of different web design layouts and development languages which have made the gap between the two all the more distinct. Though used interchangeably, when explained separately, both the terminologies do present the users with different elements of the human-computer interaction.

We all are aware of the fact that user experience has come along to be the #1 criteria for judging a design of a website or a mobile application. Usability, on the other hand, contributes to improving the user experience of a website or mobile applications. So, to say they both are same is blasphemy. So, to help clear the cobwebs that still cloud people’s mind regarding these two terms, there are few differences to clear out the confusion.

Definition Proof: Usability as per the standard Google definition “Web usability is the ease of use of a website. Some broad goals of usability are the presentation of information and choices in a clear and concise way, a lack of ambiguity and the placement of important items in appropriate areas.”

The user experience, on the other hand, is the summarization of how a consumer felt before, during or after its interaction with the company, its services, and its products.

Issues That Surround Both: Now, both usability and user experience presents difference issues in a user-centered design environment. Usability demands, how the product functions all-in-all, that circles around the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the product, is the consumer comfortable with using the product and satisfied after using the product, and how all this justifies the design goal of a product?

The user experience when evaluating issues -centered design environment takes into consideration the design as well how well the route has been paved for the users to interact with product from start till the end. Spur the degree of interest, familiarity, and emotional resonance.

Vital Components

Usability takes into account the following key components,

• Learnability: How well the product self-explains itself without further tutoring?
• Functionality: How easy is it to use the product?
• Memorability: Is it easy to memorize the way the product works?
• Errors: This isn’t supposed to be a part of this product.
• Satisfaction: Is the user happy the way the product feels.

User experience takes into account the following key components.

• Usability: How easy is it to use the product?
• Flexibility: Is this product capable of providing more than what it is made for?
• Desirability: Is the product worthy enough to be used again?
• Value proposition: Is the product fulfilling a need gap?

To sum this up we would like to tell you that usability is a narrower concept than user experience. Usability defines how easily a user transports from one point to another when using a product whereas user experience takes into account the presentation, functionality, system performance, interactive behavior, and assistive capabilities of the product.