10 Ways to Make Your Website More Human-Friendly

Let’s face it—your website isn’t for you. It’s for real, live, breathing, clicking, scrolling, (heck, sometimes even converting) humans. They don’t want to fumble through confusing navigation, wait for slow-loading pages, or squint to read tiny text. They just want stuff to work. Why can’t stuff just work?

Want in on our little secret? Great websites start with a focus on humans: their needs, their quirks, and the way they naturally interact with technology. 

So here are 10 tips to create and maintain a website that feels a bit more human-friendly. Hop to a tip below, or cruise through 'em all.

1. Start with accessibility.
2. Keep nonsense out of navigation.
3. Design for mobile (because humans are obsessed with their phones.)
4. Pick fonts that humans can read.
5. Structure content like a conversation.
6. Find things that slow your site down. (Then, ditch 'em!)
7. Make your submission forms suck a little less.
8. Make visitor feedback a thing.
9. Make your site manageable (for the humans who actually manage it.)
10. Test, tweak, repeat.

1. Start With Accessibility

Accessibility isn’t a chore—it’s a foundational principle of web design that you owe to all your visitors. If you’re feeling behind, don’t freak out! There are some easy ways to get started:

• Start by viewing your site through the eyes of the free Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE). It might not look pretty… But don’t let that stop you from making a plan to start tackling your most critical accessibility issues.
• Give images meaningful alt text and file names (not “Image1.jpg,” please!)
• Ensure your color choices don’t look like a magic eye puzzle to people with color blindness. Unsure if you have adequate contrast with your color choices? Meet the WebAIM Contrast Checker, AKA: your newest browser bookmark and best friend.

2. Keep Nonsense Out of Navigation

Nobody likes getting lost. If visitors are getting lost on your site, your session is as good as gone. Make sure folks stand a chance at finding what they’re looking for without always needing a GPS!

• Use familiar terms like “About Us” or “Services” instead of trying to be overly clever on navigation titles.
• Make sure visitors can reach key pages in 2–3 clicks max. Test this out for yourself!
• Add a search bar. You could create the most perfect and straightforward navigation in the universe, but there will always be folks who just ain’t got time for that.

3. Design for Mobile (Because Humans Are Obsessed With Their Phones.)

Industry and B2B webmasters, avert your eyes for a sec… The truth is, most of us humans are cruising a whole lot of websites on our phones these days. Optimizing for mobile-first is almost always a safe bet, even if your audience is primarily visiting from desktops. Anywho, tip time:

• Start with responsive WordPress themes (like ours!) to keep things flexible.
• Test clickable elements, form text boxes, and any pop-up elements to catch UI roadblocks.
• Be sure to run separate Lighthouse reports for the mobile version of your site, and fix any performance discrepancies between mobile and desktop versions of your site.

4. Pick Fonts That Humans Can Read.

Fonts matter. No one’s going to read your brilliant blog if it feels like deciphering hieroglyphics. Poor font and legibility choices make it even more difficult for vision-impaired users to fall in love with your site, and we can’t have that.

• Go with web-friendly fonts that are clean and easy to read.
• Make sure body text is at least 16px (don’t make people zoom in).
• Test your color contrast with your old friend, the WebAIM Contrast Checker—because neon yellow on white isn’t a vibe.

5. Structure Content Like a Conversation.

Your users shouldn’t have to figure out what’s important—you’ve got to lead the way! It’s like a conversation: Start with the big idea, then let users decide how much deeper they want to go. Visual Hierarchy and Information Architecture (IA), take the wheel.

• Put the most critical information (like CTAs) front and center.
• Break up text with headings, images, and white space. 
• Make sure your header tags and stylings match hierarchically: H1s are the most important info on a page, H2s are important subheaders, then H3’s, H4s, etc. (More on SEO basics here!)
• Use bold buttons with high contrast for important actions you want users to take.

6. Find Things That Slow Your Site Down. (Then, Ditch ‘Em!)

Alright, fellow humans living in the 2020s… It’s no secret that our attention spans are COOKED. The bar for fast load times and instant feedback on all things digital is higher than ever before. So, give your site the best shot at meeting real expectations from real humans. Start with these tips:

• A Lighthouse or Screaming Frog scan will help find large filesize images or excessive CSS elements that might be stinking up the place with slow load times.
• Start by shrinking down any images larger than about 1mb or so. If you can get them even smaller, even better! Free tools like TinyPNG come in clutch for this sorta thing.
• Install caching plugins like WP Rocket or NitroPack OneClick (if you’re hosted on WP Engine).
• Say goodbye to bloated our outdated plugins you don’t actually need!

7. Make Your Submission Forms Suck A Little Less.

Let’s face it: nobody likes forms. Think about your site visitors. They’re your leads on the line! Submission forms can be a real tightrope for them to walk, and they’re all too easy for companies to overthink. But keep in mind some simple reminders and you might be able to make them suck a little less.

• Keep it short. Ask only what you need, and make sure required fields are only set for info that you REALLY need.
• Write field labels that feel conversational, not robotic.
• Use real-time error messages to avoid page-reloads that wipe users’ entries. This is how supervillain origin stories begin. (If you’ve ever had to re-fill an entire form from scratch after hitting submit the first time, you know.)

8. Make Visitor Feedback a Thing.

Great websites don’t guess—they ask. Create paths for users easy ways to tell you what they like (you’ll most likely hear about what they don’t like). But hey, feedback isn’t just helpful– it’s human!

• Add simple-question surveys to your most-visited pages. (Psst. If you’re already using Hotjar, you’re closer than you think!
• You can use HappyForms for pretty painless form creation as well.
• For brave webmasters & moderators: Turn comments on for your blogs. Getting 1 helpful comment in the sketchy sea of spam might still be worth it. Or not. But you’ll never know if you never try!

9. Make Your Site Manageable (For The Humans Who Actually Manage it.)

Look, we know plugins aren’t always the answer (and our answer ultimately depends on how much time you’ve got). But hey, sometimes… Plugins are an answer. And these are a few that can help make WordPress Webmaster duty a bit more palatable:

• Elementor lets you design pages that feel intuitive.
• Yoast SEO helps you write content that’s easier for search engines to find, and almost gamifies the experience. It just feels better publishing a blog post knowing you turned those Yoast smiley faces from red to green along the way. 
• Save yourself a tab, or two. Integrating MonsterInsights or Google Analytics SiteKit can show you how real people interact with your site, right within your WordPress dashboard.
• Or, and hear me out… Let Propaganda3 build a custom WordPress admin that does everything you need, and nothing you don’t.
  • AUTHOR'S NOTE: The devs will call this a shameless plug, but hey, they do cool stuff. Someone’s got to make them look good!

10. Test. Tweak. Repeat.

Your website isn’t a “set it and forget it” project. Keep making it better with regular testing and tender loving web maintenance. Think of it as a never-ending science experiment—but one where you always get smarter.

• Use heatmapping tools like Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity (free!) to see where users are clicking, scrolling, or ragequitting.
• Look for patterns or drop-off points (like high bounce rates or rage clicks) and address common user frustrations.
• Dive into Google Analytics to uncover what’s working (or what’s not).
• Regularly test load speeds and usability on both desktop and mobile devices.
• Test your site across multiple browsers and devices. Or, ask us about our Cross-Browser and Cross-Device Testing offerings!
  • AUTHOR'S NOTE: 404 Plug Error, shame not found.

The Final Word

If you’ve read this far, congratulations! Because I’ve saved my wisest nugget for the end: when it comes to great web design, I’d recommend you spend less time stressing perfection, and spend more time in pursuit of progress.

If you can keep cracking on creating experiences that feel as natural as possible to the people who visit your site, you’re on the right track. But don’t forget, it’s a heck of a lot easier with helpful humans by your side.

If you or someone you know could use a friend in the web design and development business, send ‘em on over!