The State of Website Usability in 2001
A federal accessibility deadline, a widely read new book and a still-splintered browser market defined what usability meant for businesses in 2001.
Usability in 2001 is being shaped by three forces at once: a legal deadline, a bestselling book and the same old browser headaches that never fully went away. Here’s where things stand.
Section 508 puts a deadline on accessibility
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, amended in 1998 and taking effect for federal agencies on June 25, 2001, requires US government websites to be accessible to people with disabilities. It builds on the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published in 1999, which had already given developers a reference standard even without a legal requirement behind it. The immediate effect is on agencies and their contractors, but the ripple is wider: any business selling to government, or simply paying attention to where standards are heading, is starting to treat accessible markup and alt text as basic practice rather than an edge case.
”Don’t Make Me Think” gives usability a plain-English case
Steve Krug’s book, published in 2000, has become one of the most quoted references in web design circles by 2001. Its central argument, that a well-designed page shouldn’t require a visitor to stop and figure out how it works, gave non-designers a simple way to evaluate their own sites without needing to learn formal usability testing methods first. It’s showing up in marketing meetings, not just design ones, which is a real shift from a few years ago when usability language rarely left the design team.
The browser split is still a daily headache
Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator continue to render tables, forms and fonts differently enough that a page tested only in one will often break in the other. With both browsers still holding significant market share, this isn’t an edge case any serious site can ignore, and it remains one of the most basic, least glamorous parts of usability work: simply confirming the site works the same way for everyone who visits it.
Screen resolution assumptions are shifting
Where 640x480 was still a reasonable baseline a couple of years ago, 800x600 is fast becoming the assumption most designers build around, with some starting to consider 1024x768 for a growing minority of visitors. Getting this wrong means important content or calls to action end up below the fold for a meaningful share of visitors without anyone on the team realizing it.
Where this leaves businesses
None of these four threads is dramatic on its own, but together they mean usability in 2001 is no longer just a matter of taste. There’s a legal standard some sites must meet, a popular framework for evaluating any site’s clarity and the same practical cross-browser and resolution testing that’s been necessary for years. Businesses treating all three as basic hygiene, not optional polish, are the ones whose sites work for the full range of people arriving at them.
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