I am going to launch a real estate website and make it user friendly as possible, but "friendly" with users can understand according to many different aspects, not only a responsive design. On product categories, I want to display my products that help visitors find them without any difficulty. I built an eCommerce site before but I would ask this question because I want to know suggestions for experts here if possible.
My idea of a user friendly site is one that is easy to access and not complicated that even an idiot can navigate it, so to speak. The texts are clear with the message, easy to understand and no high falutin words. With the menu, I prefer a compact menu that contains all the major functions in the home page. I hope this helps in a way for your site.
You should be mindful of the navigation on your website, also the color you use on your website canto a long way in affecting user friendliness. Only high quality image should be used when you want to add images and also make sure the font style and size is easily readable. That's my few tips for you
One thing I think a lot of forum software are doing wrong and which might help is to cut fluff. Every bit of fluff distracts from the core purpose of the site and other things you want people to be directed towards.
The general rule of UX, to my knowledge at-least, is to prioritise important spots, and to de-prioritise, possibly even hide, things that are essentially useless or rarely used.
