Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Everything this book says is just common sense. When designing websites, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that people will actually be using your published work! How many times have you been to a site only to think "where's the search box" or when entering some details into your online bank account and then press the "enter key" it doesn't login, it goes off to a "apply for a new savings account". Very confusing. In these circumstances, your brain has to think about what has happened, leaving a negative impression in your mind. Not good if you're trying to sell something! When it comes to the web, first impressions count. Take Amazons new redesign for 2008. Amazon gets quite a lot of coverage in the book as an example of good design, so it's interesting that they have gone away from their old design, that's been around for about a decade. I don't like the new look, because every time I use it I have to think whereas before it was intuitive. That's the whole point of "dont make me think". You should never have to think about how to use a web site. If you need to use your brain to do something simple, the designer has FAILED. "Dont make me think" is a quick and easy read. It's quite small at 200 pages. It's often reduced on Amazon so keep an eye out for a bargain. Highly recommended for all developers, even if you don't often do user interfaces. The advice can be applied to all interfaces and not just the web.

This is the best book on the subject that I have ever read. It points out the very kinds of usability issues that I, as someone who has worked in this area of business, has tried and failed to make developers understand. It makes a very simple point - by designing a web user interface that is logical, simple, clear, intuitive, helpful and robust, people will find them easier to use, have fewer problems, will need less documentation/help, will come back, and will have a positive view of you and your products. It is so full of logic and startling truth, I found myself yelling "yeah!" a few times at what it had to say. To put it another way, if you think that it's focus on the obvious is, well, all too obvious for you to have not already noticed, then think again! If there is one book I would impore developers to read (no matter what software they develop) it would be this. It should be mandatory reading.

The book itself is brilliant and I highly recommend it. The ideas inside are genius even though they're actually pretty simple. You'll kick yourself when you read it and ask why you haven't already thought of the concepts yourself. There's some great advice and if you're into any UX design, either website or reporting dashboards, you'll definitely get something from the book. The delivery by Brit Books was a disappointment though. It had been wrapped in plastic and sent, which meant the corner of the book was bent and curled when we received it. There was damage to the spine we wouldn't have expected either. So I recommend the book, but less so the seller. I don't think they sent it in that condition mind, it's more likely the fact the book wasn't very well packaged meant it was damaged in transit.

This is a book that you can read in less than a day, and will make the pages you design slicker and so much easier to navigate. Reading it should save you several days of usability headaches on the project you work on currently, and many more on subsequent projects. Clear, simple, concise advise on making sure that the pages you design will attract and retain readers. couple with a good CSS book and a thorough read of the xhtml specifications, you should be well on your way to building fantastic websites. could not recommend it enough. 5/5

I am a developer and the whole book made enormous sense to me. It is clear, straight to the point and very well written. There was not a moment of boredom while reading it, yet it teaches what really matters about web design. After reading it, I lent it to my sister, who is a designer and she said she loved it so much she's going to buy a copy of her own.

I've read that book few years ago (then sold it and finally bought it again) and it's a real must if you need to think about the user's experience when developing a web site (I mean, you HAVE to think about it if you're the designer/developer who's in charge of deciding the structure and look of it). The principles in this book are really important. It's small size make it easy to read and it's a lot more entertaining than other books like Jacob Neilson's Web Usability...

サイト全体の構成やナビゲーションの見せ方なども参考になりますが、この辺りならwebデザインをやっているうちに体得している範囲かもしれません。でも改めて読むと、サイトの見方や作るときの意識が変わります。 特に役に立ったのは、ユーザビリティーの章です。実際の被験者とのやりとりも台本のように事細かく書かれているので、これをじっくり読んでおけば、自分の作ったサイトをもとに、テストをする立場になってテストを行うことも出来るかと思います。 また、絵やチャートも多く、英語もさほど難しい表現は使ってないので、読みやすいと思います。筆者が言うよう「飛行機の長旅で1冊読み終えてしまう」感じのボリュームかと思います。

I'm sure the physical edition is fine, but DO NOT BUY THE KINDLE EDITION. The format is all messed up, it's basically unreadable.

excelente libro para tenerlo como cabecera y darle a nuestras páginas interés y ser amenas al visitante. Puntos y explicaciones que hacen reflexionar.

The book is short by design which makes it an easy read. In the words of the author, "you can read it on a flight." Although there are 12 chapters, most of them are fairly short, with only two chapters taking up more than 5 or 6 pages. The author writes with a style that is engaging and witty, which keeps you interested in the book. He starts out with a brief explanation of why he wrote a second edition and what has changed in this book compared to the first edition. Once he gets that out of the way, he dives right into "Krug's first law of usability" (hint: its the title). He talks about the way many sites implement the same type of features, and what makes one better over the other. Krug points out that there is a big difference between how most designers think users see their site, and how those users actually do see it. Designers tend to think that a visitor to their site will read through every single word on the page, taking in all this great copy and information that we spend so much time on. In reality, users scan pages rather than read them. They load a site and immediately begin looking for something that is close to what they think will let them complete the task they have in mind. After talking through these differences, Krug offers solutions to help a site cater more to the user that just scans. One thing that Krug does keep to a minimum is talk about the proper way to do this or the correct way to do that when building a site. What he does try to convey in this book are some guiding principles for better usability. He discusses proper navigation and sub-navigation techniques as well as arranging content so that it is clear what section of the site a user is in. The two chapters in the book that Krug commits the most time to covers what are probably two of the most important parts of any site: Navigation and the Home Page. He talks at length about navigation, specifically using the navigation to show a user where they currently are and where they have been. In both cases, real world sites are used to illustrate examples of good and bad navigation design. Krug also exalts the usefulness and importance of the breadcrumb. If you have been thinking of conducting usability testing, but wrote it off as a luxury that you or your client couldn't afford, Krug helps smash that myth. With as little as $300, you can run a simple usability test. He even goes as far as to provide details of how to set up the test and a script you can follow if you are unsure of exactly what to ask. All in all, this is a great book for web designers at any level. It helps put little nuggest of information in your head that you can pull out when designing and building a site to improve things as you build them. If you are new to usability, this book will help show you some simple solutions to common usability issues. The bottom line is that improving the usability of your site will improve your site overall, and this book offers the advice that will help you do that.