Buy it now from Amazon
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition
Steve Krug
New Riders Press
- List price: $40.00
- Lowest new price: $21.65
- Lowest used price: $20.99
Average customer rating:
Common Sense
The title says it all.
Read this book before designing your Web site!
Steve looks at web page design from the point of view of the consumer. If your pages are easy to use and make sense to the average user, people are likely to stick around. If they do, you are more likely to influence them to buy and recommend you to others. He is interested in lowering your bounce rate and increasing the time people spend on your site.
Your site does not have to be the most beautiful, but it has to be easy to navigate and functional. It also has to make sense. Don't frustrate your customers.
He talks about usability testing as an early practice to find out how your site is coming along. Before investing too much effort creating a site that the development team loves, make sure consumers will love it also and be able to navigate it.
He is not interested in SEO per se in his thinking. A search engine will be able to find you and rank you if your pages are well thought out and carry proper labels. In his mind, ranking high in a search is only useful if people actually stick around and use the site for its intended purpose.
Steve gives enough information for you to do your own usability testing for very little expense.
I highly recommend this book.
I also recommend:The Truth About Search Engine Optimization
Phillip C. Neal DDS
www.drneal.com
www.drnealblog.blogspot.com
Just buy it already!
The book presents the best case studies on what to do - and what not to do - in terms of what elements are should be provided for a potential visitor to trust your site.
It's not paint by the numbers but the author lays out examples of best practices. You just don't read a lot of words of overblown hyperbole or - worst yet - tech jargon that would make your eyes glaze over. It's simple, to the point and short(something the author prides himself on).
If you really want to make the sale, build your community or simply keep someone interested in your site for more than a few seconds, GET THIS BOOK NOW!
Sorry to scream at you but this book is really worth your time and money.
One step closer to making usability a household name in software development
I recently had a chance to participate in several usability studies of a software product we're developing, done on a much bigger budget than what Steve Krug is talking about in his book. I can vouch that the advice he gives about usability testing makes perfect sense. That's only a part of this book though, and not the best one at that.
The meat of this book is the approach to usability that makes it less of a "personal opinion of the highest ranking stakeholders on the project" and more of a "predictable practice with verifiable results" kind of thing. After reading this book you will have a chance not to judge usability by a vote or by a developer who was asked to build a feature.
One thing the book doesn't do is make the case that usability is important, with any significant evidence for or against. You'll have to make this choice and find support for following up on this choice by yourself.
One last thing: I happen not to like most of the suggestions for additional reading, especially for more recently published books. Start with the titles that are presented in the book, and find better ones by browsing similar items in your favorite bookstore.
A must-have for web people
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce viverra, dui vel mollis condimentum, magna neque interdum arcu, sit amet congue mauris nisi nec purus. Donec aliquet, nisi eu pulvinar ornare, felis enim sagittis erat, ut pulvinar ante dolor ac lacus. Vestibulum pharetra sodales sapien id tempus. Fusce at dictum mauris. Quisque accumsan erat vel massa lacinia cursus quis a eros. Donec viverra erat arcu, sit amet sagittis felis. Nunc congue commodo justo in vulputate. Morbi nulla dolor, blandit bibendum suscipit nec, pretium sed quam. Maecenas tortor est, bibendum id commodo quis, molestie sodales risus.
Fantastic UX Read!
This book is a fantastic read regarding user interface/user experience best-practices. The sub-title really says it all, 'A common sense approach to web usability'. The book is exactly that! I recommend this to anyone who works in the web or technical arena as the reminders that this book brings up are genius in their simplicity and ease of execution. Nothing rocket-science here, just a disciplined, realistic, straight-forward look at making sure your designs are clear and easy to understand.