Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition

Nice book with obvious but often overlooked or forgotten details about how to design nice web pages & sites that make sense & are easy to navigate & understand.

This is a great book - clearly written, easy reading, good examples, good references to other books/websites/sources. I highly recommend it to anyone designing websites, & parts of it to anyone who is hiring someone else to design or redesign their site. By using the methods described in this book & looking at other sites the person has done, you will better assess the quality of the person you are interviewing 4 the work.

Being new to the web world, this book is a God-send. It's practical, straight-forward, easy to read & humorous. It's a great introduction to website usability 4 those who design, creative direct or do copywriting 4 websites.

Very useful information, but like many books bogs down a little on the back end. Other than that, the book practices what it preaches. I've given my copy to our web design team & plan to see it passed around.

Came in the same condition it said it would be in: new. It arrived on time & I didn't have to worry that it wasn't coming. Great service!

Five years & more than 100,000 copies after it was first published, it's hard to imagine anyone working in Web design who hasn't read Steve Krug's "instant classic" on Web usability, but people are still discovering it every day.  In this second edition, Steve adds three new chapters in the same style as the original: wry & entertaining, yet loaded with insights & practical advice 4 novice & veteran alike.  Don't be surprised if it completely changes the way you think about Web design.

Three New Chapters!

• Usability as common courtesy -- Why people really leave Web sites
• Web Accessibility, CSS, & you -- Making sites usable & accessible
• Help! My boss wants me to ______. -- Surviving executive design whims
  

"I thought usability was the enemy of design until I read the first edition of this book.  Don't Make Me Think! showed me how to put myself in the position of the person who uses my site.  After reading it over a couple of hours & putting its ideas to work 4 the past five years, I can say it has done more to improve my abilities as a Web designer than any other book.

In this second edition, Steve Krug adds essential ammunition 4 those whose bosses, clients, stakeholders, & marketing managers insist on doing the wrong thing.  If you design, write, program, own, or manage Web sites, you must read this book."  -- Jeffrey Zeldman, author of Designing with Web Standards

Usability design is one of the most important--yet often least attractive--tasks 4 a Web developer. In Don't Make Me Think, author Steve Krug lightens up the subject with good humor & excellent, to-the-point examples.

The title of the book is its chief personal design premise. All of the tips, techniques, & examples presented revolve around users being able to surf merrily through a well-designed site with minimal cognitive strain. Readers will quickly come to agree with many of the book's assumptions, such as "We don't read pages--we scan them" & "We don't figure out how things work--we muddle through." Coming to grips with such hard facts sets the stage 4 Web design that then produces topnotch sites.

Using an attractive mix of full-color screen shots, cute cartoons & diagrams, & informative sidebars, the book keeps your attention & drives home some crucial points. Much of the content is devoted to proper use of conventions & content layout, & the "before & after" examples are superb. Topics such as the wise use of rollovers & usability testing are covered using a consistently practical approach.

This is the type of book you can blow through in a couple of evenings. But despite its conciseness, it will give you an expert's ability to judge Web design. You'll never form a first impression of a site in the same way again. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered:

• User patterns
• Designing 4 scanning
• Wise use of copy
• Navigation design
• Home page layout
• Usability testing