Paperback, 201 pages
English language
Published March 14, 2005
Five years and 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 and entertaining, yet loaded with insights and practical advice for novice and veteran alike. Don't be surprised if it completely changes the way you think about Web design. With these three new chapters:
"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 …
Five years and 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 and entertaining, yet loaded with insights and practical advice for novice and veteran alike. Don't be surprised if it completely changes the way you think about Web design. With these three new chapters:
"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 and putting its ideas to work for 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 for those whose bosses, clients, stakeholders, and 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
Informative, to the point, short. It’s a little sad how many sites I am stuck using regularly violate his principles and cause friction as a result. A good intro to usability for newbs to it like me.
If you're responsible for designing anything, website or not, read this book. Now.
It's great at explaining why usability needs to be the primary concern in developing any sort of interface. The way a user looks at a site is very different than the way a designer does, and "Don't Make Me Think" points these things out clearly and easily.
Even the title is a lesson, one of the most important in the book; "Don't Make Me Think." If the interface makes the user think when they don't need to, it's bad. Cartoons, short chapters, and plenty of illustrations make this a quick, light read that will leave you convinced to spent more time on usability.
While the book's shortness is one of its strengths, I'd say it's also its only weakness. It convinces you to spend more time on usability, but doesn't go too much into how. But that's …
If you're responsible for designing anything, website or not, read this book. Now.
It's great at explaining why usability needs to be the primary concern in developing any sort of interface. The way a user looks at a site is very different than the way a designer does, and "Don't Make Me Think" points these things out clearly and easily.
Even the title is a lesson, one of the most important in the book; "Don't Make Me Think." If the interface makes the user think when they don't need to, it's bad. Cartoons, short chapters, and plenty of illustrations make this a quick, light read that will leave you convinced to spent more time on usability.
While the book's shortness is one of its strengths, I'd say it's also its only weakness. It convinces you to spend more time on usability, but doesn't go too much into how. But that's covered in many other books, and a few are even given at the end.
