Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability Author: Steve Krug | Language: English | ISBN:
0321965515 | Format: PDF
Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability Description
Since
Don’t Make Me Think was first published in 2000, hundreds of thousands of Web designers and developers have relied on usability guru Steve Krug’s guide to help them understand the principles of intuitive navigation and information design. Witty, commonsensical, and eminently practical, it’s one of the best-loved and most recommended books on the subject.
Now Steve returns with fresh perspective to reexamine the principles that made
Don’t Make Me Think a classic–with updated examples and a new chapter on mobile usability. And it’s still short, profusely illustrated…and best of all–fun to read.
If you’ve read it before, you’ll rediscover what made
Don’t Make Me Think so essential to Web designers and developers around the world. If you’ve never read it, you’ll see why so many people have said it should be required reading for anyone working on Web sites.
“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.”
–Jeffrey Zeldman, author of Designing with Web Standards
- Series: Voices That Matter
- Paperback: 216 pages
- Publisher: New Riders; 3 edition (January 3, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0321965515
- ISBN-13: 978-0321965516
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
There has been a noticeable shift in technology design - it's all about us - the users! In light of this change, Steve Krug has updated his bestselling guide to web usability. As he says himself, "The basic principles are the same even if the landscape has changed, because usability is about people and how they understand and use things, not about technology. And while technology often changes quickly, people change very slowly."
His core common sense approach remains the same, but with all the new devices that people are interacting with these days, the competitiveness of a product relies on how easy it is to use. You could pay for a professional like Krug to determine how usable your product is, if you can afford it. But even then, it's important to learn the principles yourself so you know whether the person you hire is considering and addressing the right issues. Happily, this book practices what it preaches, it's written in a friendly chatty way and well designed. In short, this great book goes down easy.
I've come across a lot of design books in my time and several in my last year while pursuing a higher education in graphic design - including a personal favorite The Practice of Creativity: A Manual for Dynamic Group Problem-Solving, which Krug strongly endorses in a previous edition's "Recommended Reading". It would have been so great to have this book at my disposal while I was studying website design because the information is so well organized. For my classes I was provided Peachpit software books, which I found a little hard to follow for being too text heavy.
I read the book pretty fast, as I knew I would since the first one was a quick read as well. I've been waiting for it to come, especially since I had to speak at a tech conference a few weeks ago on "What We Know About Your Website Users."
I read it in three chunks, 30 minutes, then 1 hour on the treadmill walking and another hour on the treadmill today. I nearly injured myself only once when I dropped the book. So, in 3 hours or less, someone can learn a lot of important issues to consider about the making or redesign of a website!
I'm familiar with the older edition as it was required reading in grad school. Friends regularly ask me to look at their sites and usually the suggestions I make for improvement originate from usability guidelines in this book. Sometimes I get them to go buy it, and they come back to me with gratitude.
It's especially a great book for small business owners and soloprenuers who can't spend much money for web help. It would also be very helpful for anyone thinking about doing mobile usability testing - he covers the issues and challenges with that.
I really like the updated examples in this edition - they are great. Generally I felt like I had learned most, not all, of the information from the first book and that class in grad school. However, I by no means remember to use all the principles so it was great to review and think about things I need to change on my own website and for the sites I'm in the process of making now for others.
The mobile chapter was really what I was eager to see to learn some new things. I wanted an easy answer like "responsive is the way to go!" - and, understandably, that's not what's there since its about tradeoffs and not black and white (darn it!).
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