Home » Books, Poetry & Writing » Books » Reference Books

Book review - Don't make me think 2nd edition

Ranked #7,333 in Books, Poetry & Writing, #263,040 overall

Don't make me think

This is a review about a great little book by Steve Krug called "Don't make me think". I originally got this book because of another blog I read frequently, coding horror, because we were about to build a new application for our company intranet.

I wanted the new application to be as easy and intuitive to use as possible. This little book helped a lot. It is a "common sense" approach to usability. This made it easy for us to adopt the principals that are in the book.

The book is short so it can be read on an airplane. It contains many suggestions about things you can do today to make your website, or whatever, more usable and intuitive.

How was the book?

The short answer is really good. I am a developer by trade and a geek by choice. I think complex things are really cool. They provide the stimulation by brain craves. I could be a little ADD. This book helped me to keep things simple when doing website frontend, and backend, design.

The book is full of common sense solutions and best practices that just make sense. For example a button should look like a button.


These types of examples are immediately recognizable as the "right" way. The book is full of these types of examples.

There are four sections to the book, "Guiding Principles", "Things you need to get right", "Making Sure You Got Them Right" and "Larger concerns and outside influences".

Guiding Principles

Guiding principles are the basics:
Don't make me think - Krug's first law of usability
How we really us the Web - scanning, satisficing, and muddling through
Billboard design 101 - designing pages for scanning, not reading
Animal, vegetable, or mineral - why users like mindless choices
Omit needless words - the art of not writing for the web

“We don't read pages. We scan them”

Things you need to get right

This you need to get right are:
Street signs and Breadcrumbs - make sure the user knows where they are. After all this is the internet and it is "teleportation" travel

The first step in recovery is admitting that the Home page is beyond your control - designing the Home page.

Making sure you got them right

The farmer and the cowman should be friends - why most web design team arguments about usability are a waste of time and how to avoid them (our team really needed this!)

Usability testing on 10 cents a day - why user testing, done simply enough, is the cure for all your site's ills

Larger concerns and outside influences

Usability as common courtesy - why your site should be a mensch

Accessibility, Cascading style sheets and you - just when you think you're done, a cat floats by with buttered toast strapped to its back

Help! My boss wants me to _________. - when bad design decisions happen to good people

Have you read the book?

Loading poll. Please Wait...

Did you learn anything from the book?

  • jksterling Nov 5, 2011 @ 12:10 pm | delete
    Welcome to Squidoo. Thanks for the heads up on this book and the great lens.
  • stevewdewitt Nov 5, 2011 @ 1:23 pm | delete
    thanks, I am trying really hard to add some worthwhile content
Show All

Get the book

Loading

Got any suggestions about other books to read?

Show All

About the author

Steve Krug (pronounced "kroog") is best known as the author of Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, now in its second edition with over 300,000 copies in print.

Ten years later, he finally gathered enough energy to write another one: the usability testing handbook Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems.

The books were based on the 20+ years he's spent as a usability consultant for a wide variety of clients like Apple, Bloomberg.com, Lexus.com, NPR, the International Monetary Fund, and many others.

His consulting firm, Advanced Common Sense ("just me and a few well-placed mirrors") is based in Chestnut Hill, MA.
Steve currently spends most of his time teaching usability workshops, consulting, and watching old episodes of Law and Order.
[courtesy of http://www.sensible.com/about.html]

Steve Krug's website

sensible.com
Steve Krug's website has more information about usability, training, and his other books.
book review at codinghorror.com
review of the book at the coding horror website

This is me!

Loading

by

stevewdewitt

I am a software developer from the Pacific Northwest who loves his wife, dog and the blues. I am also an avid peak bagger. I am new to blogging/writin... more »

Feeling creative? Create a Lens!

Explore related pages

My Lenses 

Loading

My Blog 

Loading

Amazon Spotlight Personal Review 

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

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

by: Steve Krug

Amazon Price: $18.99 (as of 05/30/2012)Buy Now

This book helped me create a usable site that is used daily by 3,000 people. It gives commons sense solutions for everyday website design challenges.

Related Tags