Make Your Website Better

One of my favorite books on web usability is Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think. He says that usability is not “rocket surgery,” it’s common sense, and that anyone who’s interested can learn to do it. “After all,” he comments, “usability really just means making sure that something works well: that a person of average (or even below average) ability and experience can use the thing–whether it’s a Web site, a fighter jet, or a revolving door–for its intended purpose without getting hopelessly frustrated.”

The book is short, well-written and full of pictures. It’s practical and hands-on and well-written. Here’s what he says about the title (the way the text is formatted here is exactly as it’s formatted in the book–short paragraphs, white space, easy to read):

“People often ask me:

” ‘What’s the most important thing I should do if I want to make sure my Web site is easy to use?’

“The answer is simple. It’s not ‘Nothing important should ever be more than two clicks away,’ or ‘Speak the user’s language,’ or even ‘Be consistent.’

“It’s…

” ‘Don’t make me think!’

“I’ve been telling people for years that this is my first law of usability. And the more Web pages I look at, the more convinced I become. …It means that as far as is humanly possible, when I look at a Web page it should be self-evident. Obvious. Self-explanatory.

“I should be able to ‘get it’ –what it is and how to use it–without expending any effort thinking about it.

“…people don’t like to puzzle over how to do things. The fact that the people who built the site didn’t care enough to make things obvious–and easy–can erode our confidence in the site and its publishers.”

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