Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug. Chapters 1-6

A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Chapters 1 through 6

Chapter 1: Don’t Make Me Think. (PG 11)
First Law of Usability: Don’t Make Me Think.
This refers to the content on a web page. A good page should not make you think. I you find yourself asking questions about the site, then you are thinking. Example button designs, confusing text and layout design.

Chapter 2: How We Really Use the Web
Fact of Life #1: We don’t read pages, we scan them. (PG 22)
Fact of Life #2: We don’t make optimal choices. We satisfice.
Fact of Life #3: We don’t figure out how things work. We muddle through.

Chapter 3: Billboard Design 101
Design pages for scanning, not reading (pg 30)
Make it obvious what is clickable (pg 37)
Avoid busyness

Chapter 4: Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?
Second Law of Usability: It doesn’t matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice.

Chapter 5: Omit Needless Words
Third Law of Usability: Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half that’s left.
This is exactly what Megan was talking about for our videoconferencing site!
Benefits of the Third Law: (pg 45)
- It reduces the noise level of the page
- It makes the useful content more prominent
- It makes the pages shorter, allowing users to see more of each page at a glance without scrolling.
Avoid Happy Talk: Too much introduction text and self congratulatory information (pg 46)
Instructions Must DIE! Eliminate instructions entirely by making everything self-explanatory (pg 47).

Chapter 6: Street Signs and Breadcrumbs
Some people will always look for a Search box in a site right away. They are called Search Dominate.
Some people will always browse first. They are called Link Dominate (pg 54).
The overlooked purposes of the Navigator (pg 59)
- It gives us something to hold onto
- It tells us what’s here
- It tells us how to use the site
- It gives us confidence in the people who built it
Persistent Navigation: A set of navigational elements that appears on every page. 2 exceptions: the Home page and forms. (pg 62)
The Sections: Primary Navigation
The Utilities: Such as Home, Search, How to buy or Help
A Way to Search: Use a simple search box with a Search button. No fancy wording (pg 67).
Search options: This site or the web.
Keep it Simple.
Question for Megan: Can we make our Search field be set up to search only our web content?
Page Naming: The name of the page needs to be prominent. The name needs to match what I clicked.
You are here indicators: Highlight current location in navigation bar. Note: too bad Case’s templates can’t do this (pg 74)
Breadcrumbs: You are here indicators. Show an actual path as to how you arrived. About.com is a good example (pg 76).
Tabs for navigating:
- They are self evident
- They are hard to miss
- They are slick
- They suggest a physical space

More to my review of Don’t Make Me Think to come.