Review By: Noreen Dertinger
12/22/2006Steve Krug's book "Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability" addresses the subject of making Web sites more user friendly. The central theme of this book is established at the beginning and reiterated throughout: “Make your Web site as clear and easy to use as possible for your visitors. Otherwise, they are very likely to abandon your site quickly.”

The main body of the eminently readable book is less than 200 pages long. Krug has mapped out a logical presentation of what Web developers/designers should consider when creating a Web page. Aside from the central message of making things obvious so people needn't think, he points out that many scan Web pages rather than read the content in depth. Based on that insight, he suggests creating a clearly visual hierarchy with clickable items and breaking up pages into clearly defined areas.

Krug outlines elements that can diminish good will, such as hiding desired information (e.g., customer support, pricing, and shipping rates). Another negative is to “punish” people by presenting information in unfamiliar ways (e.g., formatting data strangely, requesting redundant information, and forcing people to wait through lengthy flash intros). Krug promotes and explains the concept of building sites that facilitate quick comprehension by all and are accessible to the visually impaired. He concludes with some general, good practices that will make any Web site more user-friendly. The short chapter “Help! My Boss Wants Me to __________” provides some general thoughts on how to deal with bad design ideas.

Krug provides liberal illustrations and examples throughout the book to help reinforce his message of making things clear and obvious. At the end of the book is an annotated list of the references that have had the greatest impact on the way he thinks about the Web. The writing style is clear and concise, making the book easy and fun to read. Many people will read it in one sitting. The individual chapters are short enough and sufficiently self contained that one can also take the time to read the book over a longer period of time without losing track of the overall message.

As a software quality control analyst by trade, and a volunteer Web page designer and developer in my spare time, I was intrigued be the title, Don't Make Me Think! If all Web pages and software were built with the idea of making things clear and easy to use, everybody would get more out of accessing the Web and enjoy doing so. Unfortunately, many sites and applications are presented to the public before they have been fully thought through. Therefore, I believe this book is a must read for Web page developers. If they follow most--if not all--of the recommendations given, the end result should be a relatively well designed Web page. I would also recommend it as a handbook to all Web application and software development practitioners. The importance of making software easy for customers to use cannot be overstated.

While the focus of this book is on what could be adopted as best Web development/design practices, I also found the material useful in relation to testing Windows- or Web-based software applications. Don't Make Me Think! includes a chapter on usability testing that will be of interest to all types of usability practitioners and testers. Beyond usability testing, anyone involved in testing the functionality of the code will profit from reading and actively using this book in designing tests.
This book should be mandatory reading for everyone involved in the development of Web sites and is also useful for those working on other software development projects.