Scan barcode
sombressa's review
5.0
Amazing. Clear principles laid out. A good guide to observing and analyzing user behavior and how to communicate between interface and user. This is a must-read for new or seasoned UI/UX designers.
halezebab's review against another edition
5.0
Great starting point for learning about Web usability. It's quick, too the point and valuable to beginners as well as experts who need a quick refresher.
One of my favorite things is that this book does not live in a bubble, throughout it, Krug suggests reading to gather in depth knowledge on the subjects that he touches.
I heard a collegue talking about picking up this book to learn more about web design, but this book isn't going to teach you much about design. Most things Krug says about design can be summed up with KISS (keep it simple stupid), and at times he's a little anti-design, strongly believing in usability over design.
(Apologies for any grammar/spelling typo, review was written on phone.)
One of my favorite things is that this book does not live in a bubble, throughout it, Krug suggests reading to gather in depth knowledge on the subjects that he touches.
I heard a collegue talking about picking up this book to learn more about web design, but this book isn't going to teach you much about design. Most things Krug says about design can be summed up with KISS (keep it simple stupid), and at times he's a little anti-design, strongly believing in usability over design.
(Apologies for any grammar/spelling typo, review was written on phone.)
ppchili93's review against another edition
funny
informative
fast-paced
3.75
Very informative and highly readable/digestible
rochkan's review against another edition
4.0
I actually liked it a lot but you can tell it’s almost 10 years old by now. The mobile part aged a bit poorly. But the ideas are still valid.
stevenyenzer's review
1.0
Perhaps at some point this book was useful. But no more. As someone who has thought about usability, but never worked professionally in the field, I learned almost nothing from it. The only useful section was about usability testing.
The rest was alternately obvious ("Label your search field 'Search,' not something else!") or laughably outdated (Krug asserts that embossed buttons are much preferable because they look more like buttons). Although it was revised in 2005, it feels much, much older, and as a result, not very useful.
Finally, for someone who obsesses about usability, Krug's obnoxious "dad humor" footnotes were distracting and slowed my reading. I really, really don't care that Krug and his wife use subtitles when they watch British movies. And I don't need an explanation of what Tang is. It comes across as trying way too hard to be funny.
A UI designer friend recommended both this book and Donald Norman's The Design of Everyday Things. The contrast is revealing. Despite being nearly two decades older, Norman's book manages to be eminently more informative, useful, and interesting. I recommend it strongly. I recommend strongly against Krug's.
The rest was alternately obvious ("Label your search field 'Search,' not something else!") or laughably outdated (Krug asserts that embossed buttons are much preferable because they look more like buttons). Although it was revised in 2005, it feels much, much older, and as a result, not very useful.
Finally, for someone who obsesses about usability, Krug's obnoxious "dad humor" footnotes were distracting and slowed my reading. I really, really don't care that Krug and his wife use subtitles when they watch British movies. And I don't need an explanation of what Tang is. It comes across as trying way too hard to be funny.
A UI designer friend recommended both this book and Donald Norman's The Design of Everyday Things. The contrast is revealing. Despite being nearly two decades older, Norman's book manages to be eminently more informative, useful, and interesting. I recommend it strongly. I recommend strongly against Krug's.
martsfrommars's review
4.0
4.5/5 this book was clear, direct, and almost fun to read, it explains very important concepts without being boring
naleagdeco's review against another edition
5.0
I am a programmer. My idea of a beautiful UI is Nethack. My idea of a great UX is grep. (Hint: You probably don't want me designing a UI, ever.)
But writing a web site, even a dynamic one, is something I have to do as part of my profession, and if nobody else takes on that task, I guess it's on me. And we as developers need empathy in general, let alone an understanding of what is the way that will make as wide an audience feel happiest when using our product (and enabling people to do with what I make what everything that I hope it offers them.)
--
I was designing a webapp to learn some new technology and see if I could get even an amateur hobby web/mobile application under my belt, and was looking for something as thoughtless as "this is how all apps should be designed. Always make them look like this. Always have these pieces here" and so on.
This was the second book I read. The first, Joel Spolsky's [b:User Interface Design for Programmers|41790|User Interface Design for Programmers|Joel Spolsky|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385163404s/41790.jpg|41306] was good at at beating into my head the kind of values I needed to approach this from an empathy point of view.
This book gets more into the nuts and bolts, even if at an introductory level. It's the kind of book I'm going to need to own and keep around me as I try to do something very foreign to me, design a web page, and keep referencing to make sure I'm sticking to the framework of though as I'm doing what I'm doing ... when in doubt, skim over the book and reassert that I'm on the right path.
--
I probably haven't digested the material enough to recite it back, but basically, it gives me a little bit of a basic layout for how I should structure an app, but also builds into models of how I should anticipate the user engaging with what I make, how they will scan the app and hunt for things in very different ways than I think when engaging with software, and so on. It gives you practical thoughts on how to think of your product as a tool that people are only using because they want to achieve something and maybe your tool will help them do that.
--
So yeah, my big recommendation is that if you're clueless about UX like me, you'll want to have this book around to reorient yourself around repeatedly, like little mantras and compasses.
But writing a web site, even a dynamic one, is something I have to do as part of my profession, and if nobody else takes on that task, I guess it's on me. And we as developers need empathy in general, let alone an understanding of what is the way that will make as wide an audience feel happiest when using our product (and enabling people to do with what I make what everything that I hope it offers them.)
--
I was designing a webapp to learn some new technology and see if I could get even an amateur hobby web/mobile application under my belt, and was looking for something as thoughtless as "this is how all apps should be designed. Always make them look like this. Always have these pieces here" and so on.
This was the second book I read. The first, Joel Spolsky's [b:User Interface Design for Programmers|41790|User Interface Design for Programmers|Joel Spolsky|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385163404s/41790.jpg|41306] was good at at beating into my head the kind of values I needed to approach this from an empathy point of view.
This book gets more into the nuts and bolts, even if at an introductory level. It's the kind of book I'm going to need to own and keep around me as I try to do something very foreign to me, design a web page, and keep referencing to make sure I'm sticking to the framework of though as I'm doing what I'm doing ... when in doubt, skim over the book and reassert that I'm on the right path.
--
I probably haven't digested the material enough to recite it back, but basically, it gives me a little bit of a basic layout for how I should structure an app, but also builds into models of how I should anticipate the user engaging with what I make, how they will scan the app and hunt for things in very different ways than I think when engaging with software, and so on. It gives you practical thoughts on how to think of your product as a tool that people are only using because they want to achieve something and maybe your tool will help them do that.
--
So yeah, my big recommendation is that if you're clueless about UX like me, you'll want to have this book around to reorient yourself around repeatedly, like little mantras and compasses.
skyzyx's review
5.0
Excellent book on understanding the concepts of web usability, and applying those lessons practically. The book is very approachable, and new web designers should read this book immediately after the Zeldman, Meyer and Cederholm books I've recommended.