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sweemeng's review against another edition
5.0
Good book on design, covers from principles on usability to testing. Very comprehensive. It is a short book, so it is easy to follow. Highly recommended.
cypherfett's review against another edition
4.0
I was hoping for more information on design, but what he does offer is ideas on usability.
kergoth's review against another edition
5.0
Informative, to the point, short. It’s a little sad how many sites I am stuck using regularly violate his principles and cause friction as a result. A good intro to usability for newbs to it like me.
gmeacher's review against another edition
5.0
A perfectly approachable book for newbies to usability. If you could only read one book on what usability is or how valuable it can be—this would be it. Happily adopting this book as an intro to UX in my design courses.
jenjanet's review against another edition
5.0
This is by far the best UX book I've ever read. It's short, concise, and to the point, witty, and a perfect read for both designers and anyone else making software (managers, developers etc).
The best part about it, is that the book itself exhibits great UX - it was even in large print so it's accessible! A lot of UX books I've read seem to repeat the same things over and over, have long paragraphs that are difficult to parse...many books do that. This book does not. The content is fantastic and completely necessary for anyone making software in any capacity, in my opinion. But the content is also incredibly easy to understand, the author breaks everything down beautifully.
It's a must-read for anyone creating software or products in general.
The best part about it, is that the book itself exhibits great UX - it was even in large print so it's accessible! A lot of UX books I've read seem to repeat the same things over and over, have long paragraphs that are difficult to parse...many books do that. This book does not. The content is fantastic and completely necessary for anyone making software in any capacity, in my opinion. But the content is also incredibly easy to understand, the author breaks everything down beautifully.
It's a must-read for anyone creating software or products in general.
mellowbeing's review against another edition
3.0
Quick read, nicely laid out book.. picked up some tips.
kmardahl's review against another edition
4.0
This second edition is from 2005. I give this book a 4-star rating because it is good and classic, but you should now be reading the third edition. Go and see if that contains the fifth star. :)
I do question much of the chapter about home pages, but the book is 10 years old. A LOT has happened since then. You can't blame someone for saying what they said in 2005!
The thing is - most of what Steve writes IS common sense and has survived the 10 years since he updated his first edition. It's all about listening to the users of whatever product or service you are offering and eliminating the majority of their questions like "what is this" and "where do I begin" and "why should I even use this".
I once worked with a webmaster who said she was completely against this book and the title. She WANTED people to think. I think she missed the point. This is not about dumbing down or insulting people's ability to think. The issue is to eliminate unnecessary and wasteful thinking. Why don't you put your contact info in an easily available and somewhat logical spot like the footer or the top navigation like many people use so I can read more about who you are and whether you are a trustworthy provider of something I might like.
One painful truth Steve mentions is that people will most like never fret about the things we technical communicators, usability experts, designers, etc. fret about. A lot of people enjoyed the movie "Avatar". The design community was tied in knots about a super expensive movie not investing in top-of-the-line typography, but instead just plucking out Papyrus for the 6-letter word containing 4 letters. The movie-goers could have enjoyed their popcorn at that battle scene, but they didn't. They were too busy watching the movie, "Avatar". This is related to the concept that YOU are not the user. Yes, it's painful. Yes, this feels like your baby, but you are making it for others to use and not keeping it to yourself. Common sense, but unfortunately necessary to repeat because a lot of people still are not "getting it".
Steve has point and bullets that are handy references if you need to pull up a phrase to placate a boss or a developer or something who is fussing about some detail.
You might say, don't make the user think, but you, the creator, MUST think. If you apply a lot of common sense and listen to what is happening, you will go a lot farther than you could have imagined.
I'd say this book is a nice supplement to follow on the heels of "The Inmates Are Running the Asylum", written before this book's second edition. Also, Ginny Redish's book "Letting Go of the Words", which came out for the first time after this second edition. I think that would be a nice trio both for the beginner, but also for the expert who might have muddied vision about what they are doing and who needs a good reminder of some best practices.
For any technical communicator who thinks "I don't do usability - I just write", you can still read this book and get loads of value from it.
I confess that it has taken me years to really read this book. I have the first edition in paper. In early 2013, I thought that I might as well just buy an ebook of the second edition and catch up. And then the third edition came out. Oh well. Better late than never! I did know a lot of this stuff, but as usual, it's nice to get a structure to the chaotic thoughts in one's head. That is one of the biggest benefits of this type of book: giving you neat little phrases to use in meetings, etc. You might not have those handy because you are just plugging away at your job and not stepping back to make sense of what is happening. Steve does that for you.
Enjoy!
I do question much of the chapter about home pages, but the book is 10 years old. A LOT has happened since then. You can't blame someone for saying what they said in 2005!
The thing is - most of what Steve writes IS common sense and has survived the 10 years since he updated his first edition. It's all about listening to the users of whatever product or service you are offering and eliminating the majority of their questions like "what is this" and "where do I begin" and "why should I even use this".
I once worked with a webmaster who said she was completely against this book and the title. She WANTED people to think. I think she missed the point. This is not about dumbing down or insulting people's ability to think. The issue is to eliminate unnecessary and wasteful thinking. Why don't you put your contact info in an easily available and somewhat logical spot like the footer or the top navigation like many people use so I can read more about who you are and whether you are a trustworthy provider of something I might like.
One painful truth Steve mentions is that people will most like never fret about the things we technical communicators, usability experts, designers, etc. fret about. A lot of people enjoyed the movie "Avatar". The design community was tied in knots about a super expensive movie not investing in top-of-the-line typography, but instead just plucking out Papyrus for the 6-letter word containing 4 letters. The movie-goers could have enjoyed their popcorn at that battle scene, but they didn't. They were too busy watching the movie, "Avatar". This is related to the concept that YOU are not the user. Yes, it's painful. Yes, this feels like your baby, but you are making it for others to use and not keeping it to yourself. Common sense, but unfortunately necessary to repeat because a lot of people still are not "getting it".
Steve has point and bullets that are handy references if you need to pull up a phrase to placate a boss or a developer or something who is fussing about some detail.
You might say, don't make the user think, but you, the creator, MUST think. If you apply a lot of common sense and listen to what is happening, you will go a lot farther than you could have imagined.
I'd say this book is a nice supplement to follow on the heels of "The Inmates Are Running the Asylum", written before this book's second edition. Also, Ginny Redish's book "Letting Go of the Words", which came out for the first time after this second edition. I think that would be a nice trio both for the beginner, but also for the expert who might have muddied vision about what they are doing and who needs a good reminder of some best practices.
For any technical communicator who thinks "I don't do usability - I just write", you can still read this book and get loads of value from it.
I confess that it has taken me years to really read this book. I have the first edition in paper. In early 2013, I thought that I might as well just buy an ebook of the second edition and catch up. And then the third edition came out. Oh well. Better late than never! I did know a lot of this stuff, but as usual, it's nice to get a structure to the chaotic thoughts in one's head. That is one of the biggest benefits of this type of book: giving you neat little phrases to use in meetings, etc. You might not have those handy because you are just plugging away at your job and not stepping back to make sense of what is happening. Steve does that for you.
Enjoy!
blueflint's review against another edition
5.0
Although there is heavy repitition in some parts... this book is the one book you should read if you're into usabilty/UX and you don't want to read anything else. A lot of great advice and best practice methods can be taken away from this
mipedtor's review
4.0
Un libro que desentraña algunos aspectos de usabilidad en web o apps. Con muchos puntos a tener en cuenta respecto a experiencia de usuario (UX). Es ágil, entretenido, sin entrar en temas demasiado complejos o técnicos. Es un paseo didáctico para entender, planificar y probar cualquier proyecto desde sus nociones más básicas. Incluye gráficos, ejemplos y diagramas que complementan la información. También algunas anécdotas curiosas y divertidas por parte del autor.
Muchas cosas que se explican no son extrañas para gente que venga del mundo del diseño gráfico o de diseño de producto. También es cierto que, como ocurre en este tipo de libros, la propia actualización de 2014 ya se ha quedado algo obsoleta (9 años en el mundo tecnológico dan para muchos cambios). Pero, en general, me ha servido para conectar directamente de manera amena con la formación en UX.
Muchas cosas que se explican no son extrañas para gente que venga del mundo del diseño gráfico o de diseño de producto. También es cierto que, como ocurre en este tipo de libros, la propia actualización de 2014 ya se ha quedado algo obsoleta (9 años en el mundo tecnológico dan para muchos cambios). Pero, en general, me ha servido para conectar directamente de manera amena con la formación en UX.