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A review by founddrama
Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (3rd Edition) by Steve Krug
4.0
Overall, Don't Make Me Think is a solid, layman's terms examination of UI design and usability issues, particularly as those issues apply to web sites. Steve Krug presents us with a plain-English approach that just about any web professional can quickly and easily digest and then rapidly apply to his work for maximum effectiveness. That said...:
(1) The book had relatively strong start but the "lessons" start to seem a bit "commonsensical" before you get very far. As they say in [b: Freakonomics|1202|Freakonomics A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Freakonomics, #1)|Steven D. Levitt|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327909092s/1202.jpg|5397], there is certainly a great deal of value in questioning the conventional wisdom out there but at the same time, a little experience in the field seems to reveal these lessons well enough. Thinking about yourself as a user instead of a designer or developer.
(2) The book (sadly) feels a bit dated. Granted, there is a revised/updated version but the copy that I read was published in 2000. Again, the lessons translate well and most have not diminished over time but there is a statement in there that reads: "...barring a total collapse of the Internet boom..." Umm... Guys? Hubris?
Also (3) I give "points off" to Roger Black's foreword which says: "So Don't Make Me Think! is not about exhaustive statistics and thousands of hours of clinical trials, and tons of survey research jargon. Rather it contains sharp empirical observations..." [emphasis added] -- umm... no statistics or experimental data, eh? You are familiar with the definition of "empirical", right?
Bottom line? A bit dated but most lessons still apply. Definitely worth the read for anyone doing webdev and/or UI work. Bonus points for the chapter on usability testing "on the cheap".
(1) The book had relatively strong start but the "lessons" start to seem a bit "commonsensical" before you get very far. As they say in [b: Freakonomics|1202|Freakonomics A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Freakonomics, #1)|Steven D. Levitt|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327909092s/1202.jpg|5397], there is certainly a great deal of value in questioning the conventional wisdom out there but at the same time, a little experience in the field seems to reveal these lessons well enough. Thinking about yourself as a user instead of a designer or developer.
(2) The book (sadly) feels a bit dated. Granted, there is a revised/updated version but the copy that I read was published in 2000. Again, the lessons translate well and most have not diminished over time but there is a statement in there that reads: "...barring a total collapse of the Internet boom..." Umm... Guys? Hubris?
Also (3) I give "points off" to Roger Black's foreword which says: "So Don't Make Me Think! is not about exhaustive statistics and thousands of hours of clinical trials, and tons of survey research jargon. Rather it contains sharp empirical observations..." [emphasis added] -- umm... no statistics or experimental data, eh? You are familiar with the definition of "empirical", right?
Bottom line? A bit dated but most lessons still apply. Definitely worth the read for anyone doing webdev and/or UI work. Bonus points for the chapter on usability testing "on the cheap".