Don't Make Me Think!

I forgot where I got the suggestion for this book, but I added it to a Christmas list somewhere and behold! It was quite a surprise to get this for Christmas because most of my family does not understand what I do, much less understand what tech books I would actually read and use.

Don't Make Me Think is a perfect title for a usibility book, and it is just packed with double-references that make you stop and think about what Steve Krug is talking about in each scenerio. For instance, in the first chapter of the book, Steve explains that he made a short book because of the usibility rule that people are more likely to read and use short bits of information rather than large text books.

This book is writen to be a resource for those of us who don't have a usibility consultant or have time to run usibility tests ourselves. It gives you factors to consider when you're designing your webpages. Websites are built and designed with different ambitions, and because of this, there is no one way to design for usibility. This book outlines concepts for you to consider that can apply usibility principles to any design or layout.

Most designers do have studies in heirarchy, eye-flow, and the nature of how people read a page. What they don't always consider is that the web is like a billboard speeding by and users tend to fly through sites and only read the minimal amount of information that is necessary. This book will compliment those techniques if you keep these ideas in mind early on in the design process.

I think it is a great book to add to any web/graphic designer's arsenal. In fact, I think you should be aware of these concepts if you have any online presence.