Book Review Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug

Don’t make me think by Steve Krug covers the importance of web usability. It is an easy to read and easy to understand take on what it means for any webpage to be user friendly. What is interesting about this book is that it is very easy to read. Krug uses every day examples to demonstrate the importance of web usability, and to explain where companies fail to make their sites user friendly. One example used in Chapter six in the “street signs and breadcrumbs’ regarding a scene from the mall. Krug states in his example, ‘you use the store’s navigation systems (the signs and the organizing hierarchy that the signs embody) and your ability to scan shelves full of produce to find what you’re looking for.” This example a common situation that everyone has encountered at least once. Krug uses this example to illustrate the process you often take when navigating through a web page. You often decide to browser through on your own or eventually go to the search function to locate what you are looking for.

Krug uses illustrates throughout the book to outline how to create web usability, as well as, which sites carry good examples of usability. In addition, there are exercises through the book that ask you as the reader to determine what could have been better or differently to create a web page that is user friendly. Krug takes time when explaining the importance of homepages. The interesting thing about those chapters is that as a user of the internet daily, I never realized how truly important the homepage is. Also, Krug speaks towards staying away from ‘Banner Ads’ on the homepage. Krug states that, “if the ad degrades the user experience enough that visitors don’t come back, you’ll end up losing page views on all the other pages they might have visited.” It has never occurred to me that ‘banner ads’ can take away from the homepage if not used properly.

Krug does an excellent job of illustrating the importance of seeking what is important on a homepage. From personal experience, often times as users of the web we have to wonder what the purpose of a web page is, rather it is a web page where items are sold, or it is a news page. It is important that on the homepage, the users immediately knows what’s the point of the site is and where to start when first clicking on the homepage.

Don’t make me think, ends with a series of examples of how to conduct a successful usability testing. It can be assumed that like most things usability of a web page would be tested. Krug walks readers through different tips and techniques to conduct a successful test, instructions on how to select usability testers. However, including that piece in the book could have possibly been taken out. I felt as though it was not needed especially because Krug already used excellent examples and illustrations to where you would be able to conduct a successful usability test.