“Don’t Make Me Think!” is fun to say, and is rather fun to read too.
This is one book that everyone creating web apps, design and/or content ought to read. The clue is in the name – a lot of web usability *is* common sense, but we all need a refresher course now and again.
I’d read the first edition years ago, and second edition is equally awesome. Especially useful for me personally were:
- Chapter 2 & 3 – how users really use the web (imagine users treating the web as a billboard – they are zooming by, rather than sitting down with a cuppa to read every single line of text on the page)
- Chapter 5 – writing for the web … it’s related to the billboard issue! Though the sales guys may disagree
- Chapter 6 – designing navigation
- Chapter 8 & 9 – usability testing
- Chapter 10 – usability as common courtesy
If we all were able to persuade our clients to listen to our suggestions and trust us to make the right decisions about general web usability, our projects could run run a lot smoother.
Don’t take my word for it — check out the zillions of 5* reviews on Amazon.
PS. Kirk, Chapter 11’s subtitle is “Just when you think you’re done, a cat floats by with buttered toast strapped to it’s back”
Hi Lisa,
Hmm, writing for the web. You’ll have guessed, I’m with Ogilvy and Claude Hopkins: when you have something detailed that you need to communicate, go long.
Long works well, for example, when you need to answer questions people might have, or persuade them of something. Use cases might be a product sales page: years of testing shows that typically, more detail will produce more conversions (although it must be relevant detail). Similarly, a long job ad will communicate more of the company character and culture; it will also better explain the job role.
Where “Don’t make me think” has it exactly right is in reducing pointless words. Remove fluff and happy talk that doesn’t communicate; be as long as necessary and no longer. In that spirit, I’ll end this here.
[...] book report originally appeared on the Team Rubber blog. Cover of Don’t Make Me [...]