Steve Krug’s “Don’t Make Me Think” Still Reins as Best Introduction to Usability

Every week or so, a client would ask, why is it that my bounce rate is so high? What is it that my site is not converting all that hard earned traffic into sales? According to Bryan Eisenberg, Chief Conversion Officer at Future Now, since it is far easier to build a better site that converts than to drive more traffic to it, the law of numbers favors the use of usability studies. As such, Darcy Foster from VKIstudios.com has a very interesting blog on website usability and I find his latest post particularly helpful. It talks about Steve Krug’s and his book called “Don’t Make Me Think”. According to VKI (and Steve Krug), “Don’t Make Me Think” represents the most common attitude with regards to usability and I am guessing they think it needs to change.

According to VKI, certain other authors delight in making the process of improving usability appear as complicated as possible. It’s an age-old trick: inflate weak ideas by propping them up with quasi-academic language and unnecessary jargon. Steve Krug - whose corporate motto is “It’s not rocket surgery” - takes the exact opposite approach. He explains, in everyday language and with vivid examples and analogies, how achieving good usability is largely a matter of common sense.

As a result, if you’re looking for a highly readable, witty, insightful and actionable guide to improving website usability, “Don’t Make Me Think” seems like your best bet. You can buy the book here: Don’t Make Me Think.

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1. How do you say “You speak a really cool language” in academic?

   Posted by software college on 11/26 at 03:28 AM