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Summary: finally a usable book on usability...
Review: In a world of overinflated designer egos and concomitantly overinflated books on usability, Krug's minimum opus is very refreshing. Krug successfully elucidates some situations in which simply copying [website] and [website] is not the best course of action. Five stars because it is a bright spot in an otherwise bleak landscape.
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Summary: Oooh lala!! BUY THIS BOOK.
Review: Basically, I am dying for a sequal. This was the best book for usability I have read so far. Most of the books put me to sleep within the first chapter. For those of us designers who have ADD, this is a great book. It reads fast, and it is educational. Whoever said it was obvious...just ignore that review. I give it to all of my clients that want to force me into doing something I don't agree with with POOR web usability. I LOVE YOU STEVEN KRUG! PLEASE WRITE ANOTHER BOOK TO ENLIGHTEN US ALL!
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Summary: Excellent Overview of Web Usability in a Breezy Style
Review: This is a fun book. It can easily be read in one setting, but it will impart many good nuggets of web usability knowledge. Krug is not as extreme as Jakob Nielsen with sparseness, but rather tackles what makes the web a unique medium. His basic thesis is that people scan webpages for information, they don't read them, and therefore designers have to keep that paramount in mind. As one of his chapters is titled "Omit Needless Words," except the word "needless" is struck through. Hear! Hear! Let's give it up for pithiness.
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Summary: Effective and immediately useful
Review: My situation: I'm a strong OO server-side developer who has suddenly been thrust into the presentation world of web site development. On all past projects, I've always had specialists on hand to deal with web site design and usability. Now I have to do everything (front-to-back) myself. I needed resources to get me up to speed quickly. This book has certainly fits the bill!Lets face it, in today's world where we all have to do more with less (in less time), we don't have time to research all we'd like about web usability. Per Krug's 3rd law of usability ("Omit (needless) words"), he's done a fantastic job of doing just that with this book. If you want "the bullet" on good design and usability, this is an exceptional read. There is very little fluff and lots of tangible "meat" to this book. I found the chapters on how people use the web and how to write for the web especially useful. He brings to light many design techniques I've encountered (as a web user), but I never realized the principles on which they were based. The home page chapter did a great job of highlighting some of the cultural/political challenges assoicated with home page design, as well as the laying out unique design constraints of the home page. Many technical design books (I've read) do a good job of presenting practical design techniques, but leave it up to the reader to figure out what the underlying design principles are. This makes it difficult to customize techniques unless you understand the principles. I walked away with a good understanding of the general principles, as well as some techniques for designing usable web sites. For me (a top-down kind of learner), this was extremely useful. While this book is not the be-all, end-all solution, its a great jump-start to web design and usability. It's extremely practical, uses solid real-world examples to illustrate both good and not-so-good designs, and Krug manages to interject some humor throughout. After reading this, you'll never look at web pages the same way again!
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Summary: "Common Sense" is why you should purchase this book
Review: This book is well written, easy to follow, extremely useful, and well respected. I certainly recommend this book to anyone who is concerned about their target web audience and their ability to use your site. This book is full of sensible criteria for developing user interfaces.
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Summary: A great book for students and other newbies.
Review: Since there are already some highly detailed reviews of this book, I'd like to touch on how I am using this book to teach others. Being short, amusing, and full of relevant illustrations, this is an excellent text for those who are visual thinkers, don't have much time, or aren't techically inclined. I certainly wouldn't want to give a new student or a non-technical project stakeholder a copy of Jakob Nielsen's book to introduce them to usability. I have assigned this book in a 200-level web design class I am teaching. It touches on a little bit of everything, including writing for the web--something which many designers have been roped into doing during some emergency or other. Krug gives a new web designer a lot to think about, and helps them understand that web design is more than the visuals. There are two particularly useful parts of the book: one is the template provided showing how to conduct a usability test (though the work the Summers are doing for their forthcoming book will be on a more professional and complete level), and the other is chapter 6, on navigation, which features not only great information, but also visual exercises with before-and-after results. Yes, there are more in-depth books out there, but this is a great place to start.
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Summary: Excellent Book- Easy to read
Review: The author wrote this book in the same way that he shows you how to make a usable website, with the title in mind. You don't have to think about what he is saying because it makes sense. This is an easy and humorous book. It was made easy for the common person to understand, so in other words you don't have to be a 'rocket scientist' to comprehend it.
I read this book in a few hours and now I am itching to build my own site.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Reads in its Class
Review: This book invites you to read it cover-to-cover. The information is presented so well, even a seasoned veteran will learn new tricks. I seek books these days with far fewer pages than the typical "Bible" or "Unleashed" series books. I demand well-presented, well thought-out content and this book delivers. The author(s) also chose to include enough comedy in their material to make the book purely enjoyable.
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Summary: An excellent worthwhile book if you want a useable site.
Review: I read this in a few hours. It was time and money well spent. As a copywriter, I do a lot of writing for the web. I'm not a designer, although I do design my own site and from time to time help clients with theirs. So my interest was perhaps from a different need than some other readers. But I found a good deal of valuable information that I can instantly apply to my daily work, including my copywriting. Copywriters and designers almost always disagree which is more important, words or graphics. Of course, I vote the former and most if not all designers vote the latter. But this book took no sides. It is something that both the graphics folks and we in marketing can adapt to our daily efforts to make the web useful. After all, we all want that. So there's no disagreement there. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has anything at all to do with a Web site. No matter if it's a one-person show or a corporate site, this book will be of value to you. It's extremely well written. It's lively and entertaining and just full of information that you can immediately put to use. Susanna K. Hutcheson
Creative Director and Owner
Powerwriting.com LLC
Rating:
Summary: If you can only read one usability book - make it this one
Review: Fabulous book! Krug's writing style makes for an easy read - clear and engaging language coupled with concise, well thought out content. This book covers all the basics, but does it in such a way that even the experts can learn something new. I am not an avid reader, and I read this in 2 (short) sittings. Take the time - it's well worth it!
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