Rating: 
Summary: Simply Outstanding
Review: I never thought I'd be so impressed by a book that I'd actually write a review here. However, this, by far, is the most incredible book about the science of Web usability I've ever seen. I almost feel sorry for the those who use the sites created by those who rated this book poorly. In their defense, sure, if scanning the book, a lot of what Nielsen says can be interpreted as "common sense." Unfortunately, it's obvious by looking at the images in the book, coupled with Nielsen's explanations, that many websites don't use this "common sense" approach in their site development. Personally, prior to reading the book, I didn't agree with Nielsen's "10 Laws" - to me, they seemed outdated and didn't take into account new media. Thankfully I purchased the book anyway. This book covers the gamut from navigational development to writing for the web. It is an outstanding foundation for those InfoMapping for the Web. I can only hope that Nielsen writes a book specifically for Intranet development in the future. I'm going to push that Designing for Web Usability become a standard for our department, and I suggest it as a 'must-have' for all web designers and content developers.
Rating: 
Summary: A good buy for most people, from a Usability Engineer
Review: One of the best things about this book is that Nielson actually bases his dictums on usability testing. There is NO substitute for user testing when designing, and his data alone makes the information in this book vastly more useful than 95% of the other web design books on the market. One of the big problems is that sometimes he makes rather crusty assertions without actually testing them. For example, he continuously says to minimize scrolling. But as is evident on his own website, this often happens by letting text stream to the full width of the browser window. Unfortunately, this creates vastly more serious usability problems than narrowing the text column and letting users scroll more. it's easiest for the eye to read text if the angle between the end of one line and the start of the next line is about 13 degrees, which translates into about a 500-pixel wide column of text. Overall, though, his insistence that designers design for the user, rather than the technology or the Vice President, is crucial. The book is worth a read if you've never read his stuff before. If you're already a heavy user tester, buy one of his more technical books on usability engineering, such as *Usability Inspection Methods*.
Rating:
Summary: Common sense reasoning
Review: I'm a designer and I design web sites for a living, and this book didn't click with me. The topics in the book are repeated over and over and over and over again--simplicity and usability.
A better theme would've been "achieving beauty from simplicity".
While this is a good lesson to learn, unfortunately this makes for boring reading, and Nielson isn't even witty when compared to Edward Tufte. Pros: Great academic reading, pages are in full color, great for
web designers who can't design and need to conform to
common everyday looking web sites. Cons: Expensive for the little insights of do's and don'ts,
too much of the insights are really just common sense.
Rating: 
Summary: Physician heal thy self!
Review: First the bad news: This book was obviously not tested for usability. Jakob, you may find this hard to believe but some, perhaps many, people would like to use a highlighter on your book. Did anyone try to highlight a sentence on the left page? There's almost no gutter. It's very difficult. The glossy paper is difficult to read due to the high glare and should have been limited to the screen capture pages. People may scan web pages but they READ books. The numerous asides in garish colors were a constant visual distraction and made reading more difficult. If it's worth printing it should be worth reading. The notes should have been incorporated in the discussion contained in the main text. Now the good news: Content rules and this book is loaded. Although Nielsen failed to apply his principles to his book he certainly knows what he's talking about. I'll give him the benefit of a doubt and blame some faceless/nameless marketing type at the publisher for insisting on "livening it up with some cool colors and layout". One word of caution after reading this book you'll become even more impatient with poorly designed web sites. Nielsen's content is so good that it easily compensates for it's minor physical shortcomings. I highly recommend this book to any and every webmaster.
Rating:
Summary: Usability IS your most effective competitive advantage.
Review: Jakob Nielsen's latest title will most likely become THE most influential book on web design for the next twelve to eighteen months. This is a bible for web developers who are serious about business results. After four years of building and rebuilding a major Australian sport site I quickly learnt the importance of usability. Usability IS your number one competitive advantage because users ARE driven by tasks, have little patience and if your site delivers, they will come back again and again and they will spread the word. Reasons to get this book; Because you want your customers to come back! Because you already know usability is the key and need a solid reference based on REAL research. Because you currently have to KEEP spending big dollars on marketing just to maintain traffic and want to find a way to halve your budget. Because you want to say NO to that 100% Flash site your colleagues are proposing. Because you want to crush your competitors with it's knowledge. Because you want to know WHY your competitor (with that simple site with seemingly no production standards) is crushing you. Because you can't help but feel that the design team with only six months experience is a LONG way off the game. Because the money is running out, the investors are getting edgy and you need to start getting some REAL business results soon. Because you want to build a site you can be proud of. I have bought umpteen books on Internet design, strategy and marketing - my web site dominates it's market by an order of magnitude and has done so for three years (and I have spent less than $2000 in that time on advertising). Designing Web Usability is the single most valuable volume of information I have come across to date. If you have quality content - all you have to do is make it usable and your site will become a success. Designing a usable web site is no easy task even for those who have been building for years. You know you need this book.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but seriously needs a second edition
Review: This book came out in 1999 and you have to be prepared for that. It's still about 80% useful, which is amazing considering how fast web technology is moving. I love the way the author uses lots of actual pictures of websites to illustrate every point. If he would bring it into the third millenium, I'd probably give it five stars instead of three.
Rating:
Summary: Good conecpts, BAD DESIGN
Review: This man can really tell you how to design a website that will satisify user well. He has researched the field of web design and usability stats and knows his stuff. But don't let the man design a webpage by himself. He's a good usability guy, not a good designer.
Rating:
Summary: What the WWW needed was a stylebook - Nielsen delivers
Review: This book is primarily a stylebook. The web is often mistaken for an electronic book and this is probably one of the reasons it has taken a while to find a guide aimed at web usability. Jakob Nielsen does a great job in creating a style manual for a medium, which has different aims and limitations from printed material. What made Tim Berners-Lee¡¦s innovation successful; the delivery of digital media on all manner of computer platforms; is also its drawback. Not every platform treats HTML tags in the same manner. Nielsen¡¦s main point is that the web is primarily a communications tool, although an interactive one. He states, ¡§the main goal of most web projects should be to make it easy for customers to perform useful tasks.¡¨ In addition Nielsen points out that your display terminal is not a book. This means a screen that although interactive is harder to read than a book. The prime advantage is the ability to link to other current and active links or content in an immediate manner. The biggest mistake a site author makes is in creating slow, confusing, or cumbersome sites. Make no mistake, the author knows is stuff and is consistent in his tone. This is the first part of a two-book set. By the time you have read both books some of the more obvious points are a bit overdone, but his main goal; to get web designers to change some of their bad habits worked with me.
Rating:
Summary: Give this book to anyone involved with the web.
Review: Another Outsource Marketing favorite! We have given at least a dozen copies of this book to clients and friends of the firm. If you like Jakob Nielsen's columns, this book is the full meal deal. It covers the principles of usability and includes dozens of illustrated examples. Excerpt: "With about 10 million sites on the Web...and about 25 million by the end of the year...users have more choices than ever. Why should they waste their time on anything that is confusing, slow, or that doesn't satisfy their needs? ...As a result of this overwhelming choice and the ease of going elsewhere, web users exhibit a remarkable impatience and insistence on instant gratification. If they can't figure out how to use a website in a minute or so, they conclude that it won't be worth their time. And they leave." To view Nielsen's excellent website on usability, visit www.useit.com.
Rating:
Summary: If web design were a religion... this would be the bible
Review: Cover to cover this book is crammed full of good stuff. I started learning about the internet from the search engine optimmization side of the web. I was always told that good seo was good usability and vice versa. As I turned the pages I kept saying "good idea" and "I never though of that." The intranet chaper was so convincing that I thought about calling coorporate headquarters and chewing them out about the site desing. A+++
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