Rating: 
Summary: New Century, New Book
Review: Jakob Nielsen is well known for his reports on usability and I really enjoyed his book "Homepage Usability." I figured that this would be a more in-depth exploration of how to design with the user in mind. Most of the points were on the ball, and very common sense, but nice to see it in writing from someone else. The examples in "Designing Web Usability," though ancient, fit well with the points. I kept getting lost, in a way, because I kept getting distracted by the prehistoric examples and data. For example, what do I design for? 640? 770? What is in use today? 1997 was a long time ago in web years. I suppose it's difficult to have a book with such current data in it, but I'm thinking it's definitely time for a new version of this book. There is also a tendency for redundancy. I suppose this is inevitable since whether you're a search results page or an intranet site, you're still dealing with the same topics of design. I do like that even though this book is ancient, it touches on accessibility issues. So many places are only now thinking of that. I also like that testing is mentioned, though again, it is peppered with out-of-date technology which makes all the information seem invalid. I think this book would be much stronger with new examples, updates here and there to technology and re-released. I think that that was one of the strengths of his other book, "Homepage Usability," was the freshness of the examples and problems designers are facing. If, and when, there is a new and more concise version of this book, I will buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
Review: this play must be read at least twice in order to get
a real sense of whats going on.Ibsen created a timeless work of art when he wrote Hedda Gabler.Here we have a simple plot,A woman who feels that she is trapped in a loveless marriage,discovers that her old love is back in town. To make things more complicated for Hedda, this old lover is a rival of her husband.To add insult to injury,her old lover is being helped by the woman she hates.But I wouldn't fell too sorry for our Hedda, from the very opening of the play we get a chance to see who Hedda really is.In this scene we see George Tessman, Hedda's husband admiring the new bonnet of his aunt Miss Juliana Tessman,who has just placed it on a chair.Hedda enters.
Hedda-
Tessman, this servant will never do.
Miss Tessman-
Berta will never do ?
Tessman-
Whatever put that in your head, dear?
Hedda-
Look at that! She has left her old hat lying around on a chair.
Tessman-
Why, Hedda--
Hedda-
Suppose anyone had come in and had seen it!
Tessman-
But Hedda! That bonnet's Aunt Julia's
Hedda-
It is ?
Miss Tessman(picking up the hat)
Yes, indeed. And what's more,it;s not old.
Hedda knew that the hat belonged to Miss Tessman,and that it wasn't old.This is where the reader get a sense of what Hedda is about.We see the woman full of jealousy,needing always to be the center of attention.
Rating: 
Summary: Lesson Learned; Lesson Forgotten
Review: This book did not resonate with me. Perhaps it is because I recently completed reading a great book on web design, "The Design of Sites." It is not that the book is without merit. There are nuggets of wisdom buried in every chapter. Jakob Nielsen is an acknowledged web design expert. This book summarizes much of his thinking. Simplicity and usability should rule the web, according to the author. He is right. Users, or perhaps the term, surfers is more appropriate, are never more than one click from moving on to the next site. There are some great chapters - the one on content design springs to mind. However, the book is like reading a W. E. B. Griffin novel. By the time you finish it, you realize it does not contain much new material. Topics and introductions are continually re-served and rehashed. At these prices, the author ought to credit his readers with enough intelligence to remember lessons taught in previous chapters. The author's mantra is to know your user. This book would have been better if he accepted his own advice.
Rating:
Summary: Top book by a top guy
Review: Anybody who says that Nielson does not back up his "opinions" with research didn't read the book. The whole idea of the book is quite the opposite. Nielson does an outstanding job using hard statistics and data to prove his theories. These are not opinions, ladies and gentlemen. These are serious ideas with powerful and well researched facts backing them up. Though the book is kind of expensive, the whole thing is in color and makes the price worth while. I use this book all of the time to show clients how exactly their site will impact most average users. It is a serious book for serious advocates of web design, and to a Web Master like myself, it is the perfect weapon to create a beautiful and completly usable web page.
Rating:
Summary: Must-read for Web Devs
Review: The teachings in this book are critical in developing a web site (particularly one that is Line-of-Business focused) that will drive repeat visits. The most important lessons learned: (1) Don't break the browser model, (2) Know your users' needs and design the site to accommodate them, and (3) Learn how people read screens and design pages to surface the most important content in a page or site.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's the beef
Review: Pablum served up as science with no practical scenarios or examples to back up the author's theories. Sort of like reading Freud and wondering when we are going to get to Skinner.
Rating:
Summary: worthwhile but stodgy
Review: This book is widely regarded as a web usability classic. Not everyone loves it, though. Opinions range from "he is a genius" to "the book is obsolete". The book is bigger than it need be. Nielsen argues strongly that web sites should be concise, but that doesn't carry over into his writing. In several places a paragraph or two seemed very familiar, having been used several chapters earlier. There are lots of colour screenshots of web pages, mostly to point out flaws. I agree with most of what he says: Make things simple, easy and effective for users; make your pages download as fast as you can; provide a site search and so on. Where he lets himself down is in speculating about what the internet might be like five, ten or even twenty years from now. This is a complete waste; I got fed up wading through it. It's also too heavy on opinion and too light on practical detail for me. Nielsen claims he plans to write a "how to" book sometime, but that's no use right now. The section on internationalization, for example, tantalizingly mentions a few things (US switches go "up" for "ON", European ones go "down"; don't use baseball metaphors etc.) then leaves it up to the reader with very little further help. Well worth absorbing, but I won't often dip into it again. Unless you are a collector, borrow it rather than buying.
Rating:
Summary: Jakob Nielsen is da man ... wait ... the man
Review: For information on web usability and perspective of a real pro, give this book a shot. Many designers get caught up in the glitz of FLASH and the complication of endlessly nested tables that they cut out a valuable group of users. The book is careful not to disparage design focused sites but adds a bit of reality to the purpose of web standards and the true intent of the internet. While the publishing date is a bit aged, the principles are sound. Overall, a good addition to any developers library.
Rating:
Summary: A lot of good sense.
Review: By thinking of a website as an interface instead of a means to directly deliver entertainment or complex content the value of the Jakob Nielsens's guidelines becomes more obvious. Browser incompatibility issues, unsupported file types, and the prevalence of modem dial-up-connections makes the internet and website design a challenge. Simple and usable websites are an even bigger challenge, which is why too few exist. But what a refreshing relief they are when happened upon. If more websites adhered to the Jakob Nielsen way of thinking ( as it is mine ) the internet would be much more useful. Steve Krug's 'Don't Make Me Think' should also be read, and digested.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Fascinating!
Review: This book covers it all. It answered 99 percent of the questions and concerns I had about designing a usable site. Whether you agree or disagree with Jakob, you have to admire the body of work he's given the Internet. And you have to respect his opinions. They are very credible. If one cares about usability, this is a page turner. I could hardly put it down. And I'm sure this is one of the few books I own that I will use daily and keep handy and probably well marked. To me, that's the sign of a very good, very important book. One you live with. When you've read this book, you'll know more about usability than probably 90 percent or more of the people on the web. And you'll be able to create a site that will be useful to people, which translates into more business. Most of the sites on the web today are really pretty bad. Both the design and the copy are bad. When you understand usability you can make a site that works for everyone concerned. This book is fascinating. It's easy to read and understand. It covers all the topics that are usability concerns. This is NOT a book about web design. It's about usability and incorporating it into your design and into your writing. So writers as well as designers should read it. I read "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug and I found it a very good book. I learned a lot from it. But after reading this book by Jakob Nielsen I really "got it". And you will too. I highly recommend this very valuable book. It's an investment that will pay big dividends. Susanna K. Hutcheson
Owner and Executive Copy Director
Powerwriting.com
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