Rating: 
Summary: ...
Review: When I bought this book, I did so under the false impression that the man who designed the book was also the author. Not so. As a CIW Master Site Designer, I am highly offended by this guy's oversimplified view of Web design and usability. One only has to take one look at his own Web site to see that his solutions are neither practical or "usable." Unfortunately, like so many in his profession, he completely disregards the fact that the Web is now a publishing medium - NOT a computer technology. More importantly, regarding e-commerce, it is a marketing tool; one can no longer disregard esthetics for the sake of "usability." Worse yet, like many of these so-called "usability professionals," he's treating the symptom and not the illness - poor browser software design. Most, if not all, of the usability issues for which Web designers and developers must compensate are due to lack of standardization and technological development in the browswer software industry. Sure, browser interfaces are getting prettier, but the guts of browser software still have not changed enough to appropriately accommodate the shift from technical tool to marketing medium. Of course, if these problems were solved, these high-priced "usability professionals" would be out of a job . . . At any rate, I am a firm believer (and practitioner) of the philosophy that one does not need to sacrifice esthetics for usability, as opposed to the strategies presented herein by Herr Neilson. Do not listen to this man; he is a self-proclaimed "expert" who, by demonstration via his own Web site, has no clue how to address the true needs and concerns of Web customers - let alone, Web users. Stay away from this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Simpler is better
Review: This book changed my point of view on desiging web pages. After reading the book, I went back to basics and dropped the flashy for the functional. Applying his views on navigation, avoiding excessive graphics and managing loading times have certainly helped the usability of my site. If you are serious about building a site and have little experience and are willing to disregard much of what you see across the web then this book if for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Simple Read
Review: I liked this book. I bought a template for my website.. so many of the design features talked about were already made for me. Good. But the accessibility guidelines were great. I added some finishing touches and I've got a pretty darn accessible site with a variety of browsers. My only failure was when you hit the homepage.. you should know immediately what the site offers. That I need some revisions at this point. Book was well worth the read. It might make some pages a bit borning, but you can skip those rules. Once you understand what makes a lot of pages really horrible, you can eliminate that stuff from your site and get moving. Animated gifs, scorlling marques, flashing text.. huge video files.. simple stuff like that really detracts from your site. All in all, this book was well worth the read. It went by really quick.
Rating:
Summary: A necessary addition to any web-designer's bookshelf...
Review: Okay, so everybody who every writes a review says that about "...a necessary addition..." But seriously... Some people may complain about this book, or say that it's not very useful, but like *anything* on usability, it's about lessons. Jakob Nielsen is quite the usability Yoda, and he very much shows what he considers to be elements of high (or in many cases) low usability. His approach is nice for a couple of reasons. Often, when designing an element, you may ask yourself "Is this usable?" Most developers are blind to usability, as they can use their own code, and fail to take into consideration someone unfamiliar with thier process. Nielsen, through his copious examples, shows what's common on the internet, and describes usability elements based on that. The fact is, most of what we see and use on the internet could be vastly improved. He simply points it out. Just like anything, this book should be read and taken with a grain of salt. Absorb what he has to say, and see how it applies to your development. While he is considered very yoda-like, he isn't the be-all, end-all authority (I can hear some people's teeth grinding at that comment... heh). Use what makes sense, and eschew what doesn't. Overall, however, I *highly* recommend reading this book, if just for the usability perspective. You'll learn a lot, even if you don't try. An excellent book.
Rating: 
Summary: Jakob delivers a load on his promise
Review: I first encountered Jakob's shinning masterpiece, whilst studying a BSc In Ingorability, and as soon as it came, I took it in my stride and followed through till the last page, the quality of research,presentation and shallowness put this book as one of my top favourites all of times, The Nielsen kid is able to conjure a great book which offers the reader nothing new, everything that is stated within this book is readily available at your feet fetish on the world wide web. I would encourage all mum's & pop looking into buying this book to improve their under the cover usability methods to forgo on buying this book and simply send jakob some high heel boots
Rating:
Summary: #2 on my list
Review: Start wih Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think, then once the principles you've learned there are ingrained, move on here for more detail.
Rating:
Summary: Somewhat Usable
Review: If you can get over how arrogant and condescending Nielsen is, you may get some valuable information out of this book. However, Nielsen doesn't practice what he preaches, so follow what he says in the book, not what you see at his website. Nielsen bashes graphic design regarding it as artsy feelings that can be represented elsewhere. Hey Jakob, how useful are those flaps included with the cover of the book??
Rating:
Summary: Web Usability to the EXTREME!
Review: I just can't believe this guy is preaching web usability when his OWN web site ( useit.com ) is just a big long scrolling page of text and hyperlinks, with no navigation of any kind. Jakob Nielsen's idea of web design is similar to George Orwell's idea of 1984. Jakob would have us convert our HTML pages to a kind of "HTMLspeak," where our creative design is consolidated to just one long scrolling page of text to appeal to a sort of technologically inept society.
Rating:
Summary: This is THE BOOK
Review: Easy reading with tons of examples and facts to back up the statements. I'm a user interface evangelist, and Nielsen is now my hero. If you're only going to buy one book on web design, this is it.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and insightful
Review: Based on six years of observing about 400 people use the web, "Designing Web Usability" is Jakob Nielsen's definitive guide to what makes a web site easy to use. Even though many sections in the book are sourced from Nielsen's alertboxes written years ago, the advice they contain remains solid. The book contains insightful and comprehensive treatments of page, content, and site design that include topics like creating written and graphical content, navigation, search, etc. It is basically a list of guidelines (rather than a step-by-step how-to), much like my own UI design book available at my site. Jakob also mentions a few technical issues, but only insomuch as they affect usability. As are most books, this one is not without its drawbacks. Ironically, the biggest drawback of this book has nothing to do with the book itself (which speaks highly of it), but rather with the fact that a lot of its content can be found in Nielsen's alertboxes on his web site. In addition, the chapter on accessible design is a little light on concrete, useful advice (beyond relative font sizes and alt text): there are better resources available free on the web. In conclusion, if you're new to the field of web design and haven't read Nielsen's alertboxes you should definitely get this book. And if you're a seasoned designer, well, chances are you already have it.
| 
