Rating: 
Summary: The best book on fixing "obvious" errors in web pages
Review: Superlatives fail me when describing the value of this book. It is no exaggeration to say that it is worth millions of dollars in the increased efficiency of web sites. Which may even be true if the recommendations are made to only the fifty sites examined in the book. The authors critique some of the biggest sites, such as Microsoft, Yahoo, Wal-Mart and eBay and a significant number of the errors are surprising in their obviousness. For example, many of the pages have titles that will be alphabetically indexed under words such as "The" or "Where." Others place the word "Online" in the title, which is of course the only way the page will be seen. Nielson is an outspoken opponent of any descent into cutesy images or dialog and he makes his points very effectively.
I examined the first few pages very carefully before going on to the comments, trying to determine what difficulties the pages may present. Some were found, but most passed me by. However, after reading the author comments, I went back and looked at them again. When I did that, it was clear what the problem was. My examination was done from the perspective of someone who was experienced in web design and who was not actually using the site to do anything critical. Which is no doubt the reason for the problems and why the authors should be listened to. Nielson and Tahir have that incredibly rare ability to think like a novice while possessing the knowledge of an expert.
Some designers may read their comments and consider them picky. Which is true, but only from the designers perspective. Looked at from the viewpoint of a user who wants something right now, they are a frustrating annoyance that is unnecessary. One that I find particularly aggravating is the size of search boxes. For some reason, the designers seem to think 15 characters is enough. Adding a few more characters to the size of the search box does not burn that much additional space and allows the user to see most of their entry.
Few of the recommendations in the book would require a major redesign of the site. I took one site and went through a simulated alteration of the code so that it conformed to the recommendations by the authors and was able to complete nearly all of the changes in less than four hours. In contrasting the modified site to the original, there was no doubt in my mind that the altered site was a significant improvement.
This book should be mandatory reading for anyone with a license to make a web page. It explains in simple detail what makes web pages work and simple problems that make them a pain in the personals to use.
Rating: 
Summary: Baloney
Review: Jakob Nielsen has set himself up as the expert of web (and application) usability...and for the most part his observations and instincts are good. But the fact is no design of *anything* is going to be flawless -- the key is the good old 80:20 rule -- fixing 80% of the problems will require 20% of the effort. Where this book falls apart is JN points out problems, but never categorizes them by importance, or quantifies their impact on your site. Besides, Jakob Neilsen is NOT the last word on usability -- there are many other analysts who disagree with him. Experienced developers will find most of the stuff in this book is purely common sense, recognized by any 12 year old who has used the web for more than a couple of hours. All that said - you're probably going to have to buy the book anyway -- as one other reviewer stated, "The boss will be reading it" - you're going to at least have to know what's in it. Maybe the public library (or local B and N) will help you out. Don't schedule a lot of time - you'll run the book end-to-end in about 15 minutes.
Rating: 
Summary: Love JN or hate him, you have to read Homepage Usability
Review: A decent overview of the corporate homepage as first impression, with its own conventions and caveats. Drawbacks: Each page -- all 50 of 'em -- is critiqued in unprioritized detail, the book's worst oversight. Most developers have mission-critical tasks, and some of JN's pronouncements are nothing but opinion, not proofs backed up by research. Minor proofing errors just aren't on the same level as critical path architectures, and the book doesn't differentiate this for readers. Sheer volume does work in one area, however: the most interesting part of the book is the appendix, which offers side-by-side comparisons of all 50 sites that zoom in on particular aspects of design: page titles and taglines, screen real estate breakdowns, search features, and more. These comparisons reveal the homepage as a landscape with its own map, for good or ill. The best reason for a web professional to read this book is that most decisionmakers for corporate websites will read this and declare expertise. It's good to be armed -- and love him or hate him, JN is quoted often enough that he can't be ignored. So read it, but make sure to pursue alternate points of view.
Rating:
Summary: Jakob Nielsen book - need more comment ?
Review: Jakob Nielsen book - need more comment ? Must have it if you are pro.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book from pros
Review: Excellent book from excellent authors. MMUST HAVE for professional and commercial web designer/project manager. No other comments.
Rating: 
Summary: Bitterly disappointing and over-commercialized
Review: In the past Jakob Nielsen has written intelligent and cutting-edge commentary on the state of online usability. When it comes to software and web usability he has only a handful of equals. This book is a huge let-down following his excellent book, "Designing Web Usability" - that is a must read. Anything worth learning in "Homepage Usability" is already in "Designing Web Usability." Jakob Nielsen goes well beyond usability here. He now either believes he is qualified to give sales, marketing, copywriting and advertising advice or, as the hefty price-tag for this book indicates, he may have just sold out. The latter may be truer. Evidence for this is how he recently sent out his widely-read newsletter with advertising suggestions for Google.com without disclosing the nature of his financial relationship to the company. Deconstructing homepages is only a somewhat useful exercise anyway. Most user actions take place deeper within the site. The goal of the homepage is not just usability, but to persuade the visitor to click beyond. Nielsen misses this completely when he offers advice suggesting that navigational elements never be repeated. Does he believe every user studiously examines every navigational element before deciding what to do next? Here are another couple of examples of how poorly thought-out, inconsistent and inaccurate his advice is: + Internal Search Engines - Advising that every homepage must have a search engine input box contradicts research that shows how inefficient search queries are for most users and how it compromises conversion + Copywriting - Dogmatically proclaiming that exclamation points don't belong on homepages is arrogance running headlong into ignorance. Good copywring is sensitive to context. There are dozens of other examples as curious as these. It's possible to glean good usability advice from this book. However, how will the average reader separate the wheat from the chaff? This is an attractively packaged - but not user-friendly - coffee table book. I'll be using it to stabilize the uneven leg of my coffee table.
Rating:
Summary: Rules for Brain Dead People?
Review: - Recommended for inspiration
- Don't simply copy. Use them as strategic guides But not every rule applies to every homepage. JN is putting up rules which shall apply for all websites. But they don't. They can not be applied the same way in America, Europe and Asia. It's a mistake to take this book as a bible. People who can not think independently need external rules. Thats what this book provides. Its inspirational and pin points areas you might not have thought about. For that its worth the money. But it can not do the job for you.
As uability engineers we have to reflect local requirements. A book on actually how to develop unique rules in any local situation would have been of much greater value.
Rating:
Summary: Usability?
Review: I think the only redeeming grace of this work is that it will perpetuate the dirth of me-too boring sites put up by large companies who seek only to follow what other large companies are doing, and who tend to buy into the myth of meaningless stature afforded to plastic pundits who tend to use politics over talent to sell their "status". In that regard, it will afford genuine opportunities for young and/or creative new web designers to have their work stand out. Nielsen set up the industry for this book with definite genius by making his own web site completely plain and, therefore, "safe" from measurement against anyone's standards, save for beauty, and perhaps readability. The failure of the great .dotcoms could very well have something to do with the fact that, in their quest to be "usable", thay have instead become uninspiring. After reading this book, I feel compelled to make a thousand web sites, each with navigation on the right side of the page. Evan Andrews
Rating:
Summary: Usability Consulting at a Fraction of its Value
Review: The homepage is the most important component of any website. Even if the user does not enter the through it, it generally does not take him or her long to navigate there. Its function is to communicate the company is and its value. In their private consulting practice, the authors charge $10,000 to perform a usability review. Knowing that many cannot afford their services, Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir distill their consulting experience into 113 guidelines for designing homepages that work for you and your users. The resulting book is not limited to theory. The second part applies the principles to 50 websites. Here the reader is confronted with the complications that confront designers. The big, colorful and nicely printed reproductions of the homepages drive home the points made in the first section in a simple manner. The negative impact of ignoring the 113 principles is effectively made. The homepage is often the first, and all too often, the last chance to chance to attract and retain your user. Compared to the $500,000 cost of ordering 50 site reviews, this book is a bargain. Considering the impact losing even one customer can have on your business, this book is essential.
Rating:
Summary: Calm down now, just take a deep breath
Review: Nielsen is an important figure in web design, true, but that doesn't mean that everyt utterance deserves 5 stars. This is a reasonably interesting read, but hardly seems worth the praise here. Yes, this is an application of Nielsen's ideas, which is great. You get to see how his design guidlines can apply to lots of sites, without really resulting in the kind of bland, lowest-common-denominator website that many designers fear Nielsen demands. But, the approach here is just a fire hose of heuristics sprayed all over the place. Does an "uncompromising autopsy" (Amazon's words) really sound like an instructive, constructive read? It's really impossible to get a sense of priority here: is this a show-stopper usability problem or is it a minor thing? I'd rather see the kind of thing usability professionals actually write: an attack plan for fixing real problems, with an eye to what matters and what's a nice-to-have.
| 
