Don’t Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability Book Review

Book Review: Don’t Make Me Think By Steve Krug

November 4th, 2008 in General

When I signed up with the SEOBook website I saw a list of recommended reading materials for online marketers, web designers etc. One of those books on the list that looked like an interesting read was Don’t Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, by Steve Krug. It looked interesting because it wasn’t the normal, heavy, programming books I usually seem to end up reading. It was more about the fundamentals of web usability, making a website that actually makes sense to navigate for a user.

I think as someone who thinks like a programmer, it’s very easy to miss this vital part of the puzzle completely and actually make a website that is overly complex, hard to navigate or just overwhelming at first glance. So I was quite keen to see if this would offer any inspirational ideas to improve my sites.

Don’t Make Me Think

The first thing that struck me about the book is the writing style, its very light, funny and easy to read. The author isn’t a technical person and his writing reflects that, he really gives you the perspective of the end user, something that it is so easy to miss. From the very first paragraph it really got me starting to see some things that should have been staring me in the face and I started to get all sorts of ideas of how I could tweak or even redesign some of my sites.

The book is actually quite a small and light read, at just under 200 pages many of which have lots of images, it is possible to get through the whole thing in one or two good sessions. It’s broken into 12 chapters ranging from Design 101 to how to get usability testing on 10 cents a day.

Many of the pages show real site examples of what the author considers to be good and bad site usability. He shows sites with good navigation, good light homepages and it really helps to focus the mind on what an average user will see the first time they hit your page.

One of the things that really struck a chord with me was the chapter on removing needless words from text. Now I know I have a real problem with being overly wordy when I write things, just look at this review lol. But it really got me thinking about how a user skims a page and doesn’t read it in detail. So an excessive amount of wordy text is just going to annoy them.

Another thing it spends a lot of time going over is navigation in all it’s aspects. From the quick navigation through site areas through to the detailed sidebars for deep navigation. It really got me thinking about the navigation of some of my sites and how I could improve them.

Real World Application

After I finished the book, I was overloaded with ideas on how I could improve a particular site of mine, so I decided to put it to the test and see how I could improve the usability of the site. Here is a link to the result on my caravan rental website, personally I think it’s a big improvement on the old design, but I’d be very interested to hear what any readers think.

Link to Caravan Rental Website.

Buy Don’t Make Me Think!, From Amazon UK

Enjoy This Post?

faye said,

There are people i know who just scan and understand what you are trying to say. They usually hover over the essential stuff you put in your writings than read every narration you throw at them. They can be called power readers, if there’s such a person. Making simple points gets them at ease.

fayes last blog post..Gesture-Based Control System in Place of Your Mouse?
Gurpreet SIngh said,

Good Review And Great Blog Keep It Up

Gurpreet SInghs last blog post..Show Html and Javascript Code in Blogger Post
Zobel said,

this edition is not actual in this time..coz progress goes forward like methods of building websites
Eric Richardson said,

I actually bought this book but never got around to reading it. After seeing this post I am now inspired to read through it. Thanks.

Eric Richardsons last blog post..WowWee Robosapien V2 Full Function Humanoid Robot Review
scott said,

I also bought this book but never ended up reading it.. along with the problogger book. Oh well, now I can’t find it.

scotts last blog post..Unique Article Wizard to Maximize Affiliate Blog Profits
Marketing Minefield said,

At work it was recently recommended that we all read that book by Steve Krug. I’ve actually read most of it and it is very useful although in parts I did think it was a little too basic and slow-moving. All in all though it’s definitely worth reading.
Current accounts said,

At last found a review for the book.Good Review And Great Blog.
Webdesign MicroDesign said,

Great article, thanks for this and keep up the good work. I’ve been interested in web design for a while now, so this will surely widen my view.
Bill Marsh said,

Thank you for this informative article. I love books that are, as your mentioned, “light, funny and easy to read” Especially for us less tech savvy people. Keep up the good work.

Bill Marshs last blog post..Tomb Raider Underworld Review
Noni J said,

I like browsing whenever I can. And travel websites are one of my favorites. I just visited the Caravan4Let and I liked the uncluttered ambiance. The share/bookmark box looks very neat indeed. Thanks for sharing the book. I tend to be wordy, too.
Steve Kinsey said,

Thanks for all the kind words on the review everyone. I’ll try and get some more book reviews up, if anyone has any recommended reading please let me know as I’d be very interested.
Sarah said,

great revive, nice of you for sharing thanks
Ian Brodie said,

As a non-programmer, I found Krug’s book to be an enormously helpful insight into making your website(s) much easier to use.

It’s a mix of usability philosophy with simple, practical tips you canuse straight away.

Ian

Ian Brodies last blog post..Business Development North West 2009 Survey Launched
Steve said,

I’ve read this book a few month ago and was a bit disappointed. Of course it’s a good introduction to web usability but it’s already a bit retarded. Using old examples seems bad in this industry. Look at his Amazon examples. Amazon doesn’t even look like the old Amazon he uses in his book.
Dave said,

Great article, thanks for this and keep up the good work. I’ve been interested in web design for a while now, so this will surely widen my view.
Oil Paintings said,

Very nice! Thanks a lot!
smith said,

I love to read books related to web programming, designing, promoting etc and think this book is also worth to buy for me. Can you tell me from where I can download sample chapters of this book if available?
Aditya said,

I like the book, I’ll buy it. Please tell me from where I can download sample chapter.
Thanks
Pozycjonowanie said,

Interesting post about a book that could be helpful. But in the other hand I would not fully trust tips about website creation from someone that does not create websites. You write that “the author considers to be good and bad site usability”. I’m not sure: if he considers something that means he doesn’t know that for sure. I would be cautious with that kind of books – even if its written in great and easy language.
Suresh said,

Hi,
its nice to read a useful article for beginner like me.
Some of points from this article are very helpful for me as I haven’t
considered them yet.
I would like to say thank you for sharing this cool article.
Bookmarked and sharing for friends.
- Suresh