Don’t Make Me Think
Author: Steve Krug
Presentation by: Taina Castro
Introduction
Insider’s look on the “correct” way to web design.
He does not want to teach his readers everything
there is to learn about web design, he instead
chose some of the most important things to share.
Don’t make me think
This is the most important principle that is discussed
throughout the book.
 Things on a Web page should be self-evident or
self-explanatory.
Being as straight forward as possible on your Web
page is necessary in being successful.
Three facts of life
Fact one: “We don’t read pages. We scan them”
 as a web designer you hope people will come to your Web page and read everything, but in reality
people skim through to find what they are really looking for.
Fact two: “We don’t make optimal choices, we
satisfice”
 meaning we choose the first reasonable option. Instead of looking for the best choice for the task at
hand, we as users tend to not choose the best option and instead choose the option that looks most
reasonable.
Lastly, fact three: “We don’t figure out how things
work. We muddle through”.
Five guidelines
To make sure the user sees and understands as
much as possible, these five guidelines should be
followed…
 create a clear visual hierarchy on each page
 take advantage of conventions
 break pages up into clearly defined areas
 make it obvious what’s clickable
 and minimize noise.
Good web navigation
 Questions that can help us determine whether or not the Web
navigation is well designed…
 What site is this?
 What page am I on?
 What are the major sections of this site?
 What are my options at this level?
 Where am I in the scheme of things?
 How can I search?
 All of these questions should be easily answered if someone
was randomly dropped in the middle of your Web page in
order to have well designed navigation.
Usability testing
 If you want a great site, you’ve got to test
 Testing one user is 100% better than testing none
 Testing one user early in the project is better than testing 50 near
the end
 The importance of recruiting representative users is overrated
 The point of testing is not to prove or disprove something to inform
your judgement
 Testing is an iterative process, and nothing beats a live audience
reaction.
Accessibility
Krug gives us these tips…
 fix the usability problems that confuse everyone
 read an article
 read a book
 start using cascading style sheets
 Go for the low hanging fruit.
Doing all of these things will improve the
accessibility of you Web page.
Contact Information
Email: tainacas@buffalo.edu