Unstated Requirements
And useability
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Many UI decisions
End up being made by the technical
development/implementation staff
 Remember

– You are not a typical user!
– It doesn’t matter if you like it
– It matters if the users like it
– What is intuitive to you, is not necessarily
intuitive to most users
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Usability testing

The only way to tell how usable a product
really is, is to do usability testing!
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“What’s the most
important thing I
should do if I want
to make sure my
web site is easy to
use?”
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It is not
“Nothing important should ever be more
than two clicks away.”
 “Speak the user’s language.”
 “Be consistent.”

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Don’t make me think.
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Web pages should be self-evident

We should be able to “get it”
– What it is
– How to use it

Without expending any effort thinking
about it.
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Things that make us think
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“If you point the cursor at it, it’ll
change from an arrow to a pointing
hand. What’s the big deal?”
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Every question mark adds to our
cognitive workload.
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As a rule, people don’t like to
puzzle over how to use things.
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The most important principle of web
design is to work toward eliminating
question marks.
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However, you cannot make everything
self-evident.
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However, you cannot make everything
self-evident.
Sometimes you need to settle for selfexplanatory.
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
Most people are going to spend less
time looking at the pages we design than
we think.
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So why then?

Most people are going to spend less
time looking at the pages we design than
we think.

If web pages are going to be effective,
they have to work most of their magic at
a glance.
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We’re thinking: “Let’s write some
‘great literature’ (or at least ‘product
brochure’)”
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The user’s reality is much closer to:
“billboard going by at 60 miles an hour.”
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Fact of Life

We don’t read pages; we scan them.
– We’re usually in a hurry
– We don’t need to read everything.
– We’re good at it.
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What one user sees
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What another user sees
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Fact of life

We don’t make optimal choices. We
satisfice.
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Fact of life

We don’t make optimal choices. We
satisfice.
– We don’t choose the best option – we choose
the first reasonable option.
– As soon as we find a link that seems like it
might lead where we want, we click it.
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Why don’t web users look for the best choice?
We’re usually in a hurry
 There’s not much of a penalty for guessing wrong
 Weighing options may not improve our chances
 Guessing is more fun

– Less work
– If you’re right it’s faster
– Introduces an element of chance - serendipity
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Fact of life

We don’t figure out how things work. We
muddle through ( form a mental model).
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Many people cannot tell you the difference between Google, a browser,
and the internet
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If people manage to muddle through…
…does it really matter whether they get it?
– Muddling tends to be inefficient and error-prone
– If they get it:
 Better chance they’ll find what they’re looking for.
 Understand the full range of what your site has to offer
 You have a better chance of steering them where you
want them to go
 They’ll feel smarter and more in control
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What’s a girl to do?
If your audience is going to act like you’re
designing billboards, then design great
billboards.
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Bottom line
Don’t make me think
 Realize that I will satisfice and muddle
through
 Don’t offer me a fixed set of options.
Include an “other” option to avoid forcing
me to do it “your way”

– Microwave, cell phone, netflix cd that was
returned to them instead of delivered to me
– Don’t assume you know all the choices
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Bottom line

Don’t make me do work you can do
– Pre-populate fields
Don’t offer me meaningless choices
 Don’t make me confirm happy path
choices – make it easy to back out

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Credits
Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense
Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug
 http://www.slideshare.net/amitnm/dontmake-me-think-by-steve-krug-a-booksummary
 http://users.drew.edu/sbradsha/FromIPod
sToMySpace/05-DontMakeMeThink.ppt

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