Krug Book Essay
Taina Castro
MFC215
In the book Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug, he gives an insider’s look on the “correct” way
to web design. Steve makes it clear that anyone who puts their mind to it, can do as he does as a
consultant. After all, “It’s not rocket surgery” (pg.5). 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.
Krug’s first law of usability is “don’t make me think”. This is the most important principle that is
discussed throughout the book. Hence, the name of the book. To sum up this principle in one sentence,
it means that 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. In the next chapter, Steve talks about the
difference between how we as people use the web and how we think people use the web. He goes on
to explain the three facts of life. Fact one being “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 is “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”. Steve
talks about the realization of how people use things and how they are actually supposed to work. As
mentioned before, when users visit a webpage, they scan the page instead of reading it. 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. “People won’t use your Web site if they
can’t find their way around it” (pg. 51). This very important quote is the start of an important chapter
about navigation. It is very important to make the navigation “clear, simple, and consistent” (pg. 51).
Web navigation tells us what is here, how to use the site, and it gives us confidence in the people who
build it. Persistent navigation is important to consider, it should contain a way home, a way to search,
the site ID, sections and utilities. These are some elements that appear on every Web page. Krug
introduces us to a way to test for good Web navigation, these are 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, and
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. The home page can sometimes
be the hardest page to design because of all the components it needs. The home page should contain
its site identity and mission, the site hierarchy, a place to search, teases, timely content, deals,
shortcuts, and registration to name a few. Through all of the elements needed on the home page, you
want and need to convey the big picture. After the Web page has been developed, the next stage is the
testing stage. Here are some important things Krug mentions about 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. By the end of the book we get a good
idea of how to create a successful working Web page that is accessible. Except, not everyone has the
same requirements for a Web page to be accessible. Making your Web page accessible is sometimes
harder than it seems. Krug gives us these tips…fix the usability problems that confuse everyone, read an
article, read a book, start using cascading style sheets, and finally go for the low hanging fruit. Doing all
of these things will improve the accessibility of you Web page.