Steve Krug
Don’t make me think
A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
Second edition
Chapter 1 – Don’t make me think!
Krug’s First Law of Usability
Krug’s first law of usability is ‘don’t make me think!’. It
means that as far as is humanly possible, a web page
should be self-evident, obvious and self-explanatory. A
user should be able to get what it is and how to use it
without expending any effort thinking about it. As a web
designer your job is to let no user have question marks
when using your site.
Make links that are obviously clickable
Give links obvious names (For example: choose
“Jobs” over “Employment Opportunities”) and keep them as short as possible.
Chapter 2 – How we really use the Web
Scanning, satisficing, and muddling through
Users glance at each new page, scan some of the text, and click on the first link that catches
their interest. There are large parts of a page users don’t even look at. While designers
picture a more rational, attentive user when designing pages.
Three facts about real-world Web use:
1. #1: We don’t read pages. We scan them. We do that because (1) we’re usually in a
hurry, (2) we know we don’t need to read everything, (3) we’re good at it.
Exceptions: pages that contain documents like news stories, reports, product
descriptions.
2. #2: We don’t make optimal choices. We satisfice. Because (1) we’re usually in a
hurry, (2) there’s not much of a penalty for guessing wrong, (3) weighing options may
not improve our chances… there always is the Back-button, (4) guessing is more fun.
Satisficing: a strategy whereby we choose the first reasonable option instead of the best
option.
3. #3 We don’t figure out how things work. We muddle through. Because (1) it’s not
important to us, (2) if we find something that works, we stick to it. For example: typing
the URL in a search engine page, many users are thinking it’s the internet.
Chapter 3 – Billboard Design 101
Designing pages for scanning, not reading
Five important things to make as much of your site as possible:
1. Create a clear visual hierarchy on each page
There’s nothing new about this, it already happens with newspapers.
When something is more important, it should be more prominent.
When something is related to something else logically, it should also be related
visually.
Things that are “nested” show what’s part of what.
, 2. Take advantage of conventions
A convention is for example: a very large type is usually a headline that summarizes the story
underneath it. Conventions are very useful. But designers are often reluctant to take
advantage of them, largely because they think they’re hired to do something new and
different, and not the same old thing.
3. Break pages up into clearly defined areas
This is important because it allows users to decide quickly which areas of the page to focus
on and which areas they can safely ignore.
4. Make it obvious what’s clickable
5. Minimize noise
There are two kinds of noises: One on busy-ness; when everything on the page is
clamouring for attention. The other noise is background noise.
Chapter 4 – Animal, vegetable, or mineral?
Why users like mindless choices
Some sites have design rules stating that it should never take more than a specified number
of clicks (three, four or five) to get to any page in the site. Over time Krug came to think that
wat really counts is not the number of clicks it takes to get what he wants, but rather how
hard each click is (the amount of thought required).
The title is an example of a mindless choice from the game Twenty Questions, if you
accept the premise that anything that’s not a plant or animal is a mineral (pianos,
limericks, encyclopaedias…)
Chapter 5 – Omit (needless) words
The art of not writing for the Web
From 17. Omit needless words.
E.B.White’s Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary
seventeenth words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason
rule in The that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no
Elements of unnecessary parts.
Style:
This reduces
the noise level,
makes the
useful content more prominent and makes the pages shorter.
Happy talk must die (Promotional writing, “Welcome to…”). Most Web users don’t
have time for this.
Instructions must die. You should eliminate instructions entirely and make everything
self-explanatory.
Chapter 6 – Street signs and Breadcrumbs
Designing navigation
In this chapter a Web page is compared with a store. When you’re looking for a product you
need, you follow the signs to the right department, then you look for the right aisle, then you
look for the product.
In many ways, you go through the same process when you enter a Web site.
You’re usually trying to find something.
