Summary of Intro, Chapters one and two: “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug
When I read in the Preface that the author’s goal was to keep it short, I thought it was an admirable goal but doubtful that it could actually be done. But I have to concede that the author has done just that. Not only has he kept it short but he talks in “normal” language – not a bunch of formal English where you have to look up every other word or scan backwards for the reference. I also enjoyed the humor and up-to-date references throughout the text and in the footnotes.
In the first chapter Krug states his first law of usability – “Don’t Make Me Think.” An image of my husband grumbling at the computer when searching the internet comes to mind and makes me laugh! He just wants to click and have the answers magically appear, as if the web designer knows exactly what he’s thinking! Eliminate the questions marks is truly apt in this situation. Make the site self-evident and don’t make the user think; and, in my opinion, the fewer times a user has to click to get to their destination the better.
Some of the points that stuck out to me and worth noting were:
• People don’t like to puzzle over how to do things
• Why should I think about how I want to search?
• If you can’t make it self-evident, at least make it self-explanatory
• Web pages need to work their magic at a glance
• Design as if it’s a billboard going by at 60 mph
• First reasonable option – example of a fire chief, who takes the first reasonable plan that comes to mind, examines it for problems, and not finding any, goes with it.
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