Don’t Make Me Think
by Steven Krug
I, Michael Parker, own this book and took these notes to further my own learning. If you enjoy these notes, please purchase the book!
Chapter 1: Don’t make me think!
- pg 11: Krug’s first law of usability is don’t make the user think – what it is and how to use it should be self-evident.
- pg 15: Every question raised adds to our cognitive workload, distracting attention from the task at hand.
- pg 18: If you can’t make a page self-evident, make it self-explanatory, meaning it requires a little thought to comprehend.
- pg 19: The most important reason to make things self-evident is that users don’t spend much time on a page anyway.
Chapter 2: How we really use the web
- pg 23: We scan pages instead of reading them for things that match the task at hand, personal interests, or hardwired trigger words.
- pg 24: We don’t choose the best option, we choose the first reasonable option, called satisficing.
- pg 26: We don’t figure out how things work, we forge ahead and muddle through without reading instructions.
- pg 28: While muddling through may work sometimes, is efficient and error-prone; users will leave for a better designed site.
Chapter 3: Billboard Design 101
- pg 31: Create a clear visual hierarchy, relying on prominence, grouping, and nesting of elements to provide cues.
- pg 36: Stick to conventions unless you know you have a better idea and everyone you show it to agrees.
- pg 36: Break up pages into clearly defined areas, and make obvious what is clickable on a page.
- pg 38: Keep visual busy-ness, or elements clamoring for attention, and background noise to a minimum.
Chapter 4: Animal, vegetable, or mineral?
- pg 41: Krug’s second law of usability is it doesn’t matter how many times we have to click, as long as each is an easy choice.
Chapter 5: Omit needless words
- pg 45: Krug’s third law of usability is to get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what’s left.
- pg 46: Remove happy talk, which is introductory text that is sociable but content-free.
- pg 47: Eliminate the need for instructions by making everything self-explanatory, since users muddle through anyway.
Chapter 6: Street signs and Breadcrumbs
- pg 51: People won’t use your web site if they can’t find their way around it.
- pg 54: Search-dominant users will look for the search box first, while link-dominant users will browse the site first.
- pg 57: Unlike browsing physical spaces, sites offer no sense of scale, no sense of direction, and no sense of location.
- pg 58: The home page is important because it is a fixed place, always able to give the user a fresh start.
- pg 63: Persistent navigation is the set of navigation elements that appear on every page, except the home page and forms.
- pg 66: Don’t put more than five utilities – links to important elements not part of the content hierarchy – in the persistent navigation.
- pg 68: Make the search box a simple box with no options, but allow limiting the scope of the search on the page of results.
- pg 73: Every web page needs a name that matches the words clicked to get there.
- pg 75: Subtlety is one of the traits of sophisticated design, but users are in such a hurry they miss subtle cues.
- pg 78: Make breadcrumbs small and at the very top of a page, where they don’t interfere with the primary navigation.
- pg 79: Don’t substitute the last, boldfaced item in the breadcrumbs list for a page name that frames the content.
- pg 82: An active tab should be a different color and physically connect with the space below it so it “pops” to the front.
- pg 84: Have a tab selected when the user enters the web site.
- pg 85: Every site should have a clearly identifiable site ID, page name, sections, local navigation, “you are here” indicator, and search box.
- pg 91: Always avoid stacking underlined text links, as they are hard to read.
- pg 93: If scoping a search, add the word “for” so it reads like a sentence: “Search __ for __.”
Chapter 7: The first step to recovery is admitting that the Home page is beyond your control
- pg 99: A home page should answer: what is this, what do they have here, what can I do here, why should I be/stay here?
- pg 101: Use a tagline next to the site ID and a welcome blurb to introduce your site.
- pg 103: A welcome blurb is a terse description; don’t use a corporate mission statement.
- pg 105: A tagline conveys a value proposition; don’t use a motto, which is a lofty and reassuring principle, goal, or ideal.
- pg 107: A home page should answer where to start, clearly allowing for searching or browsing.
- pg 108: Home page navigation and persistent navigation, two versions of the same thing, must have the same section names.
- pg 110: Consider static lists over pulldown menus, which don’t allow formatting for readability and require scrolling.
Chapter 8: “The Farmer and the Cowman Should Be Friends”
- pg 127: The culture of hype (e.g. marketing) creates promises that must be delivered by the culture of craft (e.g. programmers).
- pg 128: The “average user” is a myth, so don’t design for him; what works is good, integrated design that fills a need.
- pg 129: Usability testing moves the discussion of what’s right or what wrong to what works or what doesn’t work.
Chapter 9: Usability testing on 10 cents a day
- pg 135: Any testing with anyone is better than no testing, and a bit of testing earlier is better than a lot of testing later.
- pg 138: Test with three or four users each round, and test for more than one round to catch new problems.
- pg 139: It doesn’t much matter whom you test with – take anyone you can get, and grade on a curve.
- pg 143: In lieu of a camcorder, use a screen recorder during user tests to easily share and review them later.
- pg 144: Before designing your own site, test a live, comparable site to see what works and what doesn’t.
- pg 150: “Get it” testing checks if the user understands the site’s value proposition from the home page without further navigation.
- pg 154: “Key task” testing assigns the user a task, and observing the steps taken. Allow the user some choice in the task.
- pg 156: Don’t agonize over finding the perfect solutions to found problems – just try something else and iterate.
- pg 157: When triaging, ignore “kayak problems,” where the user goes astray but gets back on track immediately without any help.
- pg 158: Good design is a delicate balance, so when fixing a problem, ensure that you aren’t introduce new ones.
Chapter 10: Usability as a common courtesy
- pg 163: Think of users as having a reservoir of goodwill; if you deplete it, they might leave, and perhaps never return.
- pg 164: Don’t punish the user for not doing things your way, e.g. entering a phone number in a particular format.
- pg 167: Provide a graceful and obvious way for the user to recover from errors.
Chapter 11: Accessibility, Cascading Style Sheets, and You
- pg 175: If something confuses most people who use your site, it’s almost certain to confuse users with accessibility issues.
- pg 178: Put your web site content in the order that a screen reader should read it, and use CSS to adjust its position.
- pg 179: Put a “Skip to Main Content” link at the beginning of each page.
Chapter 12: Help! My boss wants me to ___.
- pg 182: Asking for too much personal data can attract false data, or drive people away from submitting anything.
- pg 183: “Sizzle” on a web site can get in the way, cause long load times, or just look tacky.