Don't make me think

Recipes for web usability
 
Steve Krug’s book on web usability reads in half a day, but changes your perspective on websites forever.
With lots of practical advice, you can use it when preparing or developing a new web project, as well as for auditing and improving a running site.

Offering guidance on language, buttons, banners, navigation and home page design, this book is useful if you’re a participant in a web development team, or a manager commissioning and approving web development.

My favourite chapter is the one with hands-on advice on setting up usability testing, including a sample script painting a vivid image of a session. It enables you to get started immediately.

Navigation is a challenge for any website, and one of the longer chapters in the book. According to the author, navigation isn’t a feature - it is the website. And it serves a variety of purposes:

1. help users find whatever they’re looking for
2. tell users where they are
3. a map of the site
4. an index of what’s on the site
5. tell users how to use the site
6. give users confidence in the people who built the site

Another longer chapter is on home page design, the prime virtual real estate of your site, which for starters needs to convey site identity, what can be found on the site, a search utility, registration, special offers and timely content.

Links
[1] Advanced Common Sense Home, the book author’s website
[2] useit.com: Jakob Nielsen on Usability and Web Design, the Godfather of web usability
[3] Screen Capture, Screen Recorder, Video Hosting, and Usability Testing Software, software tools for web usability testing