Book review: Don't Make Me Think

Don’t make me think! A common sense approach to web usability (2nd edition)
Steve Krug
New Riders

Buy this book.

Okay, maybe that’s too short of a review. Steve Krug’s book about usability is short (less than 200 pages), quick to read, funny, insightful and full of screenshots and examples. It explains the biggest problems of most websites using common sense, and like most things common sense, you don’t see it until someone points it out to you.

If you’re starting to get into usability, this should probably be the first book to read. I have always been interested in usability and interface design, and was always the go-to guy if programmers needed advice on a screen or form that needed to be more user friendly. I never had any official training as an UX expert, I just had a “knack” for it. Reading this book made me look for other problems in websites and the ability to explain those problems to the client.

Subjects covered:

  • Navigation design
  • Home page layout
  • Designing for scanning
  • User patterns
  • User testing