Transcript Don’t Make Me Think Steve Krug Dean Steuer MFC 215

Don’t Make Me Think
Steve Krug
Dean Steuer
MFC 215
Key Points
• Don’t Make Me Think
• How People Use the Web
• Scanning, not Reading
• Navigation
• Usability
Don’t Make Me Think
• The brain has a limit to what it can take in
• Clarity is imperative
• A user should always know what they’re
doing
• Everything should be self-evident
• If it cannot be self-evident, make it selfexplanatory
How People Use the Web
• People don’t read an entire webpage
• People have a goal when they come to a
page
• People satisfice – they find the option
most likely to lead to what they’re looking
for
• Make it clear what the page is about
Scanning, Not Reading
• People scan pages for relevant
information:
• Create a clear visual hierarchy
• Stick to conventions, people know them
• Clearly define portions of the page
• Avoid noise
• Make choices easy for the user
Navigation
• Clearly tell the user where they are and where they can go
• Good navigation tells the user how to use the site without
words
• Persistent navigation includes:
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•
•
•
Site ID
Sections
Link to main page
Search box
• Design for browsers and searchers
• Browser – people who look through a page for information
• Searchers – people who use a search bar to find information
Usability
• Do
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•
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Make information accessible and easy to find
Accommodate user errors
Make a concise and respectable design
Anticipate what users will do next i.e. print page
• Don’t
•
•
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Ask for more information than is necessary
Get in the user’s way with features
Be excessive with site design, it can be distracting
Make users search excessively for what they want