Home > Work > Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
1 " In reality, though, most of the time we don’t choose the best option—we choose the first reasonable option, a strategy known as satisficing. "
― Steve Krug , Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
2 " Sometimes time spent reinventing the wheel results in a revolutionary new rolling device. But sometimes it just amounts to time spent reinventing the wheel. "
3 " And not just the right thing; it’s profoundly the right thing to do, because the one argument for accessibility that doesn’t get made nearly often enough is how extraordinarily better it makes some people’s lives. How many opportunities do we have to dramatically improve people’s lives just by doing our job a little better? "
4 " If there's one thing you learn by working on a lot of different Web sites, it's that almost any design idea--no matter how appallingly bad--can be made usable in the right circumstances, with enough effort. "
5 " Don't make me think "
6 " It doesn’t matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice. "
7 " If you want a great site, you’ve got to test. After you’ve worked on a site for even a few weeks, you can’t see it freshly anymore. You know too much. The only way to find out if it really works is to test it. "
8 " Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what’s left. "
9 " Your primary role should be to share what you know, not to tell people how things should be done. "
10 " Your objective should always be to eliminate instructions entirely by making everything self-explanatory, or as close to it as possible. When instructions are absolutely necessary, cut them back to a bare minimum. "
11 " Happy talk must die "
12 " The problem is there are no simple “right” answers for most Web design questions (at least not for the important ones). What works is good, integrated design that fills a need—carefully thought out, well executed, and tested. "
13 " If you can’t make something self-evident, you at least need to make it self-explanatory. "
14 " It doesn’t matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice. —KRUG’S SECOND LAW OF USABILITY "
15 " As a rule, conventions only become conventions if they work. "
16 " The more you watch users carefully and listen to them articulate their intentions, motivations, and thought processes, the more you realize that their individual reactions to Web pages are based on so many variables that attempts to describe users in terms of one-dimensional likes and dislikes are futile and counter-productive. Good design, on the other hand, takes this complexity into account. "
17 " The main thing you need to know about instructions is that no one is going to read them—at least not until after repeated attempts at “muddling through” have failed. "
18 " Keep it simple, so you'll keep doing it. "
19 " The fact that the people who built the site didn’t care enough to make things obvious—and easy—can erode our confidence in the site and the organization behind it. "
20 " If something requires a large investment of time—or looks like it will—it’s less likely to be used. "