别让我思考].Don't.Make.Me.Think_A.Common.Sence.Approach.To.Web.Usability

别让我思考].Don't.Make.Me.Think_A.Common.Sence.Approach.To.Web.UsabilityDon't Make Me ThinkA COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO WEB USABILITYSTEVE KRUGNellRiders yNew Riders PublishingIndianapolis, Indiana USAcircle. com Circle com LibraryDont Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach lo Web UsabilityCaooo Steve KrugTo my fatherAll nights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by anywanted me to write ameans, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from thepublisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. AlthoughMy mother, who has alwaysevery precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume nomade me feel like I couldresponsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of theinformation contained hereinMelanic, who married me-theIntemational Standard Book Number: o2897-a31o7greatest stroke of good fortune of my lifeLbrary of Congress Catalog Card Number: 99-067196and my son Harry, who will surelyPrinted in the United States of Americawrite books much better than this onewhenever he wants toFrt Printing: October zoooed in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriatelycayitalierd How Riders Publishing cannot attest to the accuracy of this information, Use of a term in this bookIrot be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.ette t hus been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty ord. The iformation provided is on an as is"banis, The author and the publisher shall haveny nor rbility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages a wog/m thei contained in this bookDesign and production by Allison D. Cecil, Roger Black Consultingby Mark MatchThe Cielo com Library is published and distributed by Pearson 'Technology Group, For individual, educationalcorporate, or retail sales accounts, call 1-890448-5331, Or 317-58135oo, For information address New RidersPublishing, 201 West iord Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 4299, New Riders Publishing can be found on theWEbatwww.newriders.comCONTENTSCONTENTSFOREWORDBy Roger BlackCHAPTER 7The first step in recovery is9admitting that the Home pageis beyond your controlINTRODUCTION Read me first2Designing the Home pageThroat clearing and disclaimersMAKING SURE YOU GOT THEM RIGHTGUIDING PRINCIPLESCHAPTER 8The Farmer and the Cowman130CHAPTER 1Don't make me think!Should Be Friends"Krug's First Law of UsabilityWhy most Web design team arguments about usability are a waste oftime, and how to avoid themCHAPTER 2How we really use the WebScanning, satisficing, and muddling throughCHAPTER 9Usability testing on 10 cents a day138Keeping testing simple-so you do enough of itCHAPTER 3Billboard Design 101Designing pages for scanning, not readingCHAPTER 10Usability testing: The movie154How to do your ou testingCHAPTER 4Animal, vegetable, or mineral?CHAPTER 11On not throwing the174Why users like mindless choicesbaby out with the dishesiterpretingCHAPTER 5Omit needless words44The art of not writing for the webRecommended reading182Acknowledgments186THINGS YOU NEED TO GET RIGHTCHAPTER 6 Street signs and BreadcrumbsIndex192DesilionForewordTHE USABILITY EXPERTTEVE KRUG IS BLESSED WITH A KIND OF SHORT-TERM MEMORY LOSS THATSo Don't Make Me Think! is not about exhaustive statistics and thousands ofallows him to see every Web site as if he is looking at it for the first timehours of clinical trials, and tons of survey research jargon. Rather it containsIt is this freshness, combined with his amazing ability to accumulatesharp, empirical observations, combined with straightforward solutions to thepractical experience from the way real people try to use the Internet that makesmost fundamental Internet design problemsthis book so valuableAs Steve and I have worked together(a lifetime in Internet years), IveSteve and I first worked together while I was a creative consultant to (Homelearned that &o percent of the mistakes you will make in informationNetwork in 1o97. He would look over the shoulders of the designers there andarchitecture can be caught if you bring in a great usability expert from themake sure that they didn't fall in love with visual ideas that would confuse thebeginning. If you want to spend more money, a panel of experts might savecustomers. I asked him to join our company (which later became part ofyou another 1o percenT. The rest you just have to fix when the real experts,Circle. com) as an online usability shrink to help our designers and clients buildthe customers, get involvedclear navigation into their sites from the beginningWith this book, the price of this kind of advice has suddenly gone way downSteve's approach to evaluating Web usability is not based on herding thousandsSteve Krugs expertise is hard to come by,, But now, much of it is in yourevery thought and movement. He is more concerned with observing how rerof victims into usability labs and attaching electrodes to their heads to track thcihands. You've saved a lot of money already and if you can absorb what he hasto say here, you will save much morepeople. under normal circumstanccs, find (or don't find) thcir way around a Website. These observations are best made in offices and homes, with real Web siteROGER BLACKOCTOBER 2000and real conditions, one on one. Steve does not have a lot of time for focus groups.[ⅸxINTRODUCTIONIs this trip really necessary?- SLOGAN ON WORLD WAR II POSTERS ENCOURAGING GAS RATIONINGRead me firstWHEN I STARTED TELLING PEOPLE THAT I WAS WRITING A BOOK ABOUThow to do what I do, they all asked the same thing: "Aren't you afraid ofTHROAT CLEARING AND DISCLAIMERSputting yourself out of a job?It's true, I have a great jobPeople ("clients") send me proposed page designs for the new Web site they re building orthe URL of the existing site that theyre redesigningflooz The better way to giftIThe onlinegift curreneyHome page design AHome page design BExisting siteI look at the designs or use the site and figure out whether they're easy enough to usean"expert usability review"). Sometimes I pay other people to try to use the site whileI watch ("usability testing ")I write a report describing theproblems that I found that arclikely to cause users griefA usability report(usability issues") and sug.gesting possible solutionsnot to be confused with"vonSm3RE兵 D ME FIP5TINTRODUCTIONI work with the dient's Web design team to help them figure out how to fix the problems.I'm writing this book for people who can't afford to hire (or rent) someone like meI would hope that it's also of value to people who work with a usability professionalmaybe if we puut theI wonder ifWe could do itop stories under thethere are anythat way, but..At the very least. I hope it can help you avoid some of the endless, circular religiouspersonalization promo..donuts left.Web design debates that seem to eat up so much time.Hey, look!SomebodyIt's not rocket surgerybrought donuts.The good news is that much of what I do is just common sense, and anyone withsome interest can learn to do it.After all, usability really just means making sure that something works well: that aperson of average (or even below average) ability and experience can use the thing-whether it's a Web site, a fighter jet, or a revolving door--for its intended purposeSometimes we work by phoneand sometimes in personwithout getting hopelessly frustrated.They pay me.Like a lot of common sense, though, it's not necessarily obvious until afterBeing a consultant, I get to work on interesting projects with a lot of nice, smartsomeone's pointed it out to you.people, and when we're finished, the sites are better than when we started. I get toNo question: if you can afford to, hire someone like me. But if you can't, I hopework at home most of the time and I don't have to sit in mind-numbing meetingsthis book will enable you to do it yourself (in your copious spare time)every day or deal with office politics. I get to say what I think, and people usuallyappreciate it. And I get paid wellBelieve me, I would not lightly jeopardize this way of lifeBut the reality is there are so many Web sites in need of help and so few peoplewho do what I do-that barring a total collapse of the Internet boom, there's verylittle chance of my running out of work for years.Suddenly a lot of people with little or no previous experience have been made responsible for big budget projects that may determine the future of their companies, andthey re looking for people to tell them that they're doing it rightGraphic designers and developers find themselves responsible for designinginterfaces-things like interaction design (what happens next when the userclicks) and information architecture (how everything is organized)2. which is one reason why my consulting business (actually just me and a few well-placedAnd most people don't have the budget to hire a usability consultant to review theirmirrors)is called Advanced Common Sense. "It's not rocket surgery"is my corporate mottowork--let alone have one around all the timeINTRODUCTIONRLAD ME T15了Yes, it's a thin bookI find that the most valuable contributions I make to each project always comeI've worked hard to keep this book short---hopefully short enough you can read it onfrom keeping just a few key usability principles in mind. I think there's a lotmore leverage for most people in understanding these principles than in anothera long plane ride, I did this for two reaslaundry list of specific do's and don'ts, I've tried to boil down the few things IIf it's short, it's more likelythink everybody involved in building Web sites should know.to actually be used. I'mwriting for the people whoNot present at time of photoare in the trenches--thedesigners, the developers,Just so you don't waste your time looking for them, here are a few things you wor'tfind in this bookthe site producers, theproject managers, the)"The trutI about the right way to design Web sites. I've been at this for a longmarketing people, andtime, long enough to know that there is no one "right"way to design Web sitesthe people who sign theIt's a complicated process and the real answer to most of the questions thatchecks, and for the onepeople ask me is "It depends, But I do think that there are a few usefulman band people who areguiding principles it always helps to have in mind, and those are what I'mdoing it all themselvestrying to conveyUsability isn't your life'sDiscussion of business models, If history has taught us anything, it's that Internetwork, and you don't havebusiness models are like buses: If you miss one, all you have to do is wait a littletime for a long book.while and another one will come along. I'm no expert when it comes to makings You dont need to knowmoney on the Web, and even if I were, whatever I had to say would probably beeverything. As with anypasse by the time you read itfield, there's a lot you couldPredictions for the future of the Web, Your guess is as good as mine. Thelearn about usability, But unless you're a usability professional, there's a limit toonly thing I'm sure of is that (a) most of the predictions I hear are almosthow much is useful to learncertainly wrong, and (b) the things that will turn out to be important wilcome as a surprise, even though in hindsight they'll seem perfectly obvious, There's a good usability principle right there: if something requires a large investment oftime-Bad-mouthing of poorly designed sites. If you enjoy people poking fun at siteswith obvious flaws, you're reading the wrong book Designing, building, andor looks like it will--it's less likely to be usedmaintaining a great Web site isnt easy. It's like golf a handful of ways to gor've always liked the usage in A Study in Scarlet where Dr. Wa son is shocked to learnthe ball in the hole, a million ways not to. Anyone who gets it even half rightthat Sherlock Holmes doeant't know that the carth travels around the sun, Glven the finitehas my admirationcapacity of the human brain, Holmes explains, he can't afford to have useless facts elbowingout Pie useful anesJaredSpoolandhisusabilityconsultingcohortsutUserInterfaccEngineering(wwwtie.com)"What the deuce is it lo me? You say that we go round the sun, I we luent roundcven have"It depends"T-shirtsthe moon it would nol make a pennyworth of difference lo me or to my work7I 6IINTRODUCTIONREAD ME FIRSTAs a result, you'll find that the sites I use as examples tend to be excellent siteswith minor flaws. I think you can learn more from looking at good sites thanIs this trip really necessary?bad ones.I could recite some of the usual awe-inspiring statistics about how many umpteenExamples from all kinds of sites. Most of the examples in the book are fromgazillion dollars will be left on the table this year by sites that don't mind theire-commerce sites, but the principles I'm describing apply just as well to myusability P's and Qs.next-door neighbor's vanity page, your daughter's soccer team's site, or yourBut piven that you're already holding a book about usability in your hands, youcompany's intranet Including illustrations from all the different genres wouldprobably don't need me to tell you that usability matters. You know from your ownhave resulted in a much larger-and less useful bookexperience as a Web user that paying attention to usability means less frustration andmore satisfaction for your visitors, and a better chance that you'l see them againWho's on first?I think my wife put her finger on the essence of it better than any statistic I,ve seenThroughout the book, I' ve tried to avoid consLant references to "the user"andusers. " This is party because of the tedium factor, but also to try to get you to thinkIf something is hardto use. I justabout your own experience as a Web user while you're reading--something most ofdon't use it as much.tend to forget widesign hats on. This has led to thefollowing use of pronouns in this bookis me, the author. Sometimes it's me the usability professional ("I tell myclients. )and sometimes it's me speaking as a Web user ("If I can't find aSearch button."), but it's always me)"You is you. the reader-someone who designs, builds, publishes, or pays thebills for a Web site,"We"("How we really use the Wel") is all Web users, which includes "you"and"II hope this book will help you build a better site and-if you can skip a few designI may sidestep these rules occasionally, but hopefully the context will always make itarguments--maybe even get home in time for dinner once in a whileclear who I'm talking about