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Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability First Edition

by Steve Krug (Author), Roger Black (Foreword)
4.5 out of 5 stars 299 ratings
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People won't use your web site if they can't find their way around it. Whether you call it usability, ease-of-use, or just good design, companies staking their fortunes and their futures on their Web sites are starting to recognize that it's a bottom-line issue. In Don't Make Me Think, usability expert Steve Krug distills his years of experience and observation into clear, practical--and often amusing--common sense advice for the people in the trenches (the designers, programmers, writers, editors, and Webmasters), the people who tell them what to do (project managers, business planners, and marketing people), and even the people who sign the checks.

Krug's clearly explained, easily absorbed principles will help you sleep better at night knowing that all the hard work going into your site is producing something that people will actually want to use.

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  1. ISBN-10
    0789723107
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0789723109
  3. Edition
    First Edition
  4. Publisher
    New Riders Publishing
  5. Publication date
    January 1, 2000
  6. Language
    English
  7. Print length
    195 pages
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Usability design is one of the most important--yet often least attractive--tasks for a Web developer. In Don't Make Me Think, author Steve Krug lightens up the subject with good humor and excellent, to-the-point examples.

The title of the book is its chief personal design premise. All of the tips, techniques, and examples presented revolve around users being able to surf merrily through a well-designed site with minimal cognitive strain. Readers will quickly come to agree with many of the book's assumptions, such as "We don't read pages--we scan them" and "We don't figure out how things work--we muddle through." Coming to grips with such hard facts sets the stage for Web design that then produces topnotch sites.

Using an attractive mix of full-color screen shots, cute cartoons and diagrams, and informative sidebars, the book keeps your attention and drives home some crucial points. Much of the content is devoted to proper use of conventions and content layout, and the "before and after" examples are superb. Topics such as the wise use of rollovers and usability testing are covered using a consistently practical approach.

This is the type of book you can blow through in a couple of evenings. But despite its conciseness, it will give you an expert's ability to judge Web design. You'll never form a first impression of a site in the same way again. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered:

  • User patterns
  • Designing for scanning
  • Wise use of copy
  • Navigation design
  • Home page layout
  • Usability testing

From the Author

Even if every Web site could afford a usability expert (which they can't), there just aren't enough of us to go around. So I tried to boil down what I've learned over the years (principles like "Don't make me think" and "Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what's left") into a short, profusely illustrated book--one that even the guy who signs the checks (the one who looks at the site when it's ready to launch and says "I hate green. And there should be more big pictures.") might read.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ New Riders Publishing; First Edition (January 1, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 195 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0789723107
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0789723109
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 299 ratings

About the author

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Steve Krug

Steve Krug

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Steve Krug (pronounced “kroog”) is best known as the author of Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, now in its third edition with over 700,000 copies in print.

Its younger sibling is the usability testing handbook Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems.

The books were based on the 25+ years he spent as a usability consultant for a wide variety of clients like Apple, Bloomberg, Lexus, NPR, and the International Monetary Fund.

His consulting firm, Advanced Common Sense (“just me and a few well-placed mirrors”) is based in Chestnut Hill, MA.

Steve currently spends most of his time either a) writing, or b) watching old movies on tv (when he really should be writing).

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
299 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book concise and easy to understand, with well-illustrated content that includes copious examples. The design features helpful illustrations, and one customer notes it's ideal for development teams. Customers appreciate the book's humor and consider it worth the price, with one mentioning it's a must-read for design concept development. While the book is relatively short, some customers note its dated content.

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40 customers mention "Usability"40 positive0 negative

Customers praise the book's clear and concise approach to explaining usability issues, with one customer noting it serves as a practical educational resource.

"...Web navigation, layout, instructions and concise content are a few examples of topics covered...." Read more

"Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability is to a web designer what a rifle is to a soldier...." Read more

"...It's the greasing of the wheels to make a shopping experience fast, intuitive, trusting, and most importantly, EASY...." Read more

"...Simplicity for them and ease of development for me, a win-win situation!..." Read more

35 customers mention "Readability"35 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and pleasant to read, with one customer noting it's great for the whole development team.

"...All in all, I think this is a great read (I think it took me about 2 1/2 hours) I recommend it for web designers and web project managers, as well..." Read more

"...come to your site and then come back for a second visit, this is the right book...." Read more

"...This is a great book and it is a must have if you are developing internet/intranet sites. Especially, if you are a newbee to web design like me." Read more

"Great book for basic understanding" Read more

14 customers mention "Design"14 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's design, noting its exceedingly usable format and helpful illustrations, with one customer highlighting its well-organized structure.

"...Web navigation, layout, instructions and concise content are a few examples of topics covered...." Read more

"...The book is superbly designed. It's full of practical examples of what works and what doesn't...." Read more

"...more trustworthy if he would critique non-standard, but successful examples of web design that are just as effective...." Read more

"...The illustrations are incredibly helpful and concise in support of the text. The overall text and flow of the book makes for an easy read...." Read more

9 customers mention "Illustrative content"9 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's well-illustrated content with copious examples, and one customer notes it covers all the basics.

"...The book is superbly designed. It's full of practical examples of what works and what doesn't...." Read more

"...straightforward, easily understood and remembered, and well illustrated by copious examples...." Read more

"...of great information in a well laid-out publication supported by excellent examples, charts and graphical illustrations...." Read more

"...Mr. Krug does a fantastic job at providing examples and melds that with his extensive experience in the field of usability and mixes in a healthy..." Read more

5 customers mention "Book length"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate that the book is relatively short.

"...It is full of good advice and short enough that I can flip through the book and a new web site I've made side by side and see if it conforms to the..." Read more

"...The book is relatively short and to the point...." Read more

"Short and to the point, this book is the place to start for anyone involved in any way with websites of any type, from simple personal homepages to..." Read more

"...And it's bend over and blow snot out of your nose funny. The book is short, on purpose. So I'll keep my review short, too...." Read more

4 customers mention "Humor"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's humorous approach, with one noting how it mixes wit throughout the content.

"...For one thing, Steve Krug is funny...." Read more

"...his extensive experience in the field of usability and mixes in a healthy dose of wit to make it go down nice and smoothly...." Read more

"...The book is relatively short and to the point. His approach of mixing in humor and keeping things light make it enjoyable to digest what could be..." Read more

"...Steve does it with humor and style." Read more

4 customers mention "Value for money"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book worth the price, with one mentioning it's worth owning a copy at work.

"I read this in a few hours. It was time and money well spent. As a copywriter, I do a lot of writing for the web...." Read more

"...in the chapter on designing navigation; that chapter alone is worth the price...." Read more

"...It was worth owning a copy at work." Read more

"...The sections on testing for usability alone are more than worth the price of the book...." Read more

3 customers mention "Dated content"0 positive3 negative

Customers find the book's content outdated.

"...The references have dated but the principles hold...." Read more

"The book's content is great. Yet the book I received is a bit too old with water marks on all the pages that smelled like old pet pee." Read more

"Outdated, but may be ok for newbies..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • TwoNiner
    5.0 out of 5 stars Happy talk must DIE!
    Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2004
    Verified Purchase
    I work for a small business that constantly redesigns our websites because management, marketing and development can't decide on a single aspect of our website. Everyone thinks their own ideas are the fruit of eden so all we do is talk in circles for hours on end. I found this book very helpful (especially with the political problems within my company) because it cuts out the "I think blah blah is best because I'm the coolest person in the world and my opinions are better than yours" and gets you focused on "this is what works best because it actually works for real people". This book can give you actual support behind your opinions in a meeting about a website because everything is based on usability. Web navigation, layout, instructions and concise content are a few examples of topics covered.
    My favorite quote of the book is: "Happy talk must die." I absolutely worship this short section of the book in which Steve Krug explains how happy balk is like a voice in the back of your head saying "blah blah blah blah blah..." Seriously, maybe 80% of my company's website is this BS "happy talk" which has no relevant content or beef to helping our customers or selling our own products. Happy talk is superfluous babble that wastes time and confuses and frustrates web users.
    All in all, I think this is a great read (I think it took me about 2 1/2 hours) I recommend it for web designers and web project managers, as well as other individuals that have a large personal stake in a website. I am starting my own company with is heaviliy web-based, and I will be applying many of the topics in this book toward it.
    My ownly caveat is that this book is a bit brief - although the author appeared to have written it this way. I would have liked more information on navigation and examples on service-based industries where companies try to sell solutions to customers rather than physical products.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • Penfist
    5.0 out of 5 stars This book is to a web designer what a gun is to a soldier
    Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2006
    Verified Purchase
    Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability is to a web designer what a rifle is to a soldier.

    If you've ever been involved in building a web site that will serve as the virtual world shingle for a corporation or government entity, you should have had this book with you during the project. Get it now if you'll be building such sites in the future.

    Web sites don't become popular because someone in a meeting says, "Woudn't it be great if..." They become popular because they are focused and usable. Don't Make Me Think takes you step by step through the process of making a web site focused and usable. Once your web site is focused and usable, you will find that your web site will attract the only thing that justifies pouring your heart and soul into a web site - an audience.

    If you build it they will come was a very popular moniker in the 90s. It isn't true. It should be, if you build it right, they will come.

    The premise of this book is that if you make people think too hard about finding something on your web site, they'll go away and they won't come back. So if you are interested in having people come to your site and then come back for a second visit, this is the right book. I won't tell you what the author tells you about the logic behind keeping visitors. What I will tell you is that Don't Make Me Think follows its own rules. The book is superbly designed. It's full of practical examples of what works and what doesn't. It answers important questions like are we really asking the right questions? It's good. Buy it if you need help building a web site that will actually keep people interested in the content of said web site.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • ToddDominey
    4.0 out of 5 stars God is in the tabbed interface
    Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2001
    Verified Purchase
    First of all, let's be clear what this book is all about. "Usability" is a measure to determine how successful a design, whether it's a newspaper, a web site, or a WalkMan, is when engaged by human hands and eyes. There are no set "rules" of usability, just tried and true "common sense approaches" that make sense, right off the bat, to just about anyone who comes in contact with a piece that has been designed for interaction.
    For example, think of your average stereo or mp3 player. If you wanted to hear music, what would you do? Just about everyone would scan the object with their eyes, trying to find a symbol or word to guide them. In this case, they'd look for a right pointing triangle, commonly known as a "play" button. This all happens within milliseconds, subconsciously, but we all do it. The easier it is to find what you're looking for and engage that option, the higher usability marks the object receives. That's a rather simplistic explanation of usability, but it's the basis of this book when applied to the web.
    Author Steve Krug makes a living critiquing web sites to establish how easy they are for your average Joe to use. He gathers willing participants, sits them down in front of a computer, and asks seemingly obvious questions like "do you know where you are?", "do you know what this company does?", "where would you click first, and why?", etc.
    It's not rocket science, that's for sure. But if a company is planning on making money off of their web presence, a confusing web site could put them in the dog house with consumers.
    And that's the important thing to realize about "Don't Make Me Think" -- this book is written from the viewpoint of what "works" with e-commerce sites. It's the greasing of the wheels to make a shopping experience fast, intuitive, trusting, and most importantly, EASY.
    If you are a graphic designer, consider the web to be your personal playground to create, engage, shatter conventions and develop new ideas in design, this book is not for you.
    Krug acknowledges this up front, but insists that the lessons learned in this book can be applied to just about ANY web design that deviates from the norm. And in a sense, that's quite true. If you were to build a shining new city on the hill with ultra modern buildings and cutting edge style, you'd still need an effective transportation system to tie your creation together.
    But where the book stumbles is that Krug only promotes (or acknowledges) one ubiquitous web design style -- a company logo in the upper left corner, folder tab navigation across the top, and subsections down the left side. Sound familiar? It should...take a look at the top of this page.
    P>His opinions would be more trustworthy if he would critique non-standard, but successful examples of web design that are just as effective. But he only offers one solution, and it's one all of us are very aware of already.
    Krug does have useful points to remember -- including consistency of style, navigation, and brand identification -- but when you get down to it, it's all COMMON SENSE. Open your browser, check out eBay, Outpost.com, or Salon.com, and study their navigational systems, use of color and contrast, and copy length. See how they allow you to move between pages, subsections, and the placement of navigational icons. Then ask yourself, how did I KNOW to click there? Was it the wording? The color?
    This book would be a lifesaver to anyone who was just starting out designing for audiences on the web however, so if you have yet to design your first web site, by all means pick this up. The lessons to learn here are just as important (if not more so) as learning HTML. Because if you didn't want people to use and enjoy your work, you wouldn't be putting it on the web.
    5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Vedge
    5.0 out of 5 stars eye openning
    Reviewed in Canada on January 13, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    This was the first book I read about ux and it made me become a UX designer! It's that good
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  • Barney Stevenson
    5.0 out of 5 stars An I.T. book that you'll read from cover to cover!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2001
    Verified Purchase
    This book is a real rarity amongst the breed of I.T. books - it's short!!! Whilst other authors seem to vie with each other to produce longer and longer tomes (that will probably be dipped into and then gather dust on bookshelves), Krug has broken the mould and produced a very readable book.
    The book has obviously been written and put together with a great deal of care - so refreshing compared to the cavalier approach of many I.T.authors, whose books are full of typos and incorrect internal references. The text is taut and (genuinely) humourous and is illustrated in colour throughout. Credit should also go to Mark Matcho for the illustrations and cartoons.
    The book keeps you firmly in the user's shoes. It is entirely non-technical, which, whilst this may disappoint the web developer looking for tips for creating the latest sexy interface effect, means that the book will appeal to a wide range of readers. Also the avoidance of current fads and fashions and the focus on timeless design principles means that the book will continue to be relevent for many years to come.
    This book should be read by everyone who wants the web to be a useable and useful place. As the dust settles after the rush of hormones of the web's adolescence, you will be seeing the principles that Krug espouses in the grown-up sites of the web of the future.
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  • Richard Leader
    5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on Web Usability that I have read.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 19, 2002
    Verified Purchase
    In a subject that is often preachy, dry and sometimes event pedantic in style, Krug's approach is a breath of fresh air.
    The book is entertaining and informative at the same time - it uses lots of illustrations to make its point, and that point is dead simple - Don't Make Me Think!
    Unfortunately, it is the user that shouldn't have to think - designers, architects, developers and content authors really do need to think hard about how to create websites for the audience. This book goes a long way to helping them.
    I would recommend this book to anyone involved in website design (and indeed I have!).
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  • Woodman Stern
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 11, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Small but essential book about what makes a good website.
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  • Vincent Sneed
    5.0 out of 5 stars Don't make me think Review
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2009
    Verified Purchase
    This book is brilliantly written, funny and tells you everything you need to know about the thinking behind creating usable, efficient websites. Some of the sites in it are now slightly out of date, but the rules apply across the board and the book offers timeless insights.
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