Week 1 Reading Response

In the Introduction and first two chapters of Web usability expert Steve Krug’s book “Don’t Make Me Think!”, the author lays the foundation for understanding web usability as it pertains to the average user. Beginning with an explanation of his background, Krug goes on to layout, in simple language, what we the readers will, and will not, find in the book (with a focus on what will not be found; the author’s message seems to be “Less is more”). He explains why Web usability is important, summing the idea up neatly with a quote from his wife that could just as likely have come from any Web user, “If something is hard to use, I just don’t use it as much.” He then introduces his most important, all-encompassing rule for design of usable websites, “Don’t make me think!” From the point of view of the user, thinking excessively engenders the idea that the site isn’t good to use, and may drive them away. The solution to this problem is to make websites as self-evident as possible, from clearly marked link buttons to intuitively labeled sections. Text, also, is suggested to be kept to an absolute minimum. The ultimate goal of this approach is to remove “question marks” in the user’s mind. He continues with a profile of how the average viewer uses a website, which can be summed up satisfactorily as scanning briefly for what they’re looking for, and then clicking the first link that remotely matches, simply using the back button if the snap judgment was incorrect. He concludes these chapters by stating that as users typically see websites as interactive billboards, we as Web designers should focus on designing great billboards.

I found the reading quite beneficial. It’s easy to forget, as Web designers, that the people we’re designing for aren’t necessarily interested in the minutia of Web development that we find so interesting, and that we aren’t designing for ourselves. More important than verbose text and intricate design is an easily navigable, functional, and intuitive website. I also rather like the verb “satisfice”.

Influential Portfolio Websites:

Flynn Joffray
While this site from recent AIS grad Flynn Joffray isn't the easiest to use (due solely to the whimsical floating links), I find it admirable that it is so interactive and "flashy" while eschewing bandwidth-heavy plugins such as Flash or Java. It is also clean and (otherwise) easily navigable.

Graham Cox
While quite heavy in terms of bandwidth, I find the immersive, hand-cut quality an intriguing approach.

Aubrey Morada
Cute. And inventive use of Javascript with the "time of day" feature. Still, cute.