Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:      Summary: This is a must have for web site developers. Comment: Since the very name this book told me that it was exactly what i was looking for. My bussiness consists in coordinate graphic designers, programmers and others to build any size of web sites; and in the middle im the one who designs the skeleton or structure of my clients web sites, so this book is giving me very much of what i need to make a better work.
In some cases it just put words to some of my toughts, but in others it gave me a different point of view for arroneous opinions i had, but not told me so, it showed me why my opinion was not rigth.
So i recomend widely this book to anyone who's work consists in developing web sites.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Good primer on web usability Comment: This is a good primer on web usability that will definately help get your feet wet and bring up serious questions to the person in charge of commissioning a website. The typical user will nod his head and agree with most of the obvious intuitive observations that Krug makes and Krug does a good job on sheding light on the importance of web usability. The book is geared towards 'beginners'. Therefore, mostly absent from the book is how to really develop a method of testing, reports, and true regression testing, as well business models and how web usabilty affects the bottom line financially. He plays down the need for a usabilty report, and in doing so, does not provide any examples of how to really use usabilty data for reporting and further QA. If you go to his site, he claims that he doesn't provide these reports because they "take too long to write" and "writing is really hard work", and if you hire him and want a report, it may double his services. I'm not sure if he left that information out because he thinks that reports really are unimportant or if he is trying to document his justification for doubling his rate for a report. In any case, despite that one questionable aspect, this is overall a good starting point that should be required of every web designer, developer, and project manager.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Every web designer should read this book Comment: Even if you have conducted usability testing and think you know what constitutes a usable web site, read this book! Krug has distilled years of experience into a few principles that are easy to grasp but not always so easy to implement. His insights are sometimes counterintuitive and often not what a designer would want to hear. (I know because I am a web designer!)
For example, his characterization of how people really approach web pages is quite an eye-opener. The designer may think that the user will take an orderly approach and read each section of the page, but here's how Krug describes the reality:
"Look around feverishly for anything that a) is interesting, or vaguely resembles what you're looking for, and b) is clickable. As soon as you find a halfway-decent match, click. If it doesn't pan out, click the Back button and try again."
If designers can swallow their pride and discard their preconceptions, they can learn here what it takes to make the web a more pleasant and usable experience for everyone.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Before you publish your website, read this book!!! Comment: Its amazing that this little book (under 200), can be so useful. The book discusses in very easy to read, non-technical terms what makes a good web design focusing on not how to create web pages but how users will view and use your site based upon specific criteria.
The first chapter begins by giving a overiew of a high-level explanation of what users actually respond to in web layout and design. For instance, placement of text, type of buttons, graphical display, useage of drop-downs and navigation, etc.
The next few chapters gives alot of detail in how users actually view a web page. From how people read web pages (actually scan them), to how designers and user see web pages, to the reasoning behind user choies.
The middle part of the book focuses on describing what parts of a web page should like to get the desired results from visitors. The author gives great examples of page navigation techniques and what works and what doesn't. The authors description of navuigations techniques of professional desgined sites (Amazon, Gap, MSNBC, About.com) really make it believeable that his suggestions will work with your website too!
The end of the book reviews the importance of usability testing and why overlooking this last aspect of web development can decide whether your site is sucessful or not.
A great book, with lots of great information. A must buy!
Customer Rating:      Summary: This book saved my life Comment: This is the web usability book that's easy to use. Steve Krug makes a potentially dull subject like web usability, ridiculously funny and interesting. The book got me excited to go out and find people to test our sites. This is actually a book that was hard to put down.
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