Customer Rating:  
Summary: Only for Beginners - Light on Substance
Comment: I've been a usability engineer/information architect for 8 years and have read many books on both GUI and web design. I'm sorry to report that this book was disappointing. It took me only a few hours to breeze through and I came away with very little that was new to me and with the perception that this book was light on substance. Perhaps this is because I have been in this field for so long. However, I just finished reading Jeff Johnson's "GUI Bloopers" and, even after designing GUIs for so many years, I learned so much from Jeff's book. If you are new to this field, Krug's book will help but make sure to read "Designing Web Usability" by Nielsen, "Information Architecture for the World Wide Web" by Rosenfeld and Morville, "Designing Large Scale Web Sites" by Sano, and "Web Navigation" by Jennifer Fleming. I also recommend Johnson's book on GUI design. So many GUI Design Principles are directly applicable to good web site design.
Customer Rating:
Summary: USABLE COMMON SENSE
Comment: Buy the book and read it from cover to cover. THEN: Use it. WHY? "Don't Make Me Think" is loaded with clear, practical and USABLE advice. Although based upon sturdy theory, the book is not "theoretical" or "academic." The value is in Krugs' wealth of experience and real world examples. He expertly includes an annotated script of a "typical" user testing session. If you have never had the opportunity to view or conduct a testing session, this will certainly encourage you to relax and give it a go. Be certain as well to check out the "Trunk Test" on page 87. WHAT I LEARNED: Of course, the big thing is the difference between THINKING a web page and SEEING a web page. This can be a difficult concept to get across. Not so for Steve Krug. Secondly, "conventions are your friends." The bottom line: "They are very useful. As a rule, conventions only become conventions if they work." FINALLY: If you are a designer, give copies to your clients. This will help them understand why usability is so important. If you are a webmaster, get copies for your team and the CEO. This will insure that all the effort that goes into development stays focused and that the web site will WORK.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent approach to this tough topic
Comment: Krug has done what so many others have tried: written a short, concise book with examples that actually offers both food for thought and answers to practical questions. If you're looking to revamp an existing site and you are wondering if this or that idea will work, Krug will most likely be able to offer a hint or two. The exquisite design of the book itself and Krug's style of writing makes it a pleasure to sit down and read, and since he does not get bogged down with long-winded discussions about browser-compatibility and other tech details, he can focus on the topic at hand: usability. For anyone who enjoys Jacob Nielsen's alert newsletters, this is the perfect bookshelf companion.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Must Have in any Web Professional's Library!
Comment: This book has the right balance of tips, prose, pictures and examples that get across very powerful, and sometimes very simple (common sense) principles. Definitely a must have. And definitely written and put together in a way that you can scan sections at a time, without having to read sequentially, much like the web is put together! He practices what he preaches, which is very refreshing for a User Expert!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Comment: Another design book in the same light as Jakob Nielsen's, but this one is different!! Outstanding. Thanks for making me think differently! :). I really enjoyed this book and found the prose very engaging and thought provoking (even though the title is "Don't make me think." Good job.
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