Who’s this for?
Anyone responsible for a website or online business.
What’s it about?
With so much terminology and so many buzzwords flying around, the field of UX and usability is one fraught with misunderstanding and over explanation. Ultimately, UX design and usability research is all in the effort of making things easier to use. How to make things easier to use, however, is a big question.
Or is it?
In Don’t Make Me Think, Steve Krug argues that, in a nutshell, your goal to make things easier to use is to reduce the thinking effort required of the user. The less someone has to think in order to use your product, website, or app, the easier it is to use. He debunks the “5 clicks or less” rule that so many people swear by. This argues that to make something easy to find it should be accessible within five clicks of the homepage or less. However, when you think about it, this is absurd. Imagine a website with hundreds of thousands of products – to have all of them accessible within five clicks of the homepage would result in overwhelming users with information. Instead, Steve explains that it’s less about the number of clicks needed and more about the amount of thought or mental effort required at each “decision point”. It’s much better, he argues, to require 10, 15 or even 20 clicks of someone if every one of those clicks is a completely effortless decision. This is one example of Steve’s approach to usability, and the book is written in a plain English, conversational, and humorous way, meaning it’s essential reading for anyone who runs a website or a business online.
Where can I find it?
You can download a sample chapter and find out where to buy the book on author Steve Krug’s website.