Chapter 1: Don't make me think!
Krug's first law of usability
Don't make web users think about what they are doing; make everything self evident, obvious, and self explanatory.
Chapter2: How we really use the web
Scanning, satisficing, and muddling through
The three facts of life:
1. We dont read pages, we scan them
2. We dont make optimal choices, we satisfice
3. We dont figure out how things work, we muddle through it
Chapter 3: Billboard 101
Designing pages for scanning, not reading
Five ideas you should always follow when designing a website:
1. Create a clear visual hierarchy offering editorial guidance
2. Conventions are good to use and most designers are often reluctant to use them, but you (and them) should really just use them
3. Break up pages into clearly defined areas
4. Make it obvious what's clickable
5. Keep the busyness of visual and background noise to a bare minimum
Chapter 4: Animal, vegetable, or mineral
Why users like mindless choices
It's not the number of clicks it takes you to get somewhere, it's really about how hard it is to find where you need to click to get where you want to go, keep it simple for the users.
Chapter 5: Omit needless words
The art of not writing for the web
The beneficial effects of omitting needless words, making pages shorter, reducing the noise level, and making the useful content more prominent. Dont forget to delete happy talk, or useless nonsense that reads as blah, blah, blah and just takes up space; and instructions, because everything should already be made self explanitory enough for people get the hint.
[END]
I purchased my book of choice "Designing Everyday Things" today...and "Emotional Design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things"...and some other book, too.
