Dont Make Me Think
by Steve Krug · first published 2001
88% recommend9% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
A short, easy read (about 2.5 hours) offering practical, common-sense grounding in web usability, including cheap usability testing and mystery meat navigation. Suits developers building UIs without a designer.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…etc. If you're building an app without a designer its far more important to understand those concepts than how to design a logo. My advice, depending on how much time you're willing to invest: - Read "Dont Make me Think" by Steve Krug (2.5~ hour read) - Read the first half-ish of "The design of everyday things" (4 hours?) - You may balk at the length of those reads, but I promise you, spending one day to learn design…
on “Design Tips for Developers” ↗Particularly memorable books I read (or re-read) this year: - Don't Make Me Think by Krug: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/032134... - Apartment Therapy by Gillingham-Ryan http://www.amazon.com/Apartment-Therapy-Eight-Step-Home-Cure... - Presentation Zen by Gar http://www.amazon.com/Presentation-Zen-Simple-Design-Deliver...…
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011” ↗Along the same lines, "Don't make me think" by Steve Krug provides an awesome Usability foundation. (Better than Nielson, IMO.) http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/078972...
on “Ask YC: Best way to learn CSS/UI design?” ↗…going to read more than a paragraph or so before giving up on a site. My advice to dejan: Most important thing, buy a copy of a book called "Don't make me think" by Steve Krug (http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/032134...). Have it shipped next day. I can't go in to all the reasons you need the book without essentially rewriting the book here but you really, really need it. On the startup idea…
on “Ask HN: Review my startup” ↗These were some of the books which taught me a lot about Design were: Don't make me Think by Steve Krug http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/032134... Non-Designer's Design Book http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Typographic-... Universal Principles of Design http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Principles-Design-Revised-Up...…
on “Ask HN: How can I get better at design?” ↗I’ve heard very good things about Steve Krug’s ‘Don’t Make Me Think’: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321...
on “Ask HN: Modern web design resources?” ↗…machine is an Apple then the non-Apple people get stuck on basic things like using a web browser or saving a file. I am a big fan of Steve Krug's 'Don't Make Me Think!' book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321... The problem with the Apple interface choices is that it does make me think, but not in the right way. I just want to do the task in hand and not wonder why it is that you have to…
on “Apple Pro Mouse” ↗…yes, there are definitely books that deal with this: I highly recommend "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug. Quite an engaging, useful read, and it is well-reviewed on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/032134...
on “Ask HN: Front-end “design patterns”?” ↗not sure if this is helpful, but there's this classic that kinda fits just by the title alone ;) - Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug: https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/03213... It's geared towards web UX, but might be useful in your research
on “Ask HN: Sources about a particular form of user hostility?” ↗Steve Krug's "Dont make me think" is a good starting point
on “Ask HN: How do I pick up some good design fundamentals” ↗If you are looking for some of that, another excellent read is the book "Dont Make Me Think" by Steve Krugg.
on “Your Face To The World” ↗"Dont Make Me Think" by Steve Krug is a legendary book and You need this book too- Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click? (Paperback) ~ Susan M. Weinschenk (Author) http://www.amazon.com/Neuro-Web-Design-Makes-Click/dp/032160...
on “Ask HN: How can you encourage users to generate content?” ↗…Marketing - Violate Them at Your Own Risk! http://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing-Violate/dp... Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to We Usability, by Steve Krug: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/032134... Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large Scale Web Sites, by Paul Rosenfeld and Peter Morville: http://www.amazon.com/Information-Architecture-World-Wide-We...…
on “Ask HN: Marketing Books for Developers?” ↗…me. Some people already mentioned "Non-Designers Design Book" - Robin Williams Some other good ones are: "Design of Everyday Things" - Donald Norman (Conceptual, but gets you in the right mindset) "Dont Make me Think" - Steve Krug (Usability matters) "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" - Edward Tufte (he has a set of 4 books on information visualization, all of which are good) One of the key concepts…
on “Ask HN: improving your design skills?” ↗I don't know why the author recommended a book on Haskell, ruby, php, and python/django but did not recommend a single book on ux/ui. I would rather he included a couple books on ux/ui like "Dont' make me think" by Steve Krug .
on “Twenty Books Until You're a Web Developer” ↗