I just finished reading this book. This is a very good book on usability. Everyone who is interested in improving their website, or in being a success in the Web domain, should read this.
I wanted to write a summary for myself for the times when I am not having this book with me and want to recap the main points discussed, or for the time when I am in a hurry and just want a summary to go through before starting my work. So, here it goes..
(Please read the book for detailed information and explanations. It will be totally worth it. Don’t expect to know everything there is in the book by reading the highlights below.)
1. Usability is mostly just common sense, but not necessarily obvious until after someone has pointed it out to you.
2. First law of Usability: “Don’t make me think”
* Get rid of uncommon names/text
* links/buttons should be obviously clickable
* Pages should be self evident, etc.
3. How we use the web
* we don’t read pages, we scan them
* We don’t make optimal choices. We satisfice (choose first reasonable option)
* we don’t figure out how things work. We muddle through
4. Design pages for scanning, not reading
* Clear visual hierarchy
* Conventions are your friends
* Break pages into clearly defined areas
* Make it obvious what’s clickable
* Keep noise down to a dull roar
5. It doesn’t matter how many times i have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice.
6. Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what’s left
7. Web navigation.
Following elements should be presented as per conventions:
* Site ID
* Sections
* Utilities
* Subsections
* “You are here” indicator
* Page name
* Local navigation (Things at current level)
* Small text version (links in footer)
8. Web navigation.
* Persistent navigation including 5 elements – Site ID, “home” link, Search option, Utilities, Sections
9. To check if a page is well designed – Choose a page, keep at arms length , and answer following questions as quickly as possible
* What site is this? (Site ID)
* What page am I on? (Page name)
* What are major sections of this site? (Sections)
* What are my options at this level? (Local navigation)
* Where am I in the scheme of things? (Bread crumbs)
* How can I search?
10. Home page should answer the following 4 questions, at a glance, correctly and unambiguously –
* What is this?
* What do they have here?
* What can I do here?
* Why should I be here – and not somewhere else?
* Where do I start?
11. Add a good tagline to make it clearer
12. Web design arguments within team are a waste of time. Instead, conduct usability tests by calling outside people for opinion
13. Ideal number of users for each round of testing is three, at most four
14. How to conduct usability testing – two kinds of testing – “get it” testing, “key task” testing
15. For doing usability testing by yourself, find more advice in chapter “Usability testing: The movie” that is in the first edition of this book
16. Web site should be behaving like a Mensch. Each problem user encounters on the site lowers the user’s level of goodwill reservoir
17. Things that diminish good will
* Hiding information that I want
* Punishing me for not doing things your way
* Asking me for information you don’t really need
* Faux sincerity, and disingenuous attempts to convince me that you care about me
* Putting sizzle in my way – Flash intros, animations, etc
* You site looks amateurish
18. Things that increase goodwill
* Know the main things that people want to do on your site and make them obvious and easy
* Tell me what I want to know
* Save me steps wherever you can
* Put effort into it
* Know what questions I am likely to have, and answer them
* Provide me with creature comforts like printer friendly pages
* Make it easy to recover from errors
* When in doubt, apologize
19. Accessibility is part of Usability
5 things you can do right now:
* Fix usability problems that confuse everyone
* Read an article. Highly recommended article – “Guidelines for accessible and usable Web sites: Observing users who work with screen readers” by Mary Theofanos and Janice Redish
* Read a book
* Start using cascading style sheets
* Make sure you have implemented the most common things
– Add appropriate alt text to images
– Make your forms readable with screen readers. Use labels for fields
– Create a “skip to main content” link at the beginning of the page
– Make all content accessible by keyboard
– Don’t use java script without a good reason
– Use client-side (not server-side) image maps
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