Don't Make Me Think, Revisited
Inspirational
Simple
Predictable

Don't Make Me Think, Revisited A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Steve Krug2014
Offers observations and solutions to fundamental Web design problems, as well as a new chapter about mobile Web design.
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Reviews

Photo of Zugzug
Zugzug@zugzug
4 stars
Mar 4, 2024

Thoughtful voice and good information Steve manages a good balance between practical information and humor. For anyone wanting a look into UX design or testing in general this is a smart read. Would recommend to professionals and lay people as the language and tone are easily accessible.

Photo of Leo Vogel
Leo Vogel@leovogel
4 stars
Feb 25, 2024

I think of this as my textbook for the UX Design 101 class I never took in college.

Photo of Erika
Erika@akire
3 stars
Jan 29, 2024

Good and easy read, especially if you're new to UX! But not very applicable/as relevant if you're currently working in the UX world. In addition, some chapters were a bit outdated but that created great discussion in terms of how things have changed

+2
Photo of Velen Chew
Velen Chew@velenchew
4 stars
Jun 7, 2023

Definitely a gem. A lot of concepts on how human think and act aren’t new it’s just we are all not observing enough. One great take away is that “humans are just lazy” we do not always do things as instructed. We would go the easier, fastest or bull our way through in most situation.

Photo of Katherine Yang
Katherine Yang@bookwormgirl910
2.5 stars
Mar 13, 2023

anything published about the internet is immediately out of date, but good and true points are made nevertheless

Photo of David Mendes
David Mendes@davidmendes
3 stars
Feb 14, 2023

I often recommend and reference this book especially in situations when there’s a desire to put a lot of text in apps or websites—People don’t read, they scan.

Throughout the book, Steve writes about how to make navigation and information architecture user-friendly in an easy-to-grasp way, with humor and always from the user's perspective.

+1
Photo of S
S@benhur
5 stars
Jan 2, 2023

This one is a classic must read for designers, developers and anyone who is into tech in general. The book is easy and fun to read and lays out clearly defined best practices in design industry and the author also explains why things are being done in such way. There are also a notable number of principles and guidelines to follow in order to make a comprehensible and successful product.

Photo of Mudita
Mudita@muditasis
3 stars
Dec 28, 2022

I understand why the author chose to call his consulting firm Advanced Common Sense. The entire book is mostly just him pointing out factors that affect usability that sound simple enough (once they have been pointed out). The sections about usability testing and accessibility were educational but the rest of the book seemed irrelevant with respect to the current state of mobile and web.

Photo of Swastik
Swastik@swastik
3 stars
Nov 27, 2022

Loved this book! A lot of actionable information. If you're building anything that's to do with the web, you should read this. It's a very easy read. Even if you know UI design well, Don't Make Me Think should help you recap a lot of the basics and maybe even offer a couple of nuggets of wisdom!

Photo of Ahmed Salem
Ahmed Salem@salem309
4 stars
Sep 6, 2022

The book is full of concepts, not tips. That means you will have to refresh your mind and start reading it as a faction book, not a speedy web designer tips sheet. After all it is full of fantastic and basic concepts for successful web design

Photo of 雪 xue
雪 xue@snow
2 stars
Jul 25, 2022

key concepts are p self explanatory and can be found on articles all over medium at this point + p outdated references to technology

Photo of Bryan Maniotakis
Bryan Maniotakis@bryanmanio
5 stars
Jan 13, 2022

While it may be a bit basic, I would strongly recommend this to anyone getting started in UX.

Photo of Maria
Maria@mersibaq
3 stars
Jan 7, 2022

не знаю даже, что сказать. с одной стороны - классика, с другой - outdated and really basic. несмотря на то, что читала уже второе издание. исправленное и дополненное, всё равно очень видно, что основной текст создавался в конце 90-х. особенно смешно это было на моментах с примерами, где автор показывает сайты в стиле "было-стало", а там оба совершенно вырвиглазные, с мелкими шрифтами вот этими и прочими прелестями интернета двадцатилетней давности (ах, молодость, молодость) ничего особо нового не узнала я за время прочтения - в основном потому, что описанные принципы уже реально настолько базовые, что даже человек, который никогда сайты не делал, все равно представляет себе, что текста должно быть поменьше, а навигация - интуитивно понятная больше всего понравился момент про юзабилити-тестирование. в книге приведен сценарий такого тестирования, и вот там ведущий спрашивает у женщины по имени сьюзен: какие сайты в интернете вы посещаете? и сьюзен отвечает: мне нравится yahoo, а также сайт snakes.com, потому что у меня живет ручной питон

Photo of João Ferreira
João Ferreira@jf
5 stars
Aug 30, 2021

As the author admits, this is a book about common sense. However, we often forget what we know because of other business priorities or due to a too narrow focus on a particular feature we're building. This book does a great job reminding us of all that is obvious in retrospect: it's concise, logical, illustrative and funny at times. Recommended read if you've got any influence whatsoever in an interface's design.

Photo of Casper Lourens
Casper Lourens@casper
3 stars
Aug 21, 2021

Most of the specific design advice feels outdated, though the chapters for usability testing still ring true. I’ll probably pull this book back from the shelf again if I’ll do some usability testing in the future.

+4
Photo of Muhannad Helvaci
Muhannad Helvaci@Muhannad
2 stars
Jul 27, 2021

As I have been in the field for more than 7 years this book felt really superficial and it can be summarized in 40 pages maximum. I would suggest this book for the beginners.

+1
Photo of Calin
Calin@calin
4 stars
Nov 8, 2023
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nda and@dookie
3.5 stars
Jul 2, 2023
Photo of Michael Schoelkopf
Michael Schoelkopf@cheykoff
4 stars
May 26, 2022
Photo of JP Juinio
JP Juinio@jpjuinio
3.5 stars
Apr 1, 2022
Photo of Diogo Maia Caetano
Diogo Maia Caetano@diogo
5 stars
Sep 16, 2021
+3
Photo of Sajiya Chaudhary
Sajiya Chaudhary@sajiya_khalik
4 stars
Jul 17, 2024
Photo of Niels Andersen
Niels Andersen@nielsandersen
5 stars
Apr 30, 2024
Photo of Lucas Morales Sousa
Lucas Morales Sousa@lucaslsf
4 stars
Apr 5, 2024

Highlights

Photo of Casper Lourens
Casper Lourens@casper

Unfortunately, there's also a lot that's unlikely to convince 22-year-old developers and designers that they should be "doing accessibility" Two arguments in particular tend to make them skeptical…

Page 174

It’s not fair to frame this around age. I’ve seen accessibility being championed by young devs just as I’ve seen older ones arguing to “pick your battles carefully” 🤷🏽

Photo of Casper Lourens
Casper Lourens@casper

You may not buy the idea that constraints are a positive influence, but it really doesn't matter: Whenever you're designing, you’re dealing with constraints. And where there are constraints, there are tradeoffs to be made. In my experience, many-if not most serious usability problems are the result of a poor decision about a tradeoff.

Page 146
Photo of Casper Lourens
Casper Lourens@casper

It makes sense that we picture a more rational, attentive user when we're designing pages. It's only natural to assume that everyone uses the Web the same way we do, and—like everyone else—we tend to think that our own behavior is much more orderly and sensible than it really is.

Page 22