Creating Web sites is easy. Creating sites that truly meet the needs and expectations of the wide range of online users is quite another story. In Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity, renowned Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen shares his insightful thoughts on the subject. Packed with annotated examples of actual Web sites, this book sets out many of the design precepts all Web developers should follow. This guide segments discussions of Web usability into page, content, site, and intranet design. This breakdown skillfully isolates for the reader many subtly different challenges that are often mixed together in other discussions. For example, Nielsen addresses the requirements of viewing pages on varying monitor sizes separately from writing concise text for "scanability." Along the way, the author pulls no punches with his opinions, using phrases like "frames: just say no" to immediately make his feelings known. Fortunately, his advise is some of the best you'll find.
One of the unique aspects of this title is the use of actual statistics to buttress the author's opinions on various techniques and technologies. He includes survey results on sizes of screens, types of queries submitted to search portals, response times by connection type and more. This book is intended as the first of two volumes--focusing on the "what." The author promises a follow-up title that will show the "hows" and, based on this installation, we can't wait. --Stephen W. Plain
Topics covered: Cross-platform design, response time considerations, writing for the Web, multimedia implementation, navigation strategies, search boxes, corporate intranet design, accessibility for disabled users, international considerations, and future predictions.
Review
"Eighty gajillion things have been written about the Web. Do we need one more? Answer: Yes! If it's from Jakob Nielsen. Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity is a masterpiece. Jakob knows his stuff like, literally, no one else! This book is a pleasure to read. And invaluable. May simplicity rule!" -- Tom Peters, Management expert, Author (In Search of Excellence, The Circle of Innovation, et al)
"Jakob Nielsen's timing is perfect. The explosion of the Internet has produced a myriad of ways to design and present Web-based content. By focusing on the user experience, these guidelines map the way to happier customers , brand loyalty, and success on the Web for businesses of every kind." -- Raymond G. Nasr, Director, Office of Corporate Affairs, Novell, Inc.
"Jakob is hands down the most perceptive and articulate person working in this field today, and I was really looking forward to getting my hands on this. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. Designing Web Usability should go a long, long way in making the Web a far more appealing, effective and user-friendly medium. For the good of us all, let's hope every Web designer in cyberspace reads it!" -- Sam Vincent Meddis, Technology Editor, USATODAY.com
"This text is a must-read for anyone involved with site design." -- N.J. Stoyanoff, Ph.D., Director of E-Business, Ogilvy & Mather
"With Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity, Jakob Nielsen proves what many of us thought after reading Usability Engineering -- his books are indispensable tools for Web site architects and designers. With Designing Web Usability, Nielsen offers a comprehensive overview of the practical problems to be solved in web sight design. He goes at the "what" and the "how." He explains in clear prose and describes using current examples of what is right and what is wrong with Web sites seen by millions. "If you follow Nielsen's instructions carefully you will be rewarded with faster Web projects and satisfied Web customers. There is no reason to make the same mistakes others have made, and no reason to make your users frustrated by your Web site's design. Designing Web Usability goes a long way toward solving today's problems today." -- Henry Lichstein, VP, Citibank
From the Publisher
It's true: Reading this book may be the most cost-effective action youll ever take to ensure that your website still matters a month from now and a year from now. Jakob Nielsen is one of the more sought-after speakers and commentators in the world of high-tech because of his message and the eloquence with which he delivers it. The message is simple--at least on the surface--and is accessible to anyone who will listen (and multitudes do each year): Put USABILITY first. Practice SIMPLICITY. The challenges and complexities to the 'put usability first' philosophy of design can begin when ideation turns to planning and planning turns to implementation; the challenges perhaps never stop, but Jakob helps you to understand them and to enable yourself to make the continual adjustments necessary to survive and prosper in the 'user-first' world of the web. The best thing about this book, along with what you'll learn about yourself and others who use the web (and how to improve the usefulness of your website immeasurably), is that Designing Web Usability is flat-out one of the best reads you'll encounter--in technology publishing or elsewhere. Jakob has a gift for communication that enables him to wrap his vision in a lucid, compelling discourse that appeals to academics and lay people, web designers and web users. Designing Web Usability holds this broad appeal because Jakob's message makes so much sense, while being masterfully communicated on so many levels. Who said you can't have fun while expanding your horizons? New Riders is honored to have worked with Jakob Nielsen over the past two years as he's written and refined Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. We believe it's been well worth the wait. Let us know what you think... --Steve Weiss, executive editor, New Riders
About the Author
Jakob Nielsen, Ph.D. is a User Advocate specializing in web usability and a principal of Nielsen Norman Group (http://www.nngroup. com), which he co-founded with Dr. Donald A. Norman, former vice president of Apple Research. Until 1998, Dr. Nielsen was a Sun Microsystems Distinguished Engineer and led that company's web usability efforts starting with the original design of SunWeb in early 1994. His previous affiliations include the IBM User Interface Institute, Bell Communications Research, and the Technical University of Denmark. Nielsen is the author and editor of 8 other books and more than 75 research papers on usability engineering, user interface design, and hypertext. He is also a frequent keynote presenter at industry conferences. Nielsen is the founder of the "discount usability engineering" movement for fast and simple ways of improving user interfaces. Nielsen's Alertbox column about web usability has been published on the Internet since 1995 (http://www.useit.com/alertbox) and currently has about 100,000 readers. He is also the usability columnist for Ziff-Davis Network's DevHead and a web design critic for Internet World magazine. He holds 46 U.S. patents, mainly on ways to make the Internet easier to use. Dr. Nielsen's website is at http://www.useit.com: It's text-only and pretty fast.
