‘Don’t make me think’ – Steve Krug – excerpt

1. Self explanatory pages have right chosen

- Appearance
- Page titles
- Page layout
- Little amounts of short, well written and to the point texts

2. Users don’t spend as much time on a site as we may think.

So make it clear and as simple as possible.

3. Most people blame theirselves for faling to understand a site’s navigation.

4. Users don’t read, they scan

because – they have limited time, – scanning works since 90% of the content isn’t relevant to them

5. Users choose the first reasonable option.

People look for links and next steps. When they’re lost they reach for the back button (the most frequently used browser feature).

6. Users often don’t know how things work exactly. They just figure out a way that works for them.

A good example is that a lot of internet users think that Yahoo IS the internet. Every time they want to visit a website they type the url in the Yahoo search box.

7. Site navigation is not a site-feature, it IS the site.

Just like in real live people need a sense of location, direction and scale. So Navigation:
- It gives us something to hold on to
- It tells us where we are
- It tells us how to use the site
- it gives us confidence in the company behind the site.

Essential navigation features on every page:
- The Site ID/Logo. On every page you should know where you are. Why? because teleportation (between sites) is the main way to travel online.
- Sections
- Subsections
- Utilities (Help, Sitemap, Contact etc.)
- You are here cues (breadcrumbs, page titles and active menu states)
- Local navigation (subnavigation for a specific category)
- Search function

8. Common Homepage features

- Site identity and mission (why should I be here and not somewhere else)
- Site hierarchy
- Search
- Teasers, hints of the good stuff inside: content promo’s (headlines, best content etc) and feature promo’s (site personalisation, newsletters)
- Timely content (dynamics!): show the user changing content, show him there’s something happening.
- Deals (ads, cross promotion, co-branding etc.)
- Shortcuts to popular/frequently visited content -
- Registration: login fields + forgot password + registration link + a way to let me know that I am signed in (preferably on the top of every page)

And some more abstract objectives:
- Show me what I’m looking for
- And what i’m not looking for
- Show me where to start
- Establish credibility and trust

Everybody wants a piece
Everybody has an opion about it (even the CEO of your company). It must attract every visitor. Every department in your company wants a pieace of the homepage. So you must comprimize but always remember to communicate the big picture: what is it this site does?

9. de