Slashdot Mirror
Designing Web Usability
Review One: Danny Yee
Designing Web Usability is the most important book on Web publishing yet to appear. While it contains little that is novel, at least to those who have read Nielsen's www.useit.com Web site and other such resources, the lessons it teaches have not reached widely enough: there are all too many Web sites that are a continual source of frustration and stress to users. (Nielsen begins by explaining why he chose to write a printed book on Web design: for comprehensive, sustained arguments online reading is not yet as effective as print. Another consideration is that, going by the utter un-usability of so many corporate Web sites, there must be many web site managers who don't actually use the Web: some of these might read a printed volume.)
At the core of Designing Web Usability, and two thirds of it by page-count, are chapters on page, content, and site design. The first covers cross-platform design, the importance of minimizing response times, how to use links effectively, and the advantages and disadvantages of style-sheets and frames. The second covers writing for the Web, micro-content (titles, headlines and so forth), and multimedia content (images, animation, audio, and video). The last covers navigation, home pages ("splash screens must die"), search support, and "URL design." Other chapters cover special usability issues with intranets, accessibility for users with disabilities, and internationalization and localization; in a final chapter Nielsen takes a stab at predicting the future of the Web.
Because Designing Web Usability addresses underlying ideas rather than specific technologies, it will date far less rapidly than most books on Web publishing. It doesn't contain as much as its 400 pages would suggest, since a lot of space is used for screen shots of example Web pages. (These are not, however, gratuitous, as is often the case with books on HTML.) Web publishing is very different from paper publishing, but Designing Web Usability is a high quality, usable book -- only a few minor things got past the proof-readers. Check Danny's Other 500 Reviews
Review Two: Cliff Lampe
The ScenarioIn Designing Web Usability, Jakob Nielsen codifies his ideas and wisdom on user-centered design. This is the first book in a two-parter, to be followed by Ensuring Web Usability, which will be more analysis centered.When I first was reading through this book, the irony of reviewing a usability book for Slashdot absolutely thrilled me. A common complaint about Linux, whether deserved or not, is that it is completely unusable. Except for a few shots at both the Windows and Mac OS, Nielsen obviously stays away from this topic. On the other hand, his advice on Web design is well researched, sensible, and right on target. Since human/computer interaction is what may be referred to as my "bag," I found this book impressively concise and comprehensive.
For those who may have missed the usability boat, Nielsen advocates user-centered design. This is the radical idea that a computer is a tool for managing information, not an end in itself. As many of us know, this concept is remarkably easy to lose in the rush to make everything work in the first place. When it comes to usability, everyone has their ideas about what they like, and tend to include them in their own designs. The problem is, we creators of Web sites may be too far removed from our users by experience or some other perspective to be designing in their best interest.
Eminently practical, Nielsen gives step-by-step advice on how to design with your user in mind. His examples are backed by screenshot examples and extensive user studies. The first section deals with page-level design, with advice on colors, layout and use of special features. Further sections of the book deal with site and intranet design, usability issues surrounding various disabilities and the future of Web design. One especially welcome chapter deals with actual creation of content in a Web environment. Writing for the Web is vastly different from writing for other media, like newspapers or magazines, but this is rarely recognized.
Once Nielsen has dispensed with the advice that is applicable to the Web environment we all deal with today, he spends the last section discussing the future. As the author says, we tend to overestimate the short-term effects of technological change and underestimate the long term effects. Keeping this in mind, Nielsen makes some stabs at predictions of his own (like the gradual erosion of the Post Office) that seem accurate and eerie at the same time. He makes the good point that most of the user interfaces we deal with today are descendents of the 1984 Mac. That's like using your little aquarium net to snare salmon. With the eventual dissolution of Web browsers will come a need for user interfaces that more capably deal with a glut of information.
I have some advice for reading this book. Treat it like a computer manual, and don't necessarily read it from cover to cover. Read the section on content design for sure, but depending on your familiarity with human/computer interaction principles, you may want to poke around a little more. Fortunately, and in typical Nielsen fashion, the book is laid out perfectly to make this kind of browsing convenient. That being said, if you do read straight though it, you won't be disappointed.
What's Bad?
There are a couple of concerns I had with the book. One is that the layout is wacky, though I understand this is more the fault of the publisher than Nielsen. There is a straight narrative, like in any other manual, but it is broken frequently by screenshots and pull-out comments that attract attention away from the main narrative. The integration is good enough that you can pick up where you left off easily enough, but a tighter bundling of content with the visuals would have been welcome.
Secondly, the last chapter should have had some content stolen for the preface. Many of the limitations mentioned by Nielsen immediately beg the question of higher bandwidth on the horizon or more powerful computers. The book is so practical I almost found myself playing devil's advocate in response. At the same time, the advice is so well backed up by research, that to rail against it feels a little bit like yelling at your mom for telling you vegetables are good for you.
What's Good?
This book is so efficiently packed with tons of great advice that I read some sections again and again to make sure I didn't miss anything. Nielsen does not waste time over-elaborating his points, which is a welcome change from most books of this sort. The data from actual user studies are important to prove to a skeptical web developer that these considerations are real, and the actual examples of the Web pages and sites give incredible insight to the point being made. One of the pages captured even has a Jon Katz article on it.
So What's In It For Me?
If you are responsible for developing Web sites, or just a duffer who makes his greeting card collection available on the Web, read this book. The advice is sound, researched and proven over and over. If you are a usability engineer, this book may be on the general side for you, but otherwise it is the best introduction to these concepts assembled in one place that I have even seen.
As I was reading through this book, I kept thinking of various pages and sites that I had designed. What would be said if one of those pages had been captured and displayed? Would it be an example of what to do, or what only an idiot would do? These are good questions for any of us.
Purchase this book at ThinkGeek.
Arguably this is the fault of your browser. It ought to do something sensible when a transparent image doesn't stand out against the background. Don't forget that in most cases, transparent images are helpful when you want to switch background colours; you don't get white rectangles messing up your tasteful lime green page.
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Because you think that? What do your users think? If they wanted different-coloured links for some reason they could change the settings in their browser. And if you want links to stand out, fine, you can set them that way in your browser.
Of course, I'm just trolling here. But I think web designers often forget that it's not about what the designer prefers, it's what the users prefer - and as far as possible, you should let the users make their own choices. This is why CSS is good - your style sheet could specify red links, but the user could have an 'important' part of his style sheet to override it.
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Is it just me or is most of the stuff that Neilson says just common sense?
You're probably right, but never forget that common sense is not common. This leads to the next point...
Don't get me wrong, his ideas are great for people who are clueless (and there are a lot of them), but I wouldn't call his notions revolutionary.
Sometimes things like this just need to written down. Sure, lots of people know about it, but the act of telling someone by writing it down makes a nice reference for those in or out of the know.
I also agree with you about the lowest common denominator. You don't always have to pander to it (although, my new site design has graphics, I did make it lynx friendly, but have yet to put it up).
Woz
I think you're making the (incorrect) assumption that easy to use means simple.
pooptruck
And the worst is people who use JavaScript open() calls on links instead of just having an HREF property! I was ranting about this and some 'web designer' wannabes I know were certain that JavaScript links were faster than HTML ones. Faster? How slow can an HREF be?
I browse with JavaScript disabled for security reasons, and in Netscape, to just try to keep the damn thing running. However, the writing is on the wall for us anti-scripters. Look at the DOM specification, XML/XSL, CSS2, and so on. Scripted pages are the future. And it's going to be a huge disaster until someone figures out a better way of sandboxing javascript.
--
Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
Bad logic here. First you equate "more usable" with "dumber" and then you say that making the interface dumber will make it less usable. So you think that following the author's suggestions on making your interface more usable will make it unusable?
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I'm constantly barraged by requests to make my site easier to use, and I take them very seriously. We did a survey of our users to find their most frequent difficulties. What did we discover?
When filling out a form where you had to enter percentages as whole numbers, people had trouble adding to 100.
They don't know how to use the scrollbar to find the submit button at the bottom of the page if their browser window is too small.
ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!! I mean, really, what can you do with people who can't perform basic addition or use a scrollbar?
(There's is a point to be made in "single screen" Web design, but often there's just too much information, and jeez, how do they do anything ELSE on their computer without figuring out scrollbars? Of course, these are inevitably the same people who complain as well that everything is too small and there are too many steps in a transaction.)
Sometimes you just have to read the directions and think about what you're doing.
Even so, we tried an automatic JavaScript calculator that keeps a running total at the bottom but people kept calling, pissed off and confused that it didn't update until they changed focus off the field. We had to remove it because it was causing even more calls to customer support than the morons who couldn't add for themselves.
Yes, people actually look up the customer support number and call a rep to get help adding to 100%. That's how I found out about this. It makes me want to cry.
Sometimes I just want to be sarcastic and put a big "Help With Addition" button on the site linked to a tutorial ripped off from some 1st grade primer. "If Jack has two oranges and Jill gives him two more oranges, how many oranges does Jack have?"
Well the scroll bar is just stupid, but you could easily impliment some client side script to handle the adding to 100 problem. Such could not only make it easier for stupid users, but it would make it slightly faster for the smart ones if they don't have to stop to do the additions. The few seconds you shave off of every transation adds up.
Ok, I only have a slight programming knowledge, so I honestly don't know. What is ;; for??? I'm serious.
Is it just me or is most of the stuff that Neilson says just common sense? Don't get me wrong, his ideas are great for people who are clueless (and there are a lot of them), but I wouldn't call his notions revolutionary.
If these concepts were "common" sense, one would expect the majority of websites to follow them, with the poorly designed websites being the anomalies. However, the inverse is true. Neilsen's concepts may be simple, but applying them seems to be beyond the ability of most Web-exposed firms... usually due to prejudices held from other media, or internal corporate power struggles.
(what's up with the usability expert having an horribly designed site anyway?)
You're confusing usability design with graphic design. As a graphic designer, Neilsen rubs me the wrong way in his almost fanatical drive for function over form. However, I endeavor to incorporate his concepts of usability into aesthetically pleasing designs (the Web is, after all, a visual medium) to avoid having eminently usable designs that are graphically repulsive (like his). The two concepts are not mutually exclusive, but there's usually some areas of give-and-take (file size vs. download time chief among them).
Marc Siry || interactive media professional, motorcycle enthusiast ||
Take every item on an interface(page) and ask yourself if the page is still as usable. If you have taken away something that reduces the usability of the page then you put it back, otherwise you have IMPROVED the page by removing it.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Do you like your portals? Do you like the idea that there are some central hubs to which you all are connected and which provide you with the information that you are looking for? Excite, Altavista, Yahoo, Infooseek, Google etc etc etc. Are you going through a central portal to find your content?
/basic.shtml
There is a better idea. Go directly into all active nodes of the web and use their power to perform your searches. Distributed computing in the most real sense of the word.
Gnutella http://www.surfacelayer.nu/gnuworld
HotLine http://www.bigredh.com/index2.html
FreeNet project http://freenet.sourceforge.net/
No more relying on your large corporate portals, no more commanders to filter your content, no mishits, no broken links.
This is how the usability of the web will increase in the near future.
You can't handle the truth.
It seemed to me as if all of the content was taken from UseIt.com, his partner Website. I've been a reader of Useit for a long time and it seemed like I got very little original content when I bought and read this book.
Did this happen to anyone else?
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Tonight on Fox: Deadliest Executions Part XVII
...all the papers on Jacob Nielson's site, be sure to do so. They are fantastic reads. Though I laughingly agree with a previous post that the colors on the cover are atrocious and painful to the eye, I think this is one author that makes a ton of sense when he talks about useability, testing, design, etc. Read it, share it, do it.
To all you clueless web-designers out there: I, and many others, avoid these pages. They are a natural security risk, so I now always leave Javascript turned off.
Heh - the last time I tried turning on Javascript, Gnome crashed shortly thereafter. This never happens to me otherwise.
Can you say "stack attack"? Or "buffer overflow".
Personally, I think all clueless web designers, that is, the ones who solely use Javascript ought to be punished by a fate worse than Hell: being employeed by Microsoft.
Javascript: Just say NO!!!
I think you're making the (incorrect) assumption that easy to use means simple.
The task itself imposes the minimum level of complexity. Bad user interface can increase the complexity that the user has to deal with, but even the best user interface can never decrease complexity below what the task demands.
In fact, it's rather dangerous to make complex tasks appear simple. Clicking buttons without understanding what's happening can lead to Bad Things Happening (tm) as many NT administrators have found out.
Kaa
Kaa
Kaa's Law: In any sufficiently large group of people most are idiots.
Heh, I think like 90% of "web site designers" need to read a book like this. I'm tired of searching endlessly for information, getting thrown to another website, blind links, being bogged down with big arse "flashy graphics" and friggin out of date information. I'm sure alot of other people would agree with me. Sorry bout the complaining :-P
-= Majere =-
Is it just me or is most of the stuff that Neilson says just common sense? Don't get me wrong, his ideas are great for people who are clueless (and there are a lot of them), but I wouldn't call his notions revolutionary.
;)
I also have disagreed with his ideas on a number of occasions. He makes good arguments, but that doesn't mean they're always right. Jakob likes to pander to the lowest common denominator. As a web designer myself, I know that this is sometimes not the reasonable thing to do as it actually makes the majority have a less user friendly experience than what they could have, unless you start branching a site based on what a user has, which ends up costing extra $$$ (tell that to a client).
I applaud him for his efforts. I have learned a few things from reading his site (what's up with the usability expert having an horribly designed site anyway?), but I've learned a lot more about user experience reading the Apple Human User Interface Guidlines. Plus, those are free.
I have noticed several comments about how the book was garish or poorly laid out. I sent this email when I received my copy, and the reply I received is quoted below that:
----Begin my email----
Dear Sir,
For some months, I have been eagerly awaiting Jakob Nielsen's new book
"Designing Web Usability." Unfortunately, when I received the book, I was
very disappointed.
It is ironic that an author who advocates simplicity and usability can put
his name to a book that was so difficult to read. I list some of the key
points I disliked about the book below:
1) Inside and on the cover the book used garish colours for text. The front
inside cover used a yellow/white font colour on a lime green background,
rendering the text almost unreadable.
2) The paper used reflects any light source too readily, hampering
readability. This book will be read at work, where strip-lights reflect off
the page. I understand that to properly display high resolution and colour
images you need paper like this, but combined with the other points I make,
the paper hampers readability.
3) The "serif" font used throughout the book was too thin and unreadable. A
better solution would have been to have used the sidebar font which was much
more visible. This book will be referred to frequently; the text should be
made as readable as possible.
4) The binding of the book is inflexible and flimsy. Look at O'Reilly's
Repcover binding for a good example of how to bind a technical book. This
book does not look like it will stand up to being constantly thumbed or
referred to.
5) The text on many of the pages is too close to the central binding.
Because of (4) above, I am reluctant to try to flatten the book so that I
can read the text properly.
Apart from the presentation, I really liked the content of this book. I can
now use this book to communicate why my department needs to spend more time
on web usability. It is a pity the book was so poorly arranged; I find the
www.useit.com website more readable than the book.
----end my email----
----begin reply----
Mr. Clark,
Thank you for your comments and criticisms regarding the design and materials issues for *Designing Web Usability*. Your points are well made, and I'll be keeping them at hand for when we publish any subsequent editions of the book.
Please know that any design issues are not due to Jakob Nielsen; Dr. Nielsen left the book issues to us, the publishing people, for better or--as you've pointed out in your perspective--for worse. Designing a book by the world's leading authority on usability was a challenge and I'll be the first to admit that we didn't get everything right the first time. That said, we've received several comments from readers telling us they loved the design and the production values in the book. I think the optimal design is something we need to continue working to improve and I assure you, we'll be doing so. To that end your comments are quite valuable to us.
In any event, I'm very glad you like the content of the book: that was the most important matter, getting Jakob's message out for his audience. Thanks again for getting in touch and letting us know your thoughts.
Sincerely and respectfully,
--Steve Weiss
STEVE WEISS . executive editor
professional graphics and design group
new riders publishing . www.newriders.com
201 w. 103rd street . indianapolis . in . 46290 . usa
v 317 817 7369 . fax 317 581 4663
v 800 571 5840 x 7369
steve.weiss@newriders.com
----end reply----
So they know about it. Just don't blame Nielsen for the poor layout.
----- Documentation is worth it just to be able to answer all your mail with 'RTFM' - Alan Cox.
I have this book, and I love it. If you're a web designer, one of the greatest uses is the ammo it provides when you're arguing a point with your client.
Everyone knows clients make some really silly requests... this book has solid arguments against some of the more annoying requests clients tend to make over and over and over again such a needless use of HTML frames, graphics-heavy pages, gratuitious multimedia, stupid "welcome" messages from the president of the company, and so on.
I can see this book paying for itself as I quote it over and over again when discussing things with my clients. Sure, *I* know frames suck 99% of the time, but it helps to have a reliable source to back me up. Neilsen's a lot more eloquent than me.
And if that doesn't work, I'll just throw the book at them. Nothing like bouncing a 400-page book off of your client's forehead. Too bad it's not hardback. :)
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