Guiding Principles of DON’T MAKE ME THINK

1. Guiding Principles of DON’T MAKE ME THINK Welcome to my presentation on the guiding principles behind Steve Krug’s book Don’t Make Me Think

2. Self-evident vs. Self- explanatory • Krug emphasizes making things self-evident • It means that it is obvious without proof or having to think twice about it • Self-explanatory is when the page or elements of the page will explain themselves, but require some effort to understand • While he says self-evidence is best, if that is not possible it is acceptable to make things self explanatory • In no circumstances should it be anything other than self-evident or self-explanatory

3. How people use the web • When people first get to a website, they don’t read through everything on the web page to find where they want to go • Users tend to just scan the page for what looks like a good choice, they prefer to get where they want as quickly as possible

4. Design the site for users • Since users tend to scan the site instead of understand or read it all you need to: • Create an obvious visual hierarchy • Stick to conventions unless there is an important reason to change things • Avoid things that distract from the main content of the site • Nest text so users know where each part belongs to

5. The Mindless choices • Users tend to make choices without putting much effort into thinking about what they are looking for, they find the first thing that looks good and pick that • If the choices are clearly defined, users won’t mind clicking on more things if they know they are on the right path

6. Brevity is key • Since users scan pages, keep thinks as short and concise as possible • It will help users scan better the shorter everything is • Instructions are usually not helpful, if it is possible to make things self-explanatory, or better yet self-evident

7. Contact Information Evan Slimak evanslim@buffalo.edu (607)-215-1478