Don't Make Me Think - Review

Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug dives into what makes a successful website. The book discusses different ways to keep the user from having to stop and think about what they are accessing the site for. Making the user think only creates problems and is very ineffective. Similar to many forms of technology, the book discusses the importance of having a website that is user friendly. The second chapter discusses the way people interact with the web and how they are drawn to different characteristics and keywords. Web design is a tricky task for a lot of people especially because most of the content will rarely be interacted with.

I found that one of the strongest points Krug made was in Chapter 4. He summarized the fact that when designing a website people need to get straight to the point. As a user of the internet on a daily basis I connect with this point a lot. Too many times I get to a website and there is a lot of stuff that either wastes my time or that I completely ignore.

Steve Krug’s use of comparing websites to traffic signs and billboards helps the reader compare his webs ideas with something more relatable. He walks you through different aspects of a website and the common things that can be found on different parts of the site, like the welcome page. He creates the point that most successful websites are reactionary. Reactionary in the sense that you won’t be able to please every user but the best way to do it is to see how users react to different things. This made me conclude that websites require a lot of resilience to be successful. When creating a website some things may be more successful than others.

Don’t Make Me Think brings up a lot of common sense ideas that people never really think about on websites. I can’t remember the last time that I was on Amazon.com and looked around at the website itself. Instead, similar to Krug’s points, I did what I normally do and search for what I was trying to purchase. 

Bottom line is that websites need to be convenient, straight to the point and not a lot of “fluff.” All of these things fall back on making sure the website is user-friendly and easy to interact with. Creating a successful website can be a difficult task. If working with a web development team it can sometimes be difficult to come to a successful conclusion.

If I were to create a website today I would really pay attention to a couple of the points that Krug made. I would brainstorm and brainstorm until I really had the concept that I wanted my website to contain. I would eliminate “fluff” from my site and really focus on making it user friendly. As the title suggests, I would try to make the user think as little as possible. I would then accept feedback from user’s and make adjustments as needed. Find out what users like and what they don’t.  Being able to respond to feedback, accept the failures and fix them will lead to success.