Don’t Make Me Think! is one of the best books on web usability.
Whether you are a web designer, developer, project manager or CEO, read this book if you ever want to dictate how your website should look.
These are what I gathered from the 12 chapters:
Don’t Make me Think, is the first law of usability.
You don’t need to know everything, just like Sherlock Holmes doesn’t know that the earth travels around the sun.
Conventions over innovation in a webpage design
Make choices mindless for users. Don’t give them hard to choose options like “Home” or “Office”.
Omit needless words. Happy talk must die. Instructions must die.
Webpage elements: Site ID, Section, Sub-section, Local Navigation, Search, Breadcrumbs.
Homepage
The farmer and the cowman
Usability testing with 10 cents a day
Usability as a common courtesy (mensch). Goodwill will diminish and increase.
Accessibility, CSS and You
If what your advise to your CEO bear no effects, ask Steve Krug to send your CEO an email, in the name of an author of a bestseller book on web usability.