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Compton Communications"An Internet Communications Agency"
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Articles
Book Review: Designing Web Usability by Jakob NielsenPosted Thursday, January 23, 2003 My first introduction to Jakob Nielsen was in an excellent guide he authored for Sun Microsystems on Writing for the Web. I believe it was the genesis of all of his books and articles on usability. Nielsen seems to wrestle mightily with the elements of style, design and writing for the Web as he promotes speed, simplicity and consistency. This book is an excellent primer on Nielsen's research in usability. The table of contents outlines his issues; page design, content design, site design, intranet design, accessibility for disabled, global audiences, and future predictions. Nielsen summaries many of the topics he began with at Sun. Beyond the titles the book is anecdotes and examples of design and content mistakes. Nielsen claims in Chapter 1 that everyone designs Websites incorrectly and that there are several fundamental reasons including wrong business model, inconsistent project management, poor architecture, elaborate page design, ineffective writing, and inadequately linking strategy. What Nielsen claims is different about the Web is that the user experience is the final judge of what is good design or style. Pretty graphics that slow down page loads destroy the user experience. Trying to read lines of type on a monitor is hard. Text hyperlinks that say "click here" annoy all except novice. Although some readers may find his style declarations too pedantic, he acknowledges that Web technology is changing rapidly and might be different tomorrow, the urgency for better usability today is great. Nielsen also maintains a Web site at www.useit.com. |