Don't make them think!

Steve Krug's First Law of Usability for web sites is "Don't make me think!". Some of Krug's points:

• Make everything easy for the visitor.
• Visitors scan pages; they don't read them. Design accordingly.
• Visitors don't take time to learn how site navigation works. They muddle through.
• Visitors "settle" for a link they consider most-likely when none seems "right" to them.
• Users like mindless choices (again -- don't strain their brains).
• Be pithy, not verbose.
• Design navigation with all the above in mind.
• If it's too hard to use your site, visitors leave and may never return.

Steve's book, " Don't make me think: A common sense approach to usability", is thin but pithy. And it has pictures and even some cartoons to bring home the point easily and quickly. This book is for beginners, through we all can learn something here (or at least be pointedly reminded of a better way to design our web sites for visitors).