Prioritizing Web Usability

by Jakob Nielsen, Hoa Loranger

Describes Web site usability through critiques of real-world sites, covering such factors as legibility, navigability, searchability, and design.

Genres: Design, Web, Nonfiction, Usability, Website Design, Business, Technology

275 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Jakob Nielsen is a leading web usability consultant. He holds a Ph.D. in human-computer interaction from the Technical University of Denmark in Copenhagen. He is also the principal of the Nielsen Norman Group which he co-founded with Dr. Donald A. Norman (former VP of research at Apple Computer). Before starting NNG in 1998 he was a Sun Microsystems Distinguished Engineer.

Nielsen founded the "discount usability engineering" movement for fast and cheap improvements of user interfaces and has invented several usability methods, including heuristic evaluation. He holds 79 United States patents, mainly on ways of making the Web easier to use.

Nielsen has also given his five quality components of Usability Goals, which are: Learnability, Efficiency, Memorability, Errors (as in low error rate), Satisfaction.

Reviews

[Sean Sexton]

This book follows Nielsen's classic "Designing Web Usability". Nielsen and co-author Loranger present an organized list of the most relevant problems (and corresponding solutions) in the area of web usability. Nielsen and Loranger begin by updating the list of usability issues presented in the earlier book, indicating which ones are still issues and which are no longer a concern. All findings are based on a number of usability studies that Nielsen's company has done and Nielsen also argues strongly for doing your own studies.

The end result is a very well organized and concise list of the top mistakes that companies make in the area of web usability, with recommendations on how best to avoid each mistake.

[Marie]

Eh. Not terrible. Definitely one of the better textbooks I've been assigned in grad school. But definitely outdated at this point. I appreciated the plethora of screenshots to illustrate the points made, and the fact that the text led to some lively discussions in class, but I don't know that I'd recommend.

[Papilina Jefferson]

This book is veryyyy good <3

[Chelsea]

Read to this one now and really enjoying it. I love writing style and everything Describe in this book.

[Shane C]

this article were totally unique!!

[Krishna Kumar]

Based on new researched conducted by the authors, they have come up with various factors that hinder usability for end users. There are signs of optimism that most web designers are staying from many bad web development practices, but issues still plague many popular websites. My only complaint about this book is that it offers no summaries, which makes it difficult to easily look at the principles at one shot. Luckily the Coding Horror site provides a quick list.

[Trevor Vass]

This is one of those books that really changes the way that you look at things as a designer and developer. Nielsen's straightforward examples backed by countless hours of actual user tests and decades of research gives an insight into how people actually use web pages that just can't be found anywhere else. Pick this up now. Study it. Take notes. Use it to make better web pages for you users!

[Virginia]

There's a reason this is such a must read book for Web design and UX. Things may have changed since 2006, but so much of this book is still very relevant. Plus it's so well written and organized it's a pleasure to read.

[Dhuaine]

A bit dated by now, but still very, very relevant. I haven't found any better books on usability than this one - what is included in others is expanded in "Prioritizing...", and then more content is added, yes, even if you regularly read useit articles. :)

[Mike]

Easy to read and understand *why* the key points make sense - not just because of the empirical data but because the authors spend time helping us understand why a user would do or think a certain way.

[Besim]

The master of usability is at it again. A current update of just about every issue in web usability is brought up here.

[Sara S.]

I like this one better than J.N.'s other books--more constructive than merely critical

[Terri Jones]

Web Design 1 class

[Marcella Bongiovanni]

Mi piace meno del primo

[Isidro López]

Even 10 years later, it's still a recommended book to be read :-)

[Dosia]

Heck this. I've lost my patience. After reading Don't make me think, all UX books seem needlessly lengthy.

[Brandon]

If only more people would read — and listen to – Jakob Nielsen.