- Hardcover
- Publisher: Tandem Library (Dec 1999)
- ISBN-10: 0613917359
- ISBN-13: 978-0613917353
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
- See Complete Table of Contents
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read the wealth of positive reviews for this book, both on Amazon and on various industry websites, I assumed that 'Designing Web Usability' would be the ultimate purchase for those interested in usability and related practices.
Had I made this assumption about five or six years ago, I may have been correct.
Sadly, this book is let down by an extremely dated outlook, which belies the author's "future-proof" claim that the principles advocated in this book will remain important regardless of technological progression. Certainly, some of the broader doctrines it advocates will always retain their relevance (such as the importance of creating simple user-centric designs) but these are sadly obscured by some spurious predictions and a seemingly complete lack of foresight towards some of the major advancements in web technology (such as the massive uptake of broadband, and the use of CSS for anything other than styling fonts and table cells).
Such woeful inaccuracies could be overlooked by virtue of the fact that this book was first published in 1999 (not an incredibly long time in any other subject matter, but an entire lifetime in the field of web design). Nevertheless, if an author is willing to retain a book on the market (without any significant overhaul other than a pithy preface) then they must be prepared to face the criticism, comparison and scrutiny that will inevitably ensue. Thus, despite the bet-hedging get-out clauses with which the author laces his final chapter, statements as ludicrous as "we have to wait until approximately the year 2007 for books to go away and be fully replaced with online information", will always colour the reader's judgment towards the book's other less questionable claims.
In summary, you are likely to find free, up-to-date, and much more relevant information from various locations on the Internet (Jakob Nielsen's website - www.useit.com - included); and more concise and less spurious information from books such as Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach To Web Usability". For a snapshot of pre-21st Century web usability however, this may be the book for you!
Had I made this assumption about five or six years ago, I may have been correct.
Sadly, this book is let down by an extremely dated outlook, which belies the author's "future-proof" claim that the principles advocated in this book will remain important regardless of technological progression. Certainly, some of the broader doctrines it advocates will always retain their relevance (such as the importance of creating simple user-centric designs) but these are sadly obscured by some spurious predictions and a seemingly complete lack of foresight towards some of the major advancements in web technology (such as the massive uptake of broadband, and the use of CSS for anything other than styling fonts and table cells).
Such woeful inaccuracies could be overlooked by virtue of the fact that this book was first published in 1999 (not an incredibly long time in any other subject matter, but an entire lifetime in the field of web design). Nevertheless, if an author is willing to retain a book on the market (without any significant overhaul other than a pithy preface) then they must be prepared to face the criticism, comparison and scrutiny that will inevitably ensue. Thus, despite the bet-hedging get-out clauses with which the author laces his final chapter, statements as ludicrous as "we have to wait until approximately the year 2007 for books to go away and be fully replaced with online information", will always colour the reader's judgment towards the book's other less questionable claims.
In summary, you are likely to find free, up-to-date, and much more relevant information from various locations on the Internet (Jakob Nielsen's website - www.useit.com - included); and more concise and less spurious information from books such as Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach To Web Usability". For a snapshot of pre-21st Century web usability however, this may be the book for you!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Be you a print designer, html coder, project manager or a home user simply trying to dip your toes into the internet and thinking of getting into web design, this is a great introductory book. Jakob Nielsen is considered a standard in the industry, that doesnt mean his words of wisdom are gospel, or that he is always right, infact there were ares of this book that personally I felt were wrong. However as a whole this was an excellent summary of User Interface and web usage. He has proved that his views and opinions are accurate based on the longevity of some of his statements which although having been issued 3 years ago, still ring true today.
An excellent source and summary of this book can be found at his website... which is where much of this book comes from
Overall an excellent read, and a must have
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Some readers, more familiar with the author's online articles, already consider him to be a web design guru. My opinions are based purely on the basis of this book and differ in some respects.
Mr Nielsen may be a capable web designer - certainly he covers a number of good design points - but this book is about his opinion on what web design should become in the future and it is not supported by usibility studies. A few times in the book, he casually mentions that 'field studies have come to the same conclusion' over one point or another, but fails to give details of which studies, when they were conducted, on what range of subject etc. thereby stopping readers from deciding whether the conclusion is applicable to the target audience of their current project.
The main thrust of the book, logically enough, is that sites should be designed for the user rather than the designer or his employer. Things should be put where the user expects to find them rather than just where the designer thinks it will look good. Whilst this could be seen to limit artistic design, it is a sensible tenet within a book about usibility. But then Mr Nielsen says (on page 178) 'On all interior pages, the logo should be clickable and linked to the home page. Unfortunately, not all users understand the use of the logo as a link to the home page and it will take a while until this convention is fully established.' Considering his assertion that pages should be tailored to the user and not the reverse, this (and a few similar examples) cast doubt on the author's credibility (a topic that he covers well in the book).
Finally, whilst Mr Nielsen does make a number of very good points concerning designing for the web, most notably that designing for the web is different from designing for print, he falls foul of having the layout lean towards a web based layout, thereby reducing the usibility of the book. Mr Nielsen's tendancy to write in relatively short chunks (1-2 pages) which may be well suited to the web, but when spaced out over 6 printed pages (! ), a single side article can be confusing. Furthermore, the caption typeface is too similar (particulalrly in size) to the text typeface and with the numerous (verbosely captioned) illustrations and plentiful box-outs, following the flow of the text can be hard work at times.
However, despite these faults, this book is well worth a read if you are at all serious about web design, but it should not be taken as gospel.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Perfect and good price!!! AAA+
Good book. You can think it's an old book, but Usability is always on top. Give it a chance. read it.
Published 3 months ago by Manuel Mas Candela
Knowing the rules
This book explains the rudiments of usability on the web with examples of best practice. Anyone developing projects for the web should heed the advice in these pages. Read more
Published on 14 April 2003 by Zabaman
The Web Usability Bible
If you are planning to design a website for your company, or indeed if your company already has a web site, you must read this book. Read more
Published on 17 Dec 2002 by P. Jones
A Bible for Practioneers
I manage a web site for large company and this book is our Bible. It is probably the most insightful book on web design I've ever read read. Read more
Published on 25 Jun 2002
Buy borrow or steal this before you pollute the internet
If everyone who ever made a website read this book before they started hacking code, Webland would be a much better place for all of us. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2002 by Tom du Pré
Web designers must read this book
...This is the web design equivalent of 'What they don't teach you at Harvard business school'
As a designer, you must read this before commencing on any serious design. Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2001
Brilliant - a man who can make himself understood.
Don't you get tired of reading all those books that warble and and on until you get lost and wonder what it was the author was actually trying to say? Well I do! Read more
Published on 20 Jun 2001
Jakob describes usability for information-services -- solely
I like this book. When I bought it, I knew what I was expecting. As seen on the cover, it doesn't provide sophisticated effects and looks, at first, to be really plain and... Read more
Published on 6 May 2001
The essential message is "less is more".
Lots of screen dumps make it easy to pick up and flick through but they clutter the written content distracting you from the message (is a good coffee table book).
Published on 30 April 2001
Ok book bot no revolution...
A fairly decent book about not wasting web users time on "wasted ink" keeping your web design simple and tidy. Samples from real life helps getting the message across. Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2001
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
