A common sense approach to web usability by Steve Krug
Web Usability is an important part of UX, talking of which we cannot avoid think about "Don't Make Me Think", the book written by Steve Krug, an expert in web usability who have worked with Apple, Bloomberg.com, Lexus.com, NPR (National Public Radio), IMF (International Monetary Fund), etc.
This book was first published in 2000, with widespread popularity among Web designers, product managers, and developers. As a tool book, it offered a fresh perspective to its audience, reexamining the importance of user experience and reinforcing important principles of web usability.
Click with Ease
“It doesn't matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice.”
---- Krug's Second Law of Usability
A user should be able to not make any decisions or devote any thinking process into the question of "whether this button is clickable".
How Do Users Use Web
The well-prepared content by designers, considered by Krug, is like commercials on highway, which would not catch enough attention as the designers imagined. As the designers are creating a website, they imagined that the users will read carefully of each word, get a rough idea of how the website is structured, and then balance and confirm which button they will click. However, the actual situation is that they would only quickly skim on each tab, and click the most interested topic that appears first.
The preferences that a user would like is well-organized and written in Krug's book. He offers a interesting view from the perspective of a user, and how to transform those preferences to actual web design.
How to Stun Your Readers
“Making every page or screen self-evident is like having good lighting in a store: it just makes everything seem better.”
Krug is often emphasizing the simplicity of a website, in which reinforces his Third Law of Usability: Get rid of half the words on each page/screen, then get rid of half of what's left. The powerful words are simple, and there should not be any unnecessary word in a sentence. Eliminating unnecessary words have seven benefits: lowers the page's noise, makes the useful content more salient, and makes the page shorter.
Krug, S. (2006). Don't make me think!: A common sense approach to web usability. New Riders
Pub.