Direct marketing, direct mail, web marketing design book

Web Usability: Think "Glance" and "Scan"
Book of the Month: Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug

Well-known web usability expert Steve Krug advises to "make everything obvious and self-explanatory". What's his definition of "self-explanatory": ANYONE on any page can tell what it is and how to use it, just by looking at it.

His thousands of usability studies (conducted by sitting with individual web surfers, watching their actions, and asking them to "think out loud") have led him to conclude:

1. Visitors want to be able to figure out your web site at a GLANCE.

2. They want to be able to SCAN to find what they're looking for. (He recommends avoiding the use of pull-down menus as part of your web navigation. They're not visible to the scanning visitor - which is pretty much everyone.)

Krug covers:

How we really use the web
What users want in navigation
The best practice of "persistent navigation": same place, every page
Home page design - what should be there, and the 4 questions to guide you
How to design for scan-ability
Creating a clear visual hierarchy
Links: why they aren't obvious to visitors in many cases
4 ways to anger visitors, plus 5 ways to increase goodwill
The renewed importance of "above the fold" copy

He points out that web pages should be "design-driven". You should figure out where you want the major items in terms of layout, and then write copy to fit the layout.

The book includes a 6-point usability test to test your own site's navigation.

Note from Karen Marchetti: "After reading this book, I took his 6 points and added 6 more to create SMA's '12 Steps to Response-Boosting Navigation^SM' checklist. I've found these 12 Steps make re-navigating web sites amazingly easy - and the consistently dramatic improvement in response proves their worth."

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	1.	Visitors want to be able to figure out your web site at a GLANCE.
	2.	They want to be able to SCAN to find what they're looking for. (He recommends avoiding the use of pull-down menus as part of your web navigation. They're not visible to the scanning visitor - which is pretty much everyone.)