"Web Design: Stephen Circle Book." 2nd edition

Thanks to our ( Nomagic.ru ) emerging cooperation with the Symbol-Plus publishing house, several very interesting IT-books have come into my hands. Among others, the second edition of Stephen Krug’s book “Don't make me think!” (In the Russian edition of Web Design: The Book of Stephen Krug). We already briefly mentioned the previous edition of this book in our review of IT literature for 2007. Then we mentioned that this is a “very interesting book.” I can immediately say that our opinion about the usefulness and interestingness of this book has not changed. But let's expand this review a bit and at the same time we will understand what the second edition has prepared for us.

And now, you can listen to the audio version on Webdiktor.ru , or read on yourself.


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On the table in front of me is a small, but rather plump book of Steve Krug. High-quality thick paper and soft orange cover make it something like a brick of knowledge.

The author of the book, Steve Krug, is a usability expert who has been successfully cooperating with many large companies for many years. However, unlike his "colleagues in the shop," Jacob Nielsen, he has more liberal views on design. His book is in itself an example of good design and usability.

The book contains a lot of great illustrations and diagrams. Headings are clearly separated chapters and sections. Calling on his reader to “get rid of boltology,” the author himself follows his rule. You will not find a lengthy argument in the book, each page is a model of clarity of presentation. If desired, the entire book can be read in a couple of hours.

The author's motto is simple: "This is not the highest mathematics!". At the heart of the work of the usability expert is common sense. Another thing is that sometimes a reasonable and sensible decision is not always obvious, and often only someone else can give us a hint. The book is written for those people who can not hire a person to tell them where to look and how to correct their mistakes in usability.

All that I said earlier equally apply to both the first and the second edition. And now let's focus on their differences.

What's new?

Steve is a very consistent person who not only decided to write a short and understandable book on web usability, but also when it was reissued, unlike many authors, he added several chapters in accordance with the changed reality, and .... Removed some material so that the book does not increase in size!

The logic is simple. The smaller the volume, the more people will actually use this book in practice. The author conducted a small study of what readers like in his book, and the fact that it turned out to be of little use. Some of the materials on user testing, which were thrown out of the book on the readers' advice, were confiscated. Indeed, it is interesting to know the general approach to usability testing, but probably only a few readers will try to conduct such testing independently. Most likely, the choice will fall to attracting professionals in order to increase confidence in the data obtained. Nevertheless, the basic moments of user testing in the book remained.

Three chapters have been added to the content of the second edition: Usability as Usual Politeness, Web Content Accessibility, Cascading Style Sheets and You, and Help! Boss Makes Me __. These are three very short chapters, but not useless ones.

The first of them tells about those moments that positively and negatively affect the patience of an ordinary user. The second one talks about the need to make accessible sites, and the third gives a couple of tips on what options you have when your boss is less perspicacious than you are? .. (By the way, do we often think that our boss or customer can be smarter than us?)

Verdict

It seems to me that there are books that need to be read, and there are books that need to be kept. Actually the latest and relate to the book of Stephen Circle. Although the book is small - it contains many interesting facts and suggestions. It is hardly possible to remember and understand them all after the first reading. Remember the main thing, but forget the details.

In my experience, say two things firmly. The first is that the book is useful, the second is that this book can be easily reread 2-3 times.

Should I buy the second edition, if you already have the first? I do not know, you have to solve it yourself. Both books are damn good, but on the other hand, the first and second editions coincide by 90%.

Other reviews of IT literature for web developers, on the website Nomagic.ru