Books for/about - Jakob Nielsen

Designing Web Usability : The Practice of Simplicity

Publisher: New Riders Press
Authors: Jakob Nielsen

ISBN: 156205810X
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Summary: Very nice book
this is a very good book about web usability and its not a complex kind of book, you start reading it and u dont want to stop it untill you finish it!

Summary: Not quite what I expected..
As an avid read of Mr.Nielsen's blog and his website, I figured this book would comprise the "Bible of Web Design". Unfortunately, I was a bit let down.

His book does cover many aspects of web design and usability. In fact, he does a very good job at pointing out examples of bad web design. He uses full page pictures analyzing pages and their faults. Additionally, he lays out some ground rules for website design but many of them are redundnant and obvious to those who have designed sites in the past and read his blog/site.

Today though, this book is getting a tad out of date. It was written prior to the Web 2.0 boom and the usability gains included with AJAX and similar technologies.

This book does a good job at educating you that you ought not make websites like many people make their myspace pages (moving backgrounds, sounds onload, etc) but does not really provide any new information on how someone ought to approach new ideas in usability. For a beginner in web design and page layout, I would recommend this book. For someone who has been doing it for a long time I would pass this by.

Summary: Simple IS usually better
Please people don't design incredibly complex sites with over the top graphics that take an hour(feels like) to download even on broadband! I encounter this everyday and can't imagine what it must be like for those on dial-up, which is still most of the internet user base. Designers like to design and justify their high paying jobs by these crazy sites that simply drive me nuts. I recently tried looking for sunglasses on the Ray Ban site and Holy [...]! What a pain in the [...]! I finally went to a small reseller site where I could actually see the glasses quickly and make a purchase. The Ray Ban site I'm sure cost a fortune and is pretty but NOT user friendly. Web site designers need to remember that these sites are for people to find products and services, not to win design contests. My ex is a graphic designer(excuse me...User Interface Experience) for a very well know company and I know how they think. The more elaborate the better, we can charge clients more! KISS

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Prioritizing Web Usability

Publisher: New Riders Press
Authors: Jakob Nielsen Hoa Loranger

ISBN: 0321350316
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Summary: Good value for money
It was in v. good condition and the book was useful for us in building some web standards through our organization

Summary: Useful, but I struggled with the delivery of the material...
This is one of those book reviews where I have to separate content from my biases on the presentation of that content... Prioritizing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger. Let me elaborate...

Contents: Introduction - Nothing To Hide; The Web User Experience; Revisiting Early Web Usability Findings; Prioritizing Your Usability Problems; Search; Navigation and Information Architecture; Typography - Readability & Legibility; Writing for the Web; Providing Good Product Information; Presenting Page Elements; Balancing Technology with People's Needs; Final Thoughts - Design That Works; Index

I acknowledge that Nielsen is an industry expert in web usability. He has done extensive usability studies with web sites to capture what works and what doesn't when it comes to web design. His book Designing Web Usability is often cited as the bible of what should and shouldn't be done on your site. In Prioritizing, the authors take a look at the past to see if there's been any improvement on the killer sins of web design as covered in Designing. They update the ranking of the most heinous examples of "features", and then cover what items should be addressed first when it comes to fixing your site. There's no way to make a perfect site, and you can use this information to focus on getting the biggest payback on your efforts.

Where I have a problem is with the "attitude" that I perceived in the material. Designing was one of the first web design books I read, and it really put me off of those types of books. The expert says "I don't like this", therefore no one should do that. If something loads in more than 1.52 seconds, it's bad. I'm exaggerating a bit, but that's the sense I got from reading the book. Prioritizing is a bit better, but I still had the feeling that Neilsen's preferences and nitpicking were being held up as "best practices", just because he says so. Yes, I know there is an abundance of research behind his numbers, but going on about how 17% do this and 19% do that got to be a bit much at times. And when I ran across a couple of pages that had a number of typos scattered throughout, I couldn't help but chuckle...

Yes, this is good information to read and know. We all know that many sites leave much to be desired when it comes to actual usage. But I would have had an easier time being open to it if there was a bit more pragmatism and a bit less dogma... Could just be me, and your mileage might vary, however...

Summary: useful advice on designing web pages
The authors give very useful advice on designing web pages. Most of which comes across as common sense, once you read it. For example, if you have text in blue that is not clickable, it is not a good idea. Many users are now conditioned to regard blue text as a link, and might even consider your page broken if it does not click!

The book also reports on the curious state of searching. Surveys indicate that the usage of a general purpose search engine, like Google, Yahoo or Microsoft, seems to give more relevant results, than a local search of a user's corporate website. Even though you'd imagine that the opposite should be true.

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	Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed Publisher: New Riders Press Authors: Jakob Nielsen Marie Tahir
ISBN: 073571102X List Price: $39.99 Amazon Price: $25.19 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 2 Reviews: Summary: Nielson disappoints again Admittedly, I've been biased against Nielson's works since the publication of `Designing Web Usability' in 1999; finding his tendency to oversimplify and `deconstruct' rather ineffectual. And as usual, `Homepage Usability' disappoints as an overly sensational and inaccurate evaluation of homepage usability. There are good parts, in particular, the statistics you may want to reference for your own usability initiatives. But the `50 webpages deconstructed' portion is not much more than Nielson spewing hot air. If you learn (or are entertained) best through critique by an impossible standard and ideal, by all means, this book is for you. If you are looking for a USABLE and real life guide to homepage design, look elsewhere. Summary: Jakob Nielsen is a huge dork! I was forced to use this book for college in a "Website Admin" class. I think the first 53 pages make a good reference for web design but the rest of it is all about how fortune 500 companies have bad websites. Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, etc... come on now, these companies ARE the internet and this guy is "deconstructing" them and critisizing what they do wrong. Anyway, design is completely relative so use this as a guide only. By the way... pages 54 through 320 can be removed as far as i'm concerned. In other news... Nielsen is a huge dork and likes men. Summary: detailed critiques of major websites This book excels in giving detailed critiques of the home pages of 50 prominent websites. These include Microsoft, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, General Electric and Boeing. The websites span the gamut from appealing to a mass audience, like Amazon and MTV, to more specialised corporate sites like GE. The authors offer incisive comments. All the more valuable for not being always complimentary. They show how even a large company can have flaws in its home page. Take GE for example. Its page has a "Buy Online" section. But it is mostly misleading. The links in that section point to such items as aircraft, which you cannot buy online. The websites were captured several years ago. So it's quite possible that if you go to their current addresses, the pages are different. Yet the analysis in the book is still instructive. It should also be noted that the unusual shape of the book might be misleading. From the outside, it looks like a coffeetable type book. Full of glossy images. It does indeed have the latter. But these are high resolution screen captures that enhance the visual nature of the pages and their analyses. If you are designing your own website, try going first through this book, for inspiration. Summary:

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E-Commerce User Experience

Publisher: Nielsen Norman Group
Authors: Jakob Nielsen

ISBN: 0970607202
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Summary: Very insightful
I work in eCommerce for a leading online retailer (Australia) and I thought I knew pretty much all I could. This book showed me the intricacies of user behaviour and web usablitily and offered several great tips to tweak and improve my website. However, I would say the remaining 80% of the book covered areas I was already familiar with, so those in the industry - do a bit more research online before you invest in this expensive book.

For those new to eCommerce usability, I highly recommend this book. Very valuable to know the fundamentals and rules of user behaviour, so in future we can all be navigating easy-to-use and feature rich eCommerce sites.

Steve Krug's 'Don't Make Me Think' is also a great book (and a definite read for anyone interested in eCommerce), but this book takes a more professional approach - Krug's is mostly about 'concept' whereas Neilsen's is more about 'action'.

One last thing - don't be dissuaded that this book was written in 2001 - that's young in the Internet world. It would have been good, though, to maybe see a new edition of this book with more recent/updated eCommerce sites.

Summary: Superb insight for a serious professional
If you are serious about learning what makes eCommerce sites work for the users you are looking at the right book. While there are many other good books on the subject, this is has to be the 400-lb gorilla! Here's why:
- every guideline and recommendation is supported with examples of real user behavior. In fact, it is this insight into what users do that makes it especially valuable for anyone trying to justify investing in usability.
- the chapters on selling strategies and trust show how online store design impacts the site's overall success with its customers;
- the chapters on category pages, search, product pages, and checkout & registration show in detail how design decisions on those particular parts of a typical eCommerce site can help or hurt their effectiveness in guiding the customer to the product and through the checkout;
- the methodology chapter will be extremely useful for anyone who wants to conduct their own usability tests. It not only documents how the tests were conducted, but also gives tons of valuable tips on task creation, test facilitation, etc. Also included are various pre- and post-test questionnaires, a consent form, and the list of all the tasks.

This book (or report, if you will) spends most of its time on my night table and is the inspiration behind my own UI design book, free at paulgokin dotcom. If you own/design B-to-C eCommerce web sites, get this report. It will pay for itself many times over in increased conversion rate on your site (provided, of course, that you implement the guidelines it contains).

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Usability engineering

Publisher: Academic Press
Authors: Jakob Nielsen

ISBN: 0125184050
List Price: $39.95
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Summary: Good for user interface pros, too much for developers
If your specialty is the user interface, you need to read this book. If you are interested in developing a user interface design process, you should read this. If you are a software developer who wants to know how to build good interfaces, skip it. It is too much about perfecting the design process.

I was looking for 'use this button for x and this widget for y'. In other words, here are the rules for a good user interface. What I got was 'here is the process for studying users and their interfaces, and here is a mountain of statistics to back it up'. No fault of the author, I just mis-understood what I was getting.

Having said that, if you want to make your living studying and perfecting interface design, read this book.

Summary: Well worth a read if you want people to use your software
If you are an experienced user interface designer who thoroughly understands what usability is about you probably don't need to read the book (although I would find it strange that you are experienced and did not read this book which is attributed to have coined the term "Usability Engineering").

So who should read the book. Everybody that is going to develop any form of software. No, it won't make you an expert, but it will get you thinking.

On the negative side, some of the examples may some be slightly old (but its a 1993 book!). Sometimes you're also going to feel that you could stress this concept in half the space. However, the information and the thought process behind the information is extremely relevant and is well-worth the effort of reading the book.

If you are new in software development this book is an absolute must. In a sense it helps you develop "a way of thinking" rather than giving any specifics.

However, if you are looking for specifics, Chapter 5 deals with usability heuristics, presenting 10 of them. When looking at the list of 10 heuristics, they may seem obvious, trivial almost. It is quite amazing, however, how often those seemingly trivial things are overlooked or ignored. Just use some programs on your PC...

I think it would be worthwhile any software developers time to read Chapter 5 and think long and hard about what is said - then go back to your software and be honest with yourself. It might be some of the best lessons you'll ever learn.

In lots of ways this book has everything that classics are made of - except occasionally the ease of reading.

Summary: Save your money, read this review:
If his own principles had been applied to the book it could be reduced to a a few bullet points.

*the web is slow, less is more.

*tell people what a link leads too before they press it, and make sure it does.

*use standard fonts in easy to read colours.

*use standard web conventions where ever possible as they are familiar.

*check for spelling mistakes and grammar errors.

*write concisely and arrange depth of detail in hierarchies, like they do in errr reference books.

*tell the user where they are, and how they got their, um like a path prehaps.

*some people have small screens, some don't even use microsoft browsers, not everyone has the latest plug ins, allow for it.

*don't employ frustrated artists to design your site, use an engineer.

Jakob proudly states he has multiple patents in the field of usability, maybe following this book will infringe them, or maybe he just kept the good stuff for himself.

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	Usability Inspection Methods Publisher: Wiley Authors: Jakob Nielsen Robert L. Mack
ISBN: 0471018775 List Price: $90.00 Amazon Price: $72.28 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 2 Reviews: Summary: A Book of Research, not Ideas This book is academic and a dry read. There are better books out there which address this same material that makes for an easier read. But if you want to read the original work that paved the road for those books and usability now, here it is. Academic research that is usability's foundation! Summary: Very satisfied I bought this book for class and aced the class. I found this book helpfull and inspiring for people in the web usability field of study. Even though this is 1994 book, web usability aticles apply to today world as well. Summary: Disappointing I do usability inspections as part of my job. I bought this book based on Nielsen's reputation and the description of this book here on Amazon.com. I was very disappointed to find that this book was scholarly, not practical. After scanning the book, I returned it for refund. Summary:

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	Middle Eastern Cities 1900-1950: Public Spaces and Public Spheres Publisher: Aarhus Univ Pr Authors: Hans Chr. Korsholm Nielsen Walter Armbrust Christel Braae Anton Escher Henning Goldbaek Karin Van Nieuwkerk Jakob Skovgaard Petersen Elizabeth Thompson Mercedes Volait H.C.K. NIELSEN
ISBN: 8772889063 List Price: $39.95 Amazon Price: $37.51 Usually ships in 5 to 13 days Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: Reviews: Summary:

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Multimedia and Hypertext: The Internet and Beyond (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive Technologies)

Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
Authors: Jakob Nielsen

ISBN: 0125184085
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Summary: A great introduction to hypermedia
This "old" book is still the best hypermedia book on the marked !

Summary: Beyond the Internet and Beyond
Nielsen wrote a very interesting book. Most users know only of hypertext structures by the Internet, but Nielsen makes the world go round. I thought there where five or six different types of hypertext, but by reading this book I had to change my view on Hypertext structures very rapidly. I didn't expect so many different types. Nielsen soon changed the way I look at Hypertext structures and usibality of systems. Nielsen has a very clear style of writing, he offers lots of examples and he has a great sense of humour too. I can recommend this book to everyone who want to know more about hypertext structures, usability and the Internet. Especially those who are working in the field of education, webdesign and marketing should read this book. It offers a good scope on the world of hypertext structures, it's written in a clear and understandable way, and it's fun to read too!

Summary: User interface perspective
Nielsen gives you a thorough user interface treatment of hypermedia, with plenty of examples and empirical evidence to back up his claims. A good book to have on the shelf and peruse BEFORE you start your next Web project: someone else has probably already done something similar, so why not see what they did first before trying to reinvent the wheel?

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