Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

I like Don't Make Me Think

It's important to understand there are no 'right' colors.

For instance, this could be 'correct' within an existing interface that is designed in a particular way:

• ERROR: yellow/black;
• INFO: grey;
• SUCCESS: blue;
• NOT IMPORTANT INFO: beige

So this kind of question makes designers wince:

"Have I got the blue and yellow around the wrong way? Any hex values that are a de facto standard for these?"

At a basic level, within an existing design structure that is all blue, another panel that pops up in blue will be easily missed. If you are producing something within a brand color scheme and then force a 'correct' hierarchy of colors without consulting a designer, you won't be popular.

But UI design is far more complex than this. For instance, if a red message pops up every time you load a page, you'll start to ignore red messages because of their frequency.

It wouldn't hurt to read something entry-level like Don't Make me Think - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dont-Make-Think-Usability-Circle-Com/dp/0789723107, even if you're not really going to be doing this kind of decision-making often because it will help you understand the people who do.

This book could be a good start:

http://www.amazon.com/Think-Common-Sense-Approach-Usability/dp/0789723107

i think it's a rather popular question here:

best-way-to-begin-learning-web-application-design

improve-web-design-skills

For books:

best-books-to-learn-about-design

user-interface-design-books-resources-for-programmers

And if you haven't read it yet, do read Don't make me think and Non designer's design book for good page layout design.

Yes. It is certainly possible, I assume you have been developing most Desktop Application and native Software using Java and so would advise to take up some JSP and Servlets knowledge to dive into web development.

1. Books for Web Application Development
2. JSPs and Servlet - Head First Series is good book to start.
3. Don't Make me thing good book on understanding UI stuffs, which is important for Web Designers.

Try to browse through web-development tags as you will find very useful suggestions there.

I suggest that you read Don't Make me Think. Don't think that engaging UIs are not efficient. I would suggest the opposite.

Actually this answer has many useful links.

I'm a big fan of one of the methods Steve Krug suggests in his book Don't Make Me Think, which is to ask for the minimum now, and for details later. So ask for an email address and a password (which seems to be missing from your example) only.

You'll lower the threshold for the user to become a register member at your site, and it's easier to have your visitor fill out more information once he's "inside" and sees the value of providing you with the extra information.

It's certainly more than possible to have a form with no submit element, especially if you use JavaScript events to submit the form. I highly suggest you use the onkeypress event to detect the "enter" key being pressed rather than depending on the browser to just accept the "enter" key if you make a form with no submits, to make it cross-browser compatible.

However, I think it's bad form to leave out a submit button of some sort. (It doesn't necessarily have to be an input of type "submit", could be "button" or an image you click.) It's just a standard to have forms that people fill out submitt via a button, and you're taking that away, which could confuse many users who are used to a button. It definitely violates the principles of Don't Make Me Think by presenting an alternate form to the norm.

IMHO, i would say depends on your role, are you a designer or you're the coder guy who have to put functionality into the site?

if you're into the design, then i would say css and good website designs are necessary. in that case i would recommend don't make me think and erik meyers css book.

but if you're into the functional part of web site, i would say learn javascript then jquery. i can't tell you how many times jquery save my bacon.

and finally nothing beats putting theory into practice, so you can either search around and view source and learn from good sites, or start creating your own :)

Along the same lines, "Don't make me think" by Steve Krug provides an awesome Usability foundation. (Better than Nielson, IMO.)

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/078972...

Well I agree. The classic is still valid : http://www.amazon.com/Think-Common-Sense-Approach-Usability/...

Everything from there has been sort of copies. I find it more interesting to dig into the human brain and related books. Ie. cognitive psychology and how our brain perceives things. The difference between cultures etc. That's where you really learn the WHY and HOW.

I was searching yesterday, the results only really offered good stuff for typography learning (which I'm working on now), but overall graphic / web design are left out a bit.

Here are the resources I drilled out of the threads I came across:

Type: http://www.amazon.com/Logo-Lettering-Bible-Leslie-Cabarga/dp... http://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Design-Manual-Principles-Pract... http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin... http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Typographic-...

Usability: http://www.amazon.com/Think-Common-Sense-Approach-Usability/...

Design: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592532616?ie=UTF8&tag=... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592533485?ie=UTF8&tag=... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159253192X?ie=UTF8&tag=... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592532349?ie=UTF8&tag=...

Web Design: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0975841963?ie=UTF8&tag=... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/032145345X?ie=UTF8&tag=... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1847192505?ie=UTF8&tag=... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735712069?ie=UTF8&tag=...

Sites: http://dribbble.com/ http://www.deviantart.com http://forrst.com/ http://lookslikegooddesign.com/ http://webtypography.net/toc/ http://ui-patterns.com/