Week 1 Reading Response

Steve Krug is a usability professional who deals with reorganizing websites so that they are more user friendly. His first law of usability is "Don't Make me Think," which means that every website should be self-evident and obvious enough so that any user can navigate it without thinking too much. Every link, image, bar, and graphic poses a question to the user and making these items self-evident is key to a websites success. Even the names that are used for the links are important. For instance, using the word "Jobs" for a link is much more efficient and obvious than using "Employment Opportunities." The developer has to keep in mind that people do not want to solve a puzzle or be confused, but rather would like information to be laid out for them. Users also never read over websites, but rather glance over the page for key words or images pertaining to the item or task they are searching for. Websites with clear labels, links and images are much more successful with usability than those that are cluttered with text and information. There is no instruction manual that tells the user about how to use every website and so most people will "muddle through" a website and eventually find what they are looking for. Keeping a website simple and obvious helps to eliminate any excess muddling and will hopefully keep the users coming back for more.