Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited a common Sense Approach to Web Usability Steve Krug

Don’t float headings between paragraphs.
Headings should be
closer to the text that follows them than the text that precedes them.
(Yes, I know I mentioned this is 
Chapter 3
, but it’s so important it’s
worth repeating.)
That’s all, folks.
As Bob and Ray used to say, “Hang by your thumbs, and write if you get
work.”
I hope you’ll check in at my Web site 
stevekrug.com
from time to time, and
always feel free to send me email at 
[e-mail]
. I can promise
you I will read it and appreciate it, even if I can’t always find enough time to
reply.
But above all, be of good cheer. As I said at the beginning, building a great
Web site or app is an enormous challenge, and anyone who gets it even half
right has my admiration.

---

And please don’t take anything I’ve said as being against breaking “the
rules”—or at least bending them. I know there are even sites where you 
do
want the interface to make people think, to puzzle or challenge them. Just be
sure you know which rules you’re bending and that you at least 
think
you
have a good reason for bending them.
Oh, by the way, here’s the rest of 
Calvin and Hobbes
.
CALVIN AND HOBBES © 1989 Watterson. Reprinted with permission of UNIVERSAL UCLICK.
All rights reserved.

---

Acknowledgments
...AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT
...and the men of the U.S.S.
Forrestal, 
without whose cooperation this film
would never have been made.
—CONVENTIONAL MOVIE ACKNOWLEDGMENT
[Insert some variation of the “It takes a village” meme here.]
But it’s true. Not only 
couldn’t I
have done this alone—I wouldn’t have
wanted to. Again, I was fortunate enough to be able to round up the usual
suspects who got me through the earlier editions and 
Rocket Surgery
.
I have relied deeply on their kindness and their extraordinary goodwill in
the face of my writing habits.
As usual, my peculiar relationship to time has made life difficult for
everyone involved. (Have you ever heard the expression “If it weren’t for
the last minute, I wouldn’t get anything done at all”?) Honestly, it’s just that
someone keeps setting my clock ahead every time I’m not looking.
Thanks—and in most cases apologies—are due to
Elisabeth Bayle
, who has been my interlocutor, sounding board, and friend
for some years now, and—even though she doesn’t want to admit it—editor
of this edition. If you’re ever going to write a book, my best advice is to
find someone who’s smart, funny, and knows as much about the subject
matter as you do, and then convince them to spend long hours listening,
making great suggestions, and editing your work.
It’s not so much that this book wouldn’t have happened without her
(although it wouldn’t). It’s that I wouldn’t have considered doing it unless I
knew she’d be involved. My thanks also go out to