Editorial Review

Creating Web sites is easy. Creating sites that truly meet the needs and expectations of the wide range of online users is quite another story. In Read more

Reviews (232)

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!

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.
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 ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Desktop Publish    3. Computer Networks    4. Computers    5. Design    6. Electronic publishing    7. Internet - General    8. Internet - Web Site Design    9. Networking - General    10. User interfaces (Computer syst    11. User interfaces (Computer systems)    12. Web sites    13. World Wide Web    14. Computer graphics software    15. Computers / Internet / Web Site Design    16. World Wide Web (WWW)   

Reviews (12)

Great usability book
As my second most favorite usability book, this book points out the hundreds of ways a site can go wrong, and the many points to consider when designing sites. Let's be honest - it's pretty impossible to satisfy all their guidelines and STILL meet a deadline - but at least you can pick the ones that matter most to your company, and be aware of the once you missed. Another must read for web designers.
Must read for any serious web developer
rioritizing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger can best be described as a more 'strict' approach to web usability. If you have been in web development for any extended period of time it is likely that you have heard the name Jakob Nielsen. He offers great insight to web usability and has for many years. Some may view him as strict, some as normal, and still some as WAY off his rocker. No matter how you view him, he deserves much respect for his time spent in usability studies and the (somewhat timeless) statistics and information he brings to the table. I just finished reading this book, coupled with "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krugg, and appreciated what all of the authors could present through statistics, screenshots, and customer insight.
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 ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Web Publishing    3. Computer Programs Testing    4. Computers    5. Design    6. Internet - Web Site Design    7. Internet - World Wide Web    8. Programming - Systems Analysis & Design    9. User interfaces (Computer systems)    10. Web sites    11. Computers / Internet / World Wide Web    12. Computing and Information Technology   

Editorial Review

While there is a plethora of books available that provide tips on Web design, most authors leave a significant gap between the theory and practice--a gap that is left up to the reader to fill. Read more

Reviews (67)

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.

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.
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.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Business enterprises    2. Computer - Internet    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computer Networks    5. Computers    6. Design    7. Desktop Publishing    8. Desktop Publishing - General    9. Internet - Web Site Design    10. Web site development    11. Web sites    12. Computers / Internet / Web Site Design    13. Publishing on the Internet    14. World Wide Web (WWW)   

Reviews (4)

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!

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.

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. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers - General Information    3. Human-Computer Interaction    4. Programming - General    5. User Interface    6. User interfaces (Computer syst    7. User interfaces (Computer systems)    8. Computers / Programming / General    9. Software engineering   

Editorial Review

An authoritative text by one of the premier researchers in usability engineering in the 1990s, Jakob Nielsen's Read more

Reviews (14)

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. 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"). 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. Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Programming - Software Development    7. Programming Languages - General    8. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    9. Software engineering   

Reviews (2)

A mish-mash of articles that's not very actionable.
I had recently purchased the NielsenNorman group's International User Interfaces whitepaper, ..., was impressed with the whitepaper, and consequently had high hopes for this book. I was pretty disappointed. It's a mish-mash of articles, only a few of which were very actionable. One such article, in chapter 3, is pretty good in that it covers to what degree various cultures communicate explicitly versus non-explicitly. This fact alone is very useful to anyone doing usability testing or market research outside the US.

what any sw developer should know
We also recommend the book "SW Internationalization and Localization" by Uren, Howard, Perinotti. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - General Information    4. Data Transmission Systems - General    5. Human-computer interaction    6. Social Aspects - Human-Computer Interaction    7. Software Development    8. User Interface    9. User Interfaces    10. User interfaces (Computer syst    11. User interfaces (Computer systems)    12. Virtual Reality    13. Computer Communications & Networking    14. Computers / User Interfaces    15. Operating systems & graphical user interfaces (GUIs)    16. Software engineering   

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Database Management - General    4. Hypertext systems    5. Interactive multimedia    6. Programming Languages - General    7. Database software    8. Programming languages   

Reviews (3)

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

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!

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? ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Networks    5. Computer Science    6. Computers    7. Computers - Desktop Publishing    8. Hypertext systems    9. Interactive & Multimedia    10. Multi-Media Hardware & Software    11. Computer graphics software    12. Computers / Computer Science    13. Internet    14. Multimedia   

Reviews (2)

I should have read the other review first.
It is almost criminal for this book to be listed as a "2002" book when all of the content is terribly outdated.Unfortunately I bought it first (not from Amazon) only to find this out.This book is outdated for even a [sale] bin.

Not bad for 1989
This isn't a bad book for 1989. It's not great either. Read more

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. Computer Books: Web Publishing    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Programming - Systems Analysis & Design    6. Social Aspects - Human-Computer Interaction    7. User Interface    8. User Interfaces    9. User interfaces (Computer syst    10. User interfaces (Computer systems)    11. Computers / Computer Science    12. Computers / Programming / Systems Analysis & Design    13. Human-computer interaction   

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - General Information    2. Computer Science    3. Human-Computer Interaction    4. Man-Machine Systems    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Social Aspects - General   

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - General Information    2. Computer Science    3. General    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Social Aspects - General    6. Technology    7. Human-computer interaction   

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Web Programming    3. Internet - World Wide Web   

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computers    3. Design    4. Internet - Web Site Design    5. Internet - World Wide Web    6. Spanish    7. Spanish: Adult Nonfiction    8. User interfaces (Computer systems)    9. Web sites    10. World Wide Web    11. Databases & data structures    12. Foreign Language Study / Spanish   

Features

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Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Data Base Management    2. Database Management - General   

Subjects:  1. Interactive computer systems    2. Programming languages (Electronic computers)   

Editorial Review

In Chapter 6 of Read more

Reviews (61)

The worst O'Reilly Book I've ever read
I usually love O'Reilly - I've never bought a book of theirs that I didn't find occasion to go back to for some reason at some point before this book.Most O'Reilly books have info that you can reference when your actually working on a project - this book doesn't even prepare you for discussing the task intellegently.Granted, if this were not an O'Reilly book I would have given it 2 stars, but I have higher expectations from O'Reilly. Don't waste your time
I expected more from Peter. Not too impressed
I was disappointed in this book, particularly because it has the O'Reilly imprint. It's too vague to be of much use, I thought. Not bad, but not very helpful, either. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Internet    2. Computers    3. Data Processing - General    4. Internet - Web Site Design    5. Programming - General   

Subjects:  1. Health aspects    2. Human engineering    3. Human-computer interaction    4. Video display terminals   

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Science    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Programming - Software Development    6. Computers / Computer Science   

Reviews (14)

Shorter html and css at all costs?
Description
Usually reviews are a good for steering my purchases, this time I ended up way off course.
I can't argue with the strengths of the book which is detailed in the number of excellent reviews here, as they are all true.I bought the book based on those reviews, and while they are true, I still feel cheated.
Grab this book to save bandwidth and improve speed!
King has some amazing insights and tips on how to get your website to respond faster. Your clients will be happy, your ISP company will charge less and your site will be faster.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Internet    2. Computers    3. Internet - Web Site Design    4. Internet - World Wide Web    5. Networking - General