It seems odd to start a new blog with a book review. But, one can do worse than to start a website by reading through Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think". While Krug is definitely writing with far bigger projects than an academic blog in mind, a great deal of his advice is important to everyone publishing on the web:
- "Don't make me think": This is Steve Krug's single most important design rule. A website should be simple enough to use without thinking. While it is always tempting to attempt something new when trying to set your site apart from others, it is important to make sure that any new features are intuitive. Or at least that they provide some significant service that is missed by the conventional design. For this reason, I plan to keep this blog simple in it's layout, and I will try to keep the design free from unnecessary ornamentation whenever possible.
- "Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what's left." People usually scan the internet, therefore finding the shortest way to say something is important. While I would expect that people who read this blog have an interest in web design; long blog posts are still daunting. For this reason, I will try to keep my entries short and to have a good idea what precise point I want to make in each one.
- Consider accessibility: This is very important because, as Krug puts it, it's just the right thing to do. Making a site accessible for people with disabilities takes relatively little, but could make a hunge difference for someone else.
- Make sure it's clear what site the user is on and where they can find information.
- Use simple language: even experts do not understand every single technical term. And, more importantly, experts usually do not feel insulted when information is presented in a way that everyone can understand.
- Every site should receive some usability testing: for a blog, this is going to be a difficult thing to ensure in a formal way. But hopefully, I'll get some feedback as I go.
