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A book may seem like a terribly old-fashioned way to learn how to function in the New Economy. But if you have dreams of making your, or your company's, fortune through e-commerce, you'll want to take the time to peruse Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity by Jakob Nielsen (New Riders, $45).
The lavishly illustrated paperback won't teach you how to create a Web page. There's hardly a line of hypertext markup language (HTML), the programming code of the Web, in its 400-plus pages and no information on software packages or graphics-editing tools. But you will find dozens of examples of good and bad Web design, and much discussion of what works, what doesn't, and why. While aimed at the folks who actually design sites, this book, which treads lightly on technical issues, should also be read by any executive with responsibility for managing online operations.
KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Nielsen, whose weekly musings on the Web can be found at www.useit.com, is a usability engineer and Web-design consultant given to strongly held ideas and sweeping statements, like "fast response times are the most important criterion for Web pages." His certitude might be insufferable if he weren't right so much of the time.
The basic principles of good design, according to Nielsen, are very simple: If your pages don't load quickly, your customers won't wait. If customers can't find what they want, they won't buy it. If your pages are confusing or hard to read, customers will look elsewhere.
But while easy to state, such general principles are very hard to implement. Here Designing Web Usability shines, with hundreds of screen shots of actual Web pages, successful and unsuccessful, with a narrative that highlights just what their designers did right or wrong. You'll probably find plenty to disagree with in Nielsen's conclusions. But you whether you're a designer or someone with responsibility for your company's online presence, you'll come away from the book with a much deeper understanding of how to use the Web as an effective sales and communications tool.
Wildstrom is Technology & You columnist for Business Week. Watch for his Flash Product Reviews on BW Online.
Got any comments on good and bad Web design? Let Steve know on our Tech & You forum. Join a discussion or start a new one now
EDITED BY DOUGLAS HARBRECHT
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