Usability Books
The following is a list of general usability books that we hope you will find useful. Even though some of them are a couple of years old, they are still very relevant.
| Title | Author | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability | Steve Krug | An excellent, humorous and easy to read book that all web people should read. Includes an overview of some basic principles as well as screen shots, cartoons and diagrams on the important subject of web usability. |
| Designing Web Usability | Jakob Nielsen | The web person's bible. This is the most common book we see around many workplaces. It sets out web design usability concepts that are easy to understand and evidence based. |
| Web Site Usability Handbook | Mark Pearrow | Includes a nice chapter of design principles which is a great starting point for many web professionals. Also presents techniques for measuring usability through both formal and informal testing. |
| Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed | Jakob Nielsen & Marie Tahir | This is an excellent and easy to read book that I highly recommend. It includes a lot of visuals which make it an easy read but also includes a great overview of homepage design principles. |
| Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (2nd edition) | Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville | A great book about Information Architecture and navigation – a must for all Internet teams. |
| The Elements of User Experience | Jesse James Garrett | An excellent but very high level overview of the different elements of user experience. Great for people just starting out or to educate your boss. |
| The Design of Sites: Patterns, Principles, and Processes for Crafting a Customer-Centred Web Experience | Douglas van Duyne, James Landay, Jason Hong | One of our favourites. It includes a nice overview of the user centred design methodologies, tools and deliverables in the first few chapters and sample patterns and key learnings for different types of websites e.g. Government Information sites. |
| Making the Web Work – Designing Effective Web Applications | Bob Baxley | A new favourite. A great resource for anyone building web applications. |