Don't Make Me Think Review

The novel "Don't Make Me Think" was designed to help people learn and think about ways to make websites more usable and appealing to the users they are trying to appeal to. I would argue, this book is very successful in explaining different concepts that demonstrate how to make websites more beneficial to the user, which in return, will make it more beneficial to the creator. 

One big concept mentioned in the book "Don't Make Me Think" that I highly agree with is the idea of a mindless choice found in chapter four. Basically, the idea argues that a choice that almost requires no thought to answer the question correctly is the preferred option by people. When relating this concept to a website, it means that people will prefer the websites that direct them to the information they are looking for with minimal effort. This is very true considering there are several websites that contain the information people seek. Therefore, people will just resort to the websites that require them to obtain the information they need with as little effort as possible.  

Often, people think it is the number of clicks that determine whether or not a website is effective or not. I personally thought this was the case at first. However, after reading "Don't Make Me Think" my mind has changed and I agree that it’s the amount of effort a person has to make that determines whether or not a website is efficient or not. How hard each click is, is far more important than the amount of clicks a person makes. For example, if a website clearly maps out to its users where they need to click to obtain the information they are looking for, this is more effective than the amount of clicks it takes to get there.  

The author uses the example of him trying to read an article on a website. Before being able to read the article, the he is presented with three options right away. The layout of the options and the way they were presented to him is extremely disorderly and not effective to the point where he does not want to read the article anymore. However, had the website chosen a different approach such as using the approach the NY Times website used, the author more than likely would have continued to pursue the article. All the information being presented to the user at once in the first article is very overwhelming and confusing. In this case, it was more effective that the NY Times website organized the information with links forcing the user to click in order to get the information they need. 

While there were many other topics regarding effective websites in this book, I would argue the point about clicking is the most important. As stated by the author, "Users don't mind a lot of clicks as long as each click is painless and they have continued confidence that they are on the right track." This is something that all people who wish to make websites keep in mind.