Unit 2 Reading

Don't Make Me Think
Chapter 3
There are five important things to remember when creating and designing a website. Make sure to create a clear visual hierarchy on each page, take advantage of conventions, break pages up into clearly defined areas, make it obvious what's clickable, and lastly, minimize noise.
Creating a visual hierarchy is necessary to show what is most important, what is in relation with another, and it gives the reader a chance to think as little as possible about navigating through the content and more focus to comprehend the content. Conventions are general style guides, that enable users to figure out a lot about a web site, even f they can't understand a word about it. Newspapers, magazines, websites, and brochures all use conventions to make navigation feel as natural as possible. Breaking up pages into clearly defined areas allows users to decide quickly which areas of the page to focus on and which areas they can safely ignore. Making it obvious what is clickable saves users from hovering over every piece of text to see which will lead them elsewhere.  This is a way to keep users focused on the information on the page and not so much about how to navigate the page. One of the enemies of any design is too much visual noise. If your web page feels too busy, it can confuse users and also annoy them. Distraction is our enemy!
Don't Make Me Think

Chapter 4
"It doesn't matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice." -Krugs Second Law of Usability. This is true when it comes to websites. Even though it has been debated over the years because some people believe it was the number of clicks that would frustrate web site users, even though it isn't necessarily the number of clicks, but ensuring each click is functional making sure the user isn't consciously thinking about navigating. Keeping your users on the right track, and not giving them confusing choices is essential.

Don't Make Me Think
Chapter 5
Words shouldn't be space fillers. Omitting needless words enables the users to actually quickly comprehend your point. Try and say exactly what you need to in the most concise way possible. This will reduce the noise level on the page, make the useful content more prominent, it will make the pages shorter, allowing users to see more of each page without scrolling. An introductory text, used as a way of setting the mood to a happy vibe, is completely unnecessary. Happy talk is similar to small talk; they are both content free. Web users are skipping the small talk and moving on with their lives. So skip the happy talk. Instructions are basically useless as well. It is rare anyone will actually read the instructions in full. They are more likely to muddle through the content, and fail at comprehending it. The information on the screen should be self-explanatory.