Reading saves your world.
by Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir
New Riders, 2002
Paperback, 315 pages, $ 39.99
ISBN: 0-735711-02-X
Reviewed by Michael Pastore
Jakob Nielsen's classic book, Designing Web Usability: The Practice Of Simplicity — later translated into French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Swedish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Japanese, and Chinese — revolutionized the entire website-making world. Homepage Usability, Nielsen's souped-up sequel (coauthored with Marie Tahir), focuses on one small facet of websites: the homepage.
Homepages, the authors write, are the most valuable real estate in the world. Millions of dollars are funneled through a space that's not even a square foot in size.... This book presents 113 guidelines which will teach the most experienced webmasters (as well as the greenest web beginners) how to design homepages that are clear, effective, and easy for customers and readers to use.
The book is divided into two sections, roughly, theory and practice. The first section explains the parts of homepages, and for each of these parts, raises then answers questions such as: Is it needed? What should it look like? Where should it be placed? ... In the second section, the authors deconstruct the homepages of 50 famous websites, including titans like Yahoo, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Barnes Noble, and eBay. Each site is objectively evaluated in a 4-page spread, where the authors explain the good, the bad, and the ugly about the all-important homepage.
A model of excellent design, the book itself is a pleasure to read, with its large page size, copious color illustrations, and concise writing style that would bring cheers from Strunk and White. The descriptions and explanations are clear and concise: in the entire book it is impossible to find unnecessary sentences or wasted words. Beyond appearances and style, the genius of this book is in the details. Except for occasional (and justifiable) pronunciamientos — "Splash screens must die." — the authors offer their guidelines humbly, like Socrates, showing and telling you precisely how they've come to believe what they believe.
When I finished reading and thinking about the book, I was converted to Nielsen fandom, and convinced that the principles and suggestions offered here are simple, ingenious, and sound. I didn't agree with every detail: Nielsen at times touts the virtues of sameness, whereas I would argue that every website should be easy to use but look unique. And the book was written before the blogs were born: and this hybrid creature — the blog-website — with its archives and categories and instant RSS feeds, may prove to be the most usable website of them all.
Nevertheless, Homepage Usability remains a comprehensive guide for optimizing the full potential of website homepages. Does the homepage matter? Of course it does. Your homepage is the place where readers decide whether to explore your site, or click and move along.
—Michael Pastore
About the Reviewer
Michael Pastore is the Editorial Director of BookLovers Review and Zorba Press. Currently he is writing his fourth novel, and working to establish the Youthtopia Institute and Youthtopia website, devoted to children, creativity and the arts, humanized technology, and a sustainable world.
BookLovers Review is Copyright © 2005 by Michael Pastore. Copyrights to the reviews are owned by the individual reviewers.
