1. Krug Chapter 3 Billboard Design 101 and Chapter 4 Mindless Choices
Jeff Offutt
SWE 205
Software Usability and Design

2. 5 Ways to Attract Drive-By Users
Users whizz by your website at 70 miles an hour … don’t try to slow them down, try to adapt to them
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
Minimize noise
21-Feb-19
© Jeff Offutt

3. (1) Create a Clear Visual Hierarchy
Decide what is important (to the user!)
Make important things bigger, brighter, and top left
Example :
What’s important?
Use location, color, encapsulation, and nesting to highlight important things
21-Feb-19
© Jeff Offutt

4. (2) Take Advantage of Conventions
Conventions are commonly accepted ways to tell users things without explicitly telling them
Putting information in the world
Shopping carts
Button tables for navigation
Some conventions become standards
Light switch up means on
Some designers like to be creative
What’s good for users?
New ideas are great, but be very careful
21-Feb-19
© Jeff Offutt

5. (3) Break Pages Up
Users need to see and identify the different areas on a web page immediately
Without thinking !
Consistency helps
Borders and colors are important
Example :
Note the border around the schedule
The color backgrounds
The “new” star
21-Feb-19
© Jeff Offutt

6. (4) Make What’s Clickable Obvious
Users need to know what they can click without thinking
Standard link colors
Buttons that look like buttons
Large pictures with blue highlighting are easy to miss
Example :
What’s clickable? Some of the green text!?!
Some of the turquoise text is
Example :
What’s clickable?
Most common action – adding money – how ???
Don’t make me think!
21-Feb-19
© Jeff Offutt

7. (5) Minimize Noise Avoid extra information that users do not need
Newspapers :
Yikes !
21-Feb-19
© Jeff Offutt

8. Krug Chapter 4 Mindless Choices

9. Counting Clicks On the web, speed of use is mostly about clicking :
How many clicks
How hard each click is
Examples :
University of Advancing Technology — How do you take a class here?
— How to find the SWE minor?
21-Feb-19
© Jeff Offutt

10. Many web designers have no idea that they should design for the user
Summary
Many web designers have no idea that they should design for the user
Let alone HOW
21-Feb-19
© Jeff Offutt