Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed
Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir, 2001
Homepages 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. The homepage is also your company's face to the world. Potential customers look at your company's online presence before doing any business with you. Complexity or confusion make people go away. Of course, all other aspects of bad web design should be fixed as well, but if the homepage doesn't communicate what users can do and why they should care about the website, you might as well not have a website at all. That's why homepage usability is so important and that's why we wrote a book specifically about this one topic.
We followed on our own principles when naming the book. Most people should be able to figure out what a book called Homepage Usability is about. Two words, and you know the topic. (New Riders Publishing.)
Study Guide
Four exercises to accompany the book for use by corporate reading groups or individual home study.
Press
Winner of the Independent Publisher Book Award for best book of the year in the "computer/Internet" category. Award presented at BookExpo America.
NetMechanic : "You'll probably have it [the book's checklist] taped next to your monitor soon after finishing the book ... excellent resource and well worth the cost."
AbleStable : "***** rating ... "a truly wonderful book ... great resource for anyone wanting to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of homepage web design."
PC Magazine : "a must-read for Web site designers."
Blogcritics : "Well worth the money [...] It's so much fun just to read."
Mantex UK : "any Web designer [...] will learn a lot."
Danny Yee's Book Reviews : "invaluable advice on web design - I learned a lot from it, as I think even seasoned web designers will."
Folha de S. Paulo Review (Portuguese)
Have Us Review Your Homepage
Nielsen Norman Group offers a consulting service with an independent usability review of your homepage.
- Get a report that spares no punches while giving you directions for how to improve the design of the most important page on your website.
- Get your score and find out how you stack up against the other sites we have reviewed.
Table of Contents
- Preface
- 113 Design Guidelines for Homepages
- Determining Homepage Content
- Vertical Industry Segments
- Communicating the Site's Purpose
- Communicating Information About Your Company
- Content Writing
- Revealing Content Through Examples
- Archives and Accessing Past Content
- Links
- Navigation
- Search
- Tools and Task Shortcuts
- Graphics and Animation
- Graphic Design
- UI Widgets
- Window Titles
- URLs
- News and Press Releases
- Popup Windows and Staging Pages
- Advertising
- Welcomes
- Communicating Technical Problems and Handling Emergencies
- Credits
- Page Reload and Refresh
- Customization
- Gathering Customer Data
- Fostering Community
- Dates and Times
- Stock Quotes and Displaying Numbers
- Homepage Design Statistics
- Percentages showing how frequently each of the possible alternatives are used for main homepage design choices.
- Download Time
- Basic Page Layout
- Page Width
- Liquid Versus Frozen Layout
- Page Length
- Frames
- Fundamental Page Design Elements
- Logo
- Search
- Navigation
- Footer Navigation
- Site Map
- Routing Pages
- Splash Pages
- Frequent Features
- Sign In
- About Us
- Contact Info
- Privacy Policy
- Job Openings
- Help
- Graphics and Multimedia
- Pictures
- ALT Text
- Music
- Animation
- Advertising
- Typography
- Body Text and Background Colors
- Link Formatting
- Recommended Homepage Design
- Fifty Homepage Reviews
- Listing of Window Titles and Taglines
- Screen Real Estate Allocation
- Gallery of Logos
- Gallery of Search Features
- Gallery of People Photos
- Gallery of Shopping Carts
- Index
Translations
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Chinese (simplified) at Dangdang.com 专业主页设计技术：50佳站点赏析 ISBN 986-7944-16-X |
Chinese (traditional) ISBN 986-7944-16-X |
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Použitelnost domovských stránek
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L'art de la page d'accueil: 50 sites web passés au crible |
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Homepage Usability. 50 enttarnte Webseiten |
Homepage usability: 50 siti web analizzati
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ホームページ・ユーザビリティ ~顧客をつかむ勝ち組サイト32の決定的法則 |
Funksjonelle hjemmesider: 50 hjemmesider bit-for-bit |
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Funkcjonalność stron www. 50 witryn bez sekretów |
Portuguese Homepage: Usabilidade - 50 websites desconstruídos |
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Russian at Williamspublishing.com Дизайн Web-страниц (веб дизайн). Анализ удобства и простоты использования 50 сайтов |
Usabilidad de Páginas de Inicio: Análisis de 50 sitios Web |
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Användbara Hemsidor - Analys av 50 webbplatser |
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Errata
This list of corrections does not include minor typos but only errors of substance.
- Page 165
- The pie chart has too small a wedge for "content of interest" (should be 19%) and too big a wedge for "unused" (should be 31%).
- Page 186-187
- Comment 17 on page 187 refers to the menu item "Specialized Transportation" in the right column of the screenshot on page 186. The #17 red bubble has erroneously been placed in the first column instead.