Steve Krug Usability Quotes & Sayings

I don't think there are as many usability issues as there are tactical or strategic decisions related to whether incorporating social networking into your site is going to help or hurt. — Steve Krug

Happy talk must die — Steve Krug

Designers love subtle cues, because subtlety is one of the traits of sophisticated design. But Web users are
generally in such a hurry that they routinely miss subtle cues. — Steve Krug

There's almost always a plausible rationale - and a good, if misguided, intention - behind every usability flaw. Another — Steve Krug

When fixing problems, always do the least you can. — Steve Krug

Demonstrate ROI. In this approach, you gather and analyze data to prove that a usability change you've made resulted in cost savings or additional revenue ("Changing the label on this button increased sales by 0.25%"). There's an excellent book about it: Cost-justifying Usability: An Update for the Internet Age, edited by Randolph Bias and Deborah Mayhew. — Steve Krug

In reality, though, most of the time we don't choose the best option - we choose the first reasonable option, a strategy known as satisficing. — Steve Krug

Don't make me think — Steve Krug

If you want a great site, you've got to test. After you've worked on a site for even a few weeks, you can't see it freshly anymore. You know too much. The only way to find out if it really works is to test it. — Steve Krug

As a rule, conventions only become conventions if they work. — Steve Krug

The more you watch users carefully and listen to them articulate their intentions, motivations, and thought processes, the more you realize that their individual reactions to Web pages are based on so many variables that attempts to describe users in terms of one-dimensional likes and dislikes are futile and counter-productive. Good design, on the other hand, takes this complexity into account. — Steve Krug

It doesn't matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice. — Steve Krug

When you go to a site, you usually run into usability problems pretty quickly. They're not hidden. They're not complicated. They're not baffling. They were in the design or crept into the design. — Steve Krug

Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what's left. — Steve Krug

Your objective should always be to eliminate instructions entirely by making everything self-explanatory, or as close to it as possible. When instructions are absolutely necessary, cut them back to a bare minimum. — Steve Krug