The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Homepage Usability Major Keary

Jakob Nielsen has been called "the world's leading expert on Web usability" [U.S.News & World Report]; in this title he is joined by Marie Tahir, who has an impressive background that includes pioneering Web-related field research and user profiling methodology.

The most important thing a homepage has to achieve is a good first impression. It must capture attention, tell visitors, where they are, and provide clear navigational information. Of course, there are websites that don't require to pass such a test; just as one does not pick up a telephone directory for entertainment or light reading, there are sites that contain information - even if its importance is ephemeral - that is essential to the user. However, what this title discusses is the homepage that needs visitors more than the visitors need it.

The authors deconstructs fifty websites that include Amazon, NewScientist, Philip Morris, Walmart, IBM, Boeing, and Coles (as in www.coles.com.au).

An unusual feature is the book's page size, 255 x 255 mm, a format that suits the design. On one page is an illustration of the homepage under discussion, and on the opposite leaf is a concise critique. In some instances reference numbers have been superimposed on the homepage illustration, and are used in the point-by-point discussion. In other instances a more general discussion format is used with a pie chart that shows a breakdown of screen real estate; these are interesting and informative.

Before the homepage section, which takes up most of the book, there is an informative discussion of the role of the homepage. That is followed by a chapter, Homepage Guidelines, that contains over a hundred rules presented in concise, plain language. These rules, which are organised by topic, do not involve complex discussions of design (of the artistic kind), but are the result of the authors' research and field studies. Many of them will sound like common sense: the kind of thing that we already knew - but of which we need to be reminded. Anyone teaching web design should find the list a particularly useful resource.

This is one of the best books on usability that I have seen; it uses a visual approach that clearly illustrates the points made in each discussion. It should be especially useful to any executive involved in the implementation of a corporate website; it is not about web technologies, but about practical issues associated with getting a homepage to work well. Very well-priced for a book of this quality in both content and presentation.

Jakob Nielsen's Designing Web Usability (ISBN 1-56205-810-X) has been translated into thirteen other languages, which is a good indicator of its worth. Essential reading for anyone who wants an in-depth discussion of the principles of usability and how to apply them. It has been reviewed in a previous issue of PC Update and a copy is in the library.

An Australian publication, Hurol Inan's Measuring the Success of Your Website (ISBN 1-74009-648-7), is about the tools - and their application - that are available for objective measurement and analysis of Web traffic. An essential resource for anyone who wants to assess the services offered by providers who claim to be expert in Web metrics.

Nielsen and Tahir: Homepage Usability ISBN 0-7357-1102-X Published by New Riders, 315 pp.,  RRP $79.95 incl. GST