Jacob Nielsen – renowned usability specialist

I decided to slightly dilute publications with all sorts of pictures and materials for downloading with a very interesting article about one well-known person in narrow (and not so) circles. I think it will be useful for general development.

Jakob Nielsen is a successful programmer and engineer working in the field of web design. His main achievement is the founding of the Nielsen Norman Group together with former vice president of Apple Computer, Donald Norman. Nielsen gained his greatest experience while working at Sun Microsystems as a lead engineer. He was also a specialist in website usability (theory about the expediency and usability of a subject in relation to the stated goal).

All activities of Jacob Nielsen are aimed primarily at making the Internet for users as convenient and accessible as possible. He is the author of many useful inventions and holds thirty-one patents. Also in the arsenal of Jacob Nielsen there are many books on topics of web design, user interfaces, web project structure and many others. One of his most famous books is Web Design. His work, however, is not limited to one-off implementations and inventions. In particular, in the Internet World magazine, as well as on several sites, Jacob Nielsen maintains his own columns and acts as a consultant on issues related to his competence.

This highly qualified specialist has long been given the nickname “users advocate“With which he christened himself. Given the achievements he has made in his work to combat the “dark side of the Internet”, this is not disputed by anyone.

The first book by Jacob Nielsen, published in Russia in 2000 – “Web Design” (original: “Designing Web-Usability“) – to this day is the best guide to the basics of usability. However, the practical application of this theory is best described in the author s second book – “Homepage Usabiliti: 50 Web-sites Deconstructed”. Here, an analysis of fifty main pages on the websites of leading organizations and companies was carried out in order to determine the level of ease of use for visitors.

Jacob Nielsen began his active work in the creation of the theory of building quality web design with the statement that 90% of all sites have an extremely awful and repulsive design…

10 principles of a successful website interface

It was he who defined ten basic principles, thanks to which a successful website interface can be created:

1. The main thing in the interface is its simplicity. Simplifying navigation and filtering out unnecessary information will make the site much more attractive.
2. Site loading speed is of great importance. This can be achieved by combining small pages using fast servers.
3. The brevity of the content used plays an important role in filling the site. All information presented on the web pages must strictly correspond to the theme of the site itself. Nothing extra!
4. It is important to make the site user-friendly for users from all over the world. The Internet is by definition international. In this regard, it is undesirable to use on the pages expressions from local dialects or terms that are understandable to a narrow circle of people.
5. A good site requires a convenient search engine that allows the visitor to easily navigate. Jakob Nielsen recommends placing it in the upper right corner of the home page.
6. It is more advisable to use software that has already been tested and used for at least 2 years. The latest technologies are often imperfect and can damage the site s performance.
7. Information about the site itself must certainly be posted on the home page. Don t force the user to search for it manually.
8. It is necessary to place in a conspicuous place the prices for the goods or services offered by the site if the site has a commercial focus.
9. You should definitely make sure that the font size can be increased in the browser. Many users have poor eyesight.
10. Regular website updates will keep the majority of regular visitors on it, as well as attract the attention of new ones.

Every year the Internet evolves, and many books related to web design are losing their relevance. Therefore, Jacob Nielsen never tired of working to improve the Internet, constantly running a column on his own website and modernizing the fundamentals of web design.

Have you read the books by Jacob Nielsen? What do you think about him in general?