"One of the very few well-documented facts about Web use is that people tend to spend very little time reading most Web pages. Instead, we scan (or skim) them, looking for words or phrases that catch our eyes.

What we see when we look at a Web page depends on what we have in mind, but it's usually just a fraction of what's on the page.

One of the things that becomes obvious as soon as you do any usability testing - whether you're testing Web sites, software or household appliances - is the extent to which people use things all the time without understanding how they work, or with completely wrong-headed ideas about how they work. Faced with any sort of technology, very few people take the time to read instructions. Instead, we forge ahead & muddle through, making up our own vaguely plausible stories about what we're doing & why it works.

If your audience is going to act like you're designing billboards, then design great bilboards"

Quote from Steve Krug
from the book Don't Make Me Think A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability



I think this is a great piece of writing recognising the reality of the World, but changing your view to accommodate this inconvenient truth & still aiming for excellence.

This paragraph reminds me of a famous quote from Carl Sagan

"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology ."

Tags: Technology, Web