Don't Make Me Think
Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krugby Steve Krug
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 12 design books by recommenders
Classic guide to clear web interface design, recommended as essential reading for developers. One critic says its advice has become so standard it now feels obvious.
Classic guide to clear web interface design, recommended as essential reading for developers. One critic says its advice has become so standard it now feels obvious.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 92%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 12 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Classic design reference for online interfaces
“Don’t Make Me Think” is a book that needs to be somewhere in the lines of “The Design of Everyday Things.””
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “The book "Don't make me think" is a classic design reference that makes this point really well.”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok” “is a seminal work on design thinking for online services”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” - Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “Bug Blindness”
Essential reading for software developers
“I submit this should be part of "Software Development 101", right there alongside SICP.”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “"Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers” “I was surprised this wasn't on there, even with a caveat that it's for online sources”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “I'm one of those folks that read Don't Make Me Think , and took it to heart.”
Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “"I'm Embarrassed on Behalf of the Tech Industry"” Usability principles still hold
“It's an old book, but most of the advice is common sense and still applies.”
Comment from 30 Nov 2025 in “Bazzite: Operating System for Linux gaming” “If you made your users think, you have lost them.”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Chinese users do not like "super apps"” Clear guide to user-friendly interfaces
“Don‘t Make Me Think is the best guide for developing interfaces for non technical user”
Comment from 26 Sep 2026 in “What About Rails?” “If you made your users think, you have lost them.”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Chinese users do not like "super apps"”
Other design books people recommend
The four most recommended other design books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Design of Everyday Thingsby Don Norman | 29 | 2 | 94% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Refactoring UIby Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger | 14 | 3 | 82% | 3 | — | — |
| Don't Make Me Thinkby Steve KrugThis page | 12 | 1 | 92% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Practical Typographyby Matthew Butterick | 10 | 3 | 77% | 8 | — | Approved |
| A Pattern Languageby Christopher Alexander | 9 | 1 | 90% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
12 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I'm one of those folks that read Don't Make Me Think , and took it to heart.”
“Don‘t Make Me Think is the best guide for developing interfaces for non technical user”
“I love the UX-design book: Don't Make Me Think.”
“I submit this should be part of "Software Development 101", right there alongside SICP.”
“If you made your users think, you have lost them.”
“when you add a feature used by only a small percentage of users you're taxing 100% of users”
“It was prescriptive that became descriptive.”
“The book "Don't make me think" is a classic design reference that makes this point really well.”
“is a seminal work on design thinking for online services”
“I was surprised this wasn't on there, even with a caveat that it's for online sources”
“Don’t Make Me Think” is a book that needs to be somewhere in the lines of “The Design of Everyday Things.””
“It's an old book, but most of the advice is common sense and still applies.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.