printf(“hello, world”)
For a long time now, I’ve written something new pretty regularly. Once every five years, like clockwork.
In between, I’ve never published much of anything. For example, 185 tweets in 2 years, and almost all of them just blatant (“Come to my workshop!”) self promotion.
140 characters just isn’t enough room for me to rub two thoughts together. And writing a whole article is as daunting to me as writing another whole book.
But I’m finally at a point where it seems silly to go for years without putting anything out there. So I’m going to try blogging.
I may not post often, but I will try to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high. (Or low. Whichever is the good one.) Hopefully, some of it will turn out to be useful to someone.
As my friend Joe Ferrara said in high school, “I can’t tell you anything you don’t already know, but I’d like to clarify a few things.”
Wish me luck.
Glad to see you launched a blog. I have no doubts that it’ll be great like your books.
Congrats on the new site launch!
Lyle
Good luck (as requested) and hurrah.
Having received your emails threatening this blog for a fair while now, I’m looking forward to the odd (probably irregular) pearl. I’ll probably blog it myself :)
Cheers!
@Neil Allison
Thanks, Neil. I’ve been crying “Wolf!” (or “Blog!”) for so long, I was sure no one still thought it would ever really happen.
@Lyle Kantrovich
First commenter! And it’s Lyle, one of my favorite people in the usability racket. A good omen.
Cue the confetti….
hahaaaa, you’re funny Steve!
Welcome to the world of blogging where many are landing and even more are quitting every single second!
now seriously, I’m a big fan of you. Your books made me discover huge mistakes in my websites and even if I’m just a coder and not too much of the design skills, I could make them to be more enjoyable for the end user.
Love your talk about Amazon’s website which probably suffered the most changes in this area of usability, speaking of big companies who are also happen to make huge money.
Any idea for when a conference in Toronto?
Cheers from Canada,
Vic
Congratulations on your new blog! Will be looking forward to more regular email updates now (definitely won’t unsubscribe :-) quite the contrary actually). Any trip or workshop in the UAE by any chance?
Looking so much forward to this… I know your blog will inspire me, make me laugh and make me wiser..
All the best from Copenhagen :-)
Yeah! I’ve just subscribed your blog to my feeds… Good luck!
I am pumped!
Nice! Looking forward to your posts!
We look forward for your posts, many have started following the blog already.
Thanks,
Aji Issac
Good luck ;)
“Don’t make me think” is one of my favourite web-design books.
Its chapter “Omit needless words” is my favourite, and not because it’s so short :-)
I try to use the “Omit needless words” principle for most of my written communication.
“Omit needless words”, combined with an introduction that answers 5W+H (the questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How), can make written communication more effective!
I am looking forward to your blog!
PS: I obviously haven’t used 5W+H in this comment ;-)
I will follow this very closely:)
Welcome to the blogosphere Steve, glad you finally made it ;-)
I’ve been receiving your email updates for some time now and you always manage to make me smile. You are one of my favourite sources for online usability wisdom. As of now this blog is in my Google Reader.
Well, as one who has put a toe tentatively in the blogging world myself, join the club of the reluctant. But, in your case, I know it will be Great Stuff!
Hey Steve, congratulations on your new blog! I’m happy to see it’s finally here, I enjoy reading your thoughts.
Looking forward to read more from you. Good luck :-D
hey Steve,
Love both Don’t Make Me Think and Rocket Surgery Made Easy, and am very happy to see my favourite usability writer get into blogging. Let me know if you have any questions on blogging or WordPress etc that I can help with :).
Speaking of which: can you write about some usability issues in people’s favourite CMSes?
Thanks, Gabriel!
I would, but I don’t have any first hand experience with CMSes. Maybe one of these days. (I do sometimes feel like I should try to delve into some niches, like higher ed sites and library sites, for instance.)
@Steve Krug
“… feel like I should try to delve into some niches, like higher ed sites…”
As someone constantly pushing the usability agenda in a UK higher ed institution could I just follow up and say – “YES. Please, YES.”
If I’ve achieved nothing else, I like to think I’ve got your book onto a few more shelves around the university :)
I like “Don’t make me think” book. It make new idea for design.
Hi Steve – Just love your books – getting ready to do a workshop on Usability and reviewing Rocket surgery again LOL … Thanks;-)
Peder
http://www.uxconsult.dk
Thanks, Peder!