Top performing dotcoms share a common feature. It isn't a new software plug-in or a design gadget or any other piece of technology. These sites share a passionate focus on usability. This guide is designed for software developers, project managers, business analysts and user interface designers, and does not require a background in human factors or usability. It presents a practical, structured, customer-centered design method that encourages innovation yet helps you make sure your final design is still easy to use. It assumes that people will always choose a simple way of achieving their goals over a complex way; it therefore focuses on the customers and explains how to design e-commerce sites that ordinary people can use. The book begins by helping identify target customers and expected business benefits, showing how to collect the data needed to define the customer experience. It shows how to use test results to decide when the site is ready to ''go live''. The book provides a detailed description of different customers and the environment in which they access the site. Practical techniques are presented for developing and prototyping site design, starting with paper design and then moving to electronic slide shows or interactive prototypes. The book then discusses methods for usability testing of the designs both by domain experts and representative customers. Finally, it discusses how to maintain the usability edge once the site has been launched.

表现最好的网络公司有一个共同的特点。它不是一个新的软件插件或设计小工具或任何其他技术。这些网站都非常关注可用性。本指南是为软件开发人员、项目经理、业务分析师和用户界面设计师设计的，不需要具备人为因素或可用性方面的背景知识。它提供了一种实用的、结构化的、以客户为中心的设计方法，鼓励创新，同时帮助您确保最终设计仍然易于使用。它假设人们总是选择一种简单的方式来实现他们的目标，而不是一种复杂的方式；因此，它以客户为中心，并解释了如何设计普通人可以使用的电子商务网站。这本书从帮助确定目标客户和预期的商业利益开始，展示了如何收集定义客户体验所需的数据。它展示了如何使用测试结果来决定站点何时准备好“上线”。这本书详细描述了不同的客户以及他们访问网站的环境。介绍了开发和原型网站设计的实用技术，从纸面设计开始，然后转向电子幻灯片或交互式原型。然后，本书讨论了由领域专家和代表性客户对设计进行可用性测试的方法。最后，讨论了网站上线后如何保持可用性优势。