I'd like to start off by saying that so far I really enjoy Krug's book. He's witty and interesting. The layout is also inviting. It's fun and informative. And what I like most about it is he has a way of explaining things that I would disagree with in the first place, until he convinces me of his point.
In the first chapter he talks about "Things that make us think." He mentions right off the bat,
"Typical culprits are cute or clever names, marketing-induced names, company-specific names, and unfamiliar technical names."
I said wait, I think witty or interesting names would be great for the web. Especially for attracting the people who only scan the web for something that jumps out at them. However, when looking into his examples and understanding what he's saying, we as web-designers want to make it as easy as possible for our viewers to find what they're looking for. For example, have a link on the webpage say "jobs" instead of "job-o-rama." It's simple, and makes the work-seeking individual's life easy.
Later, in chapter 2, a bold sub-heading that Krug included really caught my attention and sparked thought on my part:
"We're usually in a hurry."
This is the exact truth. Any time I'm online, I am in a hurry. I'm usually not just sitting down with hours to spare frolicking on the web trying to waste time. I'm looking up information, or purchasing something, or doing homework, or emailing, or whatever else. We have to keep this in mind as web designers if we want to have a easily accessible site that interests viewers and attracts many hits.
Again, I qoute Allen Ginsburg:
"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness"
I think that is all some websites are...madness. The spend too much time trying to lure us with flashy signs of advertisements and catch phrases. Simplicity is the key, I think the only key to make a sucessful websites. It is better to give the people what they want than telling them that you will give them what they want.