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Title: Defensive Design for the Web : How to improve error messages, help, forms, and other crisis points by 37signals, Matthew Linderman, Jason Fried ISBN: 0-7357-1410-X Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 02 March, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.62 (21 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: FOR THOSE WHO DON'T FOLLOW "DESIGN NOT FOUND"..
Comment: No introduction necessary for 37S, I am a near-cultic reader of the "Design Not Found" (DNF) endeavour and of the "Signal vs. Noise" (SvN) blog. But upon reading the flyer for this book I wondered if I'd find something in it that's not already on these two sites. Unfortunately, the answer is somewhat mixed.
PEOPLE WHO MAY FIND THIS BOOK USEFUL:
(1) Those who don't have the time or the energy to voraciously follow the posts on SvN or the additions to DNF.
(2) Site Managers who need a guideline or checklist of things they would do well to cover off.
(3) Project Managers making a case for that common-sense stuff that's usually skirted amidst all those Yesterday deadlines.
(4) Cultic fans of 37 Signals
(5) Those who like Interstate typography :)
(6) Those who don't really care for actual implementation, but are looking simply for some cursory ideas and examples. For instance, in giving examples of good 404 pages (aren't we kinda late to the party if we need a book such as this to get educated on the MOST fundamental element of a website?) we are never really told how these pages can be implemented. We instead get 7 pages of what the authors believe are good case studies. Fair enough.
PEOPLE WHO MAY BE DISAPPOINTED:
(1) Web Developers in the know. I mean, do I really need a half page discourse on the scourge of the RESET button (which no one uses) or a whole page on why I should disable the SUBMIT button once it has been pressed by a user, etc etc?
(2) Those who believe that nearly twenty dollars could get you a whole array of other cool things.
SUMMARY:
It's an extended and neatly bound version of DNF with a New Riders stamp, and only you're the judge of what that could mean to you. Great stuff, very well presented in the customary 37S elegant minimalistic design, but it would be difficult to make a case for why this is a must-own item for webbies in-the-know.
Rating: 5
Summary: Short, easy and must-read book for all Web developers
Comment: This book is a short, easy and must-read book for all Web developers. It does not cover any particular technology or language, but offers a host of tips and advices on how to make a Web site user-friendly and effective. To an experienced Web surfer, the advice is often obvious and based on common sense, but some tips are derived from actual observations of the Internet experience in such matters as site navigation, form filling, and shopping. The authors are members of 37signals, a team of Web design and usability experts with clients as Microsoft, quest, and Monster.com. Their book is loaded with examples of good and bad examples of Web pages or features. It ends with a Contingency Design checklist that can be used to evaluate a site and to plan for change should it be needed.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great book for solving problems related to online apps.
Comment: I have just finished reading Defensive Design for the Web, written by the fine folks at 37signals. The book is divided into 10 chapters, the first 9 broken down into 40 "guidelines". The guidelines cover all areas of defensive design, or "contingency design", as mentioned throughout the book. These guidelines are used to drive home the overall purpose of the chapter.
The writers keep the technical talk to a minimum, and really focus on what contingency design is, how it helps users, and how it is implemented in various sites around the web, if it is implemented at all. It also gives pointers on how to avoid these pitfalls in your own development. Also, it gives alternative examples to prove a point, relating it to something physical rather than electronic.
One example is comparing the annoying flash ads that appear on top of sites, disabling the functionality of certain elements, to trying to leave a travel agent office, and instead, the agent has blocked the door and keeps handing you brochures.
The sites chosen by the author as examples are very popular sites that a majority of readers have at least heard of if not visited. They range in variance from search engines, to e-commerce sites, to general sites with little application implementation. Many sites are mentioned in multiple chapters, sometimes having great contingency design for what the chapter is about, sometimes not. It is interesting to see that some sites succeed in certain areas while at the same time failing in others.
The "Head to Head" features are also great. This takes to sites that would be seen as competitors (Barnes and Noble vs. Amazon, K-mart vs. Wal-Mart, Foot Locker vs. Finish Line, etc.) and shows how they each handle the same contingency design element in different ways.
After reviewing the areas of contingency design, there is a "Contingency Design Test" that you can use not only to test your site yourself, but also give to others to test your site. The test gives certain tasks and uses a point system to score how well a site did with certain guidelines.
The book closes with a chapter on developing a plan for testing, correcting, and implementing contingency design in your site. It gives examples of ways to catalog various design guidelines such as using a knowledgebase for staff members to reference when a problem occurs, testing a site thoroughly at all points of development, and other techniques.
Anyone involved in building or managing websites with any degree of web application integration would do well to read this book. Many items seem like common sense, but you would be surprised at how easy it is to overlook them in the development process. In the end, your users will thank you for it.
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Title: Designing With Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman ISBN: 0735712018 Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 14 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Web Design on a Shoestring by Carrie Bickner ISBN: 0735713286 Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.99 |
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Title: Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug ISBN: 0789723107 Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 13 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Return on Design: Smarter Web Design That Works by Ani Phyo ISBN: 0201756072 Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.99 |
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Title: Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman ISBN: 0465051359 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 23 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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