By 37Signals
Review by: Alex
The internet is a confusing place, and to combat this we provide our customers with stream upon stream of error messages, help centres, online forms and other ways to guide users through the maze which is your website. Unfortunately for the customer, much of the time the messages they get differ, they are confusing and often throw users who rely on going through a process in using a website off track so they become hopelessly lost. Defensive Design for the Web is a book which aims to hit these crisis points. Where as the book Bulletproof Web Design offers a way to help make your website more flexible and keep itself running when all else fails, this book aims to be more targeted. The aim of this book is to show you that when errors do occur and things start to collapse, keeping a website running is only half of the job, the other half is trying to keep your customer from going elsewhere if something doesn’t go the way they plan. By using the simple guides and hints in this book you will be equipped to handle errors and problems with ease so customers will be able to carry on using your site when that hiccup you didn’t expect occurs. The book uses a simple language and is straight to the point which is always useful and rather then ramble on a single point, it looks at different ways the problem could occur through an out of the box method and shows how websites on the internet today deal with the problem. Not only does the book show where sites go wrong but where they go right also, therefore you can examine how your site handles problems and if a more appropriate way is available.
The chapters of this book include the following... Chapter 1 explains what the book is about and why defensive design is important in web design. Chapter 2 shows you the importance of showing the problem and letting the customer know that an error has occurred. Chapter 3 tells you that language is important and how to give instructions to a user if problems arise. Chapter 4 is all about creating user friendly forms which are easy to complete. Chapter 5 mentions how to overcome missing images, files or plug-ins. Chapter 6 talks about how to offer help to customers of your website which they will find useful. Chapter 7 explains how to eliminate obstacles which get in the way or may persuade clients to go elsewhere and how to be unobtrusive. Chapter 8 mentions how to make searching your site better for your clients and how to produce the best quality search function. Chapter 9 shows you how to deal with stock issues and unavailable items in online stores. Finally Chapter 10 offers you a way to rate your site based on how well it deals with problems arising using a check list you can compare your own sites features against those in the book. Also at the end of the book there is a section which examines how to use this information for the long term to improve what you have fixed.
This book is suitable for the following types of people interested in website development:
- Website developers who have an interest in usability and designers of websites.
- Web design professionals who want to make their websites less problematic.
- Anyone who works in website design who wants to reduce site help requests.