Forms make or break the most crucial online interactions: checkout, registration, and any task requiring information entry. In Web Form Design, Luk...
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reviews
Dec 21, 2008
Rick
rated it: 
I took one page of notes. I struggled to stay interested, as the writing is pretty dry and straightforward. It's somewhere between principles of good information architecture, cognitive science/usability, and a recipe book for techniques. But it never grabbed me because I wasn't seeing anything terribly radical.
I've been an Information Architect and Interaction Designer for a few years now, and have dealt with my fair share of forms for social networking and B2B web applications. I More...
I've been an Information Architect and Interaction Designer for a few years now, and have dealt with my fair share of forms for social networking and B2B web applications. I More...
Jun 21, 2009
Heather
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Web forms are one of those things we tend to shrug our shoulders about and ignore, as the default properties are difficult to style. But this exhaustive e-book helps to change all of that. It is written from a user experience perspective and is as much about psychology as it is about code. It breaks form design into easy chapters and sections, including labels, input fields, validation, and even the "path to completion". The chapters are peppered with real-world examples contribute
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Jun 27, 2008
Marty
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Good or bad, there aren't many books that I can use for my job that I go through quickly. There's just something about a limit to my absorption of information from these books that makes me take my time to get through them. However, that was not a problem with this book. Chock full of good information, Wroblewski manages to make it a quick, easy and yet informative read that only took me 2 days cover-to-cover.
For anyone that works on the web, forms are going to be something you de More...
For anyone that works on the web, forms are going to be something you de More...
Aug 14, 2008
Joe
rated it:
There’s a pretty good chance that you will fill out a form today… and tomorrow… and the next day.
Forms are everywhere you look–we rely on them for nearly everything from searching for information to ordering some goods to balancing your checkbook. As anybody who has encountered a poorly-designed form can attest, when forms are confusing or difficult to use they have the power to bring everything else down with them. A truly evil form can send your world spiraling out of control into More...
Forms are everywhere you look–we rely on them for nearly everything from searching for information to ordering some goods to balancing your checkbook. As anybody who has encountered a poorly-designed form can attest, when forms are confusing or difficult to use they have the power to bring everything else down with them. A truly evil form can send your world spiraling out of control into More...
Jun 11, 2008
Lisa
rated it:
Wroblewski provides an excellent overview of interface design best practices for Web-based forms. He also provides specific, real-life critiques of what works and what does not in various interface designs. In particular I liked the "Selection-Dependent Inputs" chapter where he subjects various design methods to usability testing and reports on the results. I also like his argument for avoiding forms altogether, at least until you have engaged the user.
Unfortunately, as of More...
Unfortunately, as of More...
May 29, 2009
Adam
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I do enjoy it when a book picks a specific focus, sticks to it, and delivers. One of the hardest things to get right on the web is gathering information from end users, and yet it can have a huge impact on your site's usability and (if you're a for-profit) your bottom line. This book lays out all of the common problems you're likely to encounter from a form design standpoint without dwelling too much on the actual HTML/CSS/JS/whatever implementation (which I think is great). An immensely useful
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Dec 10, 2008
Dan
rated it:
Ok, not fiction. I probably shouldn't mix them.
But in the event someone ever asks me why there aren't any UX books on my shelf... This is a CLASSIC. Luke W. basically took all of the studies about web forms in the world and distilled them into one guide. That's like 150 pages. I'm pretty sure that's akin to taking Einstein's theory of relativity and adequately explaining it for a fortune cookie. Yep, I do not exaggerate. Amazing friggen book!
But in the event someone ever asks me why there aren't any UX books on my shelf... This is a CLASSIC. Luke W. basically took all of the studies about web forms in the world and distilled them into one guide. That's like 150 pages. I'm pretty sure that's akin to taking Einstein's theory of relativity and adequately explaining it for a fortune cookie. Yep, I do not exaggerate. Amazing friggen book!
Sep 21, 2011
Terry
rated it:
This book is pretty decent. Does not get drawn into technical detail about actually coding the forms, but more about user behavior and attitudes surrounding what is really a rather boring/arduous phenomenon for web users. It seemed to be missing a little "uumph" at the end, but it could be the material itself moreso than the writing or formatting. A worthy title and a brisk read.
Oct 04, 2011
Laura
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While this book does contain a lot of common sense ideas it has enough of what I hadn't thought about in terms of web forms that it was well worth my time. I already cited one of the chapters in a meeting where we were discussing how to we wanted to indicate that all form fields were required. It is great to have a reference like this to help assert authority when decisions need to be made.
Sep 20, 2011
Dhuaine
rated it:
Rather one-sided view of the forms - this book is mostly about usability. Accessibility got pushed aside. It doesn't help that half of the information is rather obvious and straightforward to anyone with some knowledge about usability. I did like real life studies, graphs and statistics, but unfortunately felt that the book was a bit too short and not comprehensive enough.
Nov 24, 2010
Yesh
rated it:
Great summary of best practices to consider while designing web forms. This book definitely will force you to think for the users filling you web forms and if possible innovate ways to present your web forms and help millions of users from having to fill one less miserable form.
Jan 26, 2011
Caitlin
rated it:
Great book about all things forms. It touches on all aspects of form design (not necessarily form development, although there is a very small portion dedicated to that) chapter by chapter, gives a ton of examples you can refer to, and also goes over how all of the different solutions worked out with focus groups.
This is a wonderful read for any developers (or designers) who are hoping to learn more about forms. It can be a little bit more dry than some other web development books I've More...
This is a wonderful read for any developers (or designers) who are hoping to learn more about forms. It can be a little bit more dry than some other web development books I've More...
Oct 24, 2011
Steve
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Pulls together all the things we know about how people interact with web forms. Not only details best practices for building forms, but also shares some empirical data behind the recommendations.
Jul 21, 2009
Travis
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Great and thorough overview of how to design successful and usable forms. Practical in it's considerate process and final Checklists.
Nov 22, 2010
Eralee
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Great examples. Doesnt go into the psychology or quantitative reasons but nice book to have in a designers bookshelf.
Feb 06, 2010
Bob
rated it:
Makes some good points in an easily digestible way, but I'm not sure the cover price is justified. Probably something great to get from the library.
On the other hand, I wish more web designers would follow this advice,
On the other hand, I wish more web designers would follow this advice,
Jan 16, 2009
By Luke Wroblewski, Senior Director, Yahoo! Inc. and Principal, LukeW Interface Designs
Jan 31, 2011
Shane
rated it:
Luke's book details the art of form-making. He provides plenty of research and screenshots of forms that don't work and ways to improve them to make them easier and quicker for the user. A good reach with common sense and not a lot of code getting in the way.
Oct 27, 2008
michelle
rated it:
I know, thrilling - a book about form design on the web. this will reveal my true inner geekdom. If you use a form that I designed and it wasn't so painful, now you know why. Solid human factors design stuff for interface designers...
Oct 30, 2011
Amanda
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Clear, super easy and fast to digest so I could understand the principles of good form UX and put them to work. Also effective for print form layout.
Apr 25, 2009
Hoby
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Good, useful, at times a bit surprising. I now consider myself much better informed about forms.
May 24, 2008
Josh
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A great summary of what works and doesn't work when designing web forms. Interesting pointers and starting places to think through the problems that a complicated form can create.
Oct 15, 2008
Warner
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So far an awesome book on designing web forms for real people (not systems). Plenty of usability studies that back up the real-world scenarios.
