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Let's admit Things will go wrong online. No matter how carefully you design a site, no matter how much testing you do, customers still encounter problems. So how do you handle these inevitable breakdowns? With defensive design. In this book, the experts at 37signals (whose clients include Microsoft, Qwest, Monster.com, and Clear Channel) will show you how. Defensive design is like defensive driving brought to the Web. The same way drivers must always be on the lookout for slick roads, reckless drivers, and other dangerous scenarios, site builders must constantly search for trouble spots that cause visitors confusion and frustration. Good site defense can make or break the customer experience. In these pages, you'll see hundreds of real-world examples from companies like Amazon, Google, and Yahoo that show the right (and wrong) ways to get defensive. You'll learn 40 guidelines to prevent errors and rescue customers if a breakdown occurs. You'll also explore how to evaluate your own site's defensive design and improve it over the long term. This book is a must read for designers, programmers, copywriters, and any other site decision-makers who want to increase usability and customer satisfaction.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 26, 2013
Smart, practical guidelines for designing web sites and web applications.
The book is broken down into structured guidelines that are both easy to read and reference. While this book was written in 2004, the guidelines hold up surprisingly well.
It's uncited and does little to refer to their own end user and A/B testing, which is odd for 37signals-- but the insights are easy to agree with, while in a few instances you'll note that the web has moved into a contradictory direction (it's odd seeing javascript alerts or popup alerts in any respects being looked to as a good practice).
The section at the end that deals with testing for the guidelines is worth the price of admission. It's one of the reasons 37signals is admired within our industry.
I look forward to an update, by this author or another that takes a more data-centric and modern look at the subject of defensive design but maintains the breezy reading.
The book is broken down into structured guidelines that are both easy to read and reference. While this book was written in 2004, the guidelines hold up surprisingly well.
It's uncited and does little to refer to their own end user and A/B testing, which is odd for 37signals-- but the insights are easy to agree with, while in a few instances you'll note that the web has moved into a contradictory direction (it's odd seeing javascript alerts or popup alerts in any respects being looked to as a good practice).
The section at the end that deals with testing for the guidelines is worth the price of admission. It's one of the reasons 37signals is admired within our industry.
I look forward to an update, by this author or another that takes a more data-centric and modern look at the subject of defensive design but maintains the breezy reading.
October 25, 2024
(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)
У этой книги имеется только одна, но существенная проблема - год издания. В США эта книга была издана в 2004 и 2006 г. Но, даже не зная этого, уже с самых первых страниц замечаешь эпоху только появляющегося интернета, первых web-страниц и пр., что в свою очередь означает, что книга очень сильно устарела. Тем не менее, если рассматривать книгу в качестве некого эквивалента списка для сверки для созданного только что сайта, то книга актуальна и важна. Хотя, учитывая тот факт, что и средний и даже малый бизнес не создаёт сегодня для себя сайты собственными руками, а делегирует эту задачу профессиональным фирмам, тогда в таком случаи книга будет мало актуальной, ибо книга повествует об ошибках касаемо дизайна (проектирования) сайтов которые сегодня мало кто совершает. Тут нужно упомянуть, что я рассматриваю эту книгу не в качестве бумажного помощника web-дизайнеру, а в качестве помощника маркетологу, для проверки или сопоставления подотчётному ему сайта компании, в которой он работает. Для web-дизайнера книга с вероятностью 95% не принесёт никакой пользы, а вот для маркетолога она имеет небольшие шансы стать полезной (хотя шансы и не большие по вышеназванной причине).
В книге мало текста, т.к. большую часть составляют изображения страниц различных сайтов с правильным и не правильным web-дизайном. В принципе, для данной темы, это очень правильный подход - минимум текста и максимум иллюстрированного материала, ведь в таком случаи мы легко понимаем, в чём ошибка или как выглядит не правильный дизайн сайта. Что касается текста, то он чётко и по делу объясняет мысли авторов. Пустословие в книге отсутствует, а что касается тем, то все они построены вокруг удобства и неудобства пользователей, при использовании сайта начиная с регистрации нового пользователя, поиска нужного товара и заканчивая онлайн-оплатой на сайте. Как я уже отметил выше, сегодня все или почти все перечисленные ошибки в строении web-дизайна сайтов найти довольно трудно, а возможно даже и невозможно вовсе. Так что данная книга представляет хороший пример литературы, которая теряет большую часть своей ценности с каждым годом. В крайнем случаи можно просто посмотреть, как функционируют интернет сайты крупный корпораций, взяв их в качестве образца для подражания.
This book has only one significant problem - the year of publication. In the US, this book was published in 2004 and 2006. But even without knowing that, from the very first pages, you notice the era of the emerging Internet, the first web pages, etc., which in turn means that the book is outdated. Nevertheless, if you consider the book as a kind of equivalent of a checklist for a newly created website, the book is relevant and important. However, given the fact that medium and even small businesses do not create today themselves sites with their own hands, and delegate this task to professional firms, then, in this case, the book will be of little relevance because the book tells about the mistakes regarding the design that today few people commit. It should be mentioned that I consider this book not as a paper assistant to a web designer but as an assistant to a marketer to check or compare to his subordinate site of the company in which he works. For web designers, the book, with a probability of 95%, not be useful, but for marketers, it has a small chance of becoming useful (although the chances are not great for the above reason).
The book has little text because most of the images are images of pages of various sites with correct and incorrect web designs. In principle, for this topic, this is a very good approach - a minimum of text and a maximum of illustrated material, because, in this case, we can easily understand what is the error or how it looks not the correct design of the site. As for the text, it explains the author's thoughts clearly and to the point. There is no twaddle in the book, and as for the themes, they are all built around user convenience and inconvenience when using the site from new user registration, to finding the right product, to online payment on the site. As I mentioned above, today, all or almost all of the above errors in the structure of web-design sites are quite difficult to find and perhaps even impossible at all. So, this book is a good example of literature that loses much of its value every year. As a last resort, you can simply look at how the Internet sites of large corporations, taking them as a model for imitation.
У этой книги имеется только одна, но существенная проблема - год издания. В США эта книга была издана в 2004 и 2006 г. Но, даже не зная этого, уже с самых первых страниц замечаешь эпоху только появляющегося интернета, первых web-страниц и пр., что в свою очередь означает, что книга очень сильно устарела. Тем не менее, если рассматривать книгу в качестве некого эквивалента списка для сверки для созданного только что сайта, то книга актуальна и важна. Хотя, учитывая тот факт, что и средний и даже малый бизнес не создаёт сегодня для себя сайты собственными руками, а делегирует эту задачу профессиональным фирмам, тогда в таком случаи книга будет мало актуальной, ибо книга повествует об ошибках касаемо дизайна (проектирования) сайтов которые сегодня мало кто совершает. Тут нужно упомянуть, что я рассматриваю эту книгу не в качестве бумажного помощника web-дизайнеру, а в качестве помощника маркетологу, для проверки или сопоставления подотчётному ему сайта компании, в которой он работает. Для web-дизайнера книга с вероятностью 95% не принесёт никакой пользы, а вот для маркетолога она имеет небольшие шансы стать полезной (хотя шансы и не большие по вышеназванной причине).
В книге мало текста, т.к. большую часть составляют изображения страниц различных сайтов с правильным и не правильным web-дизайном. В принципе, для данной темы, это очень правильный подход - минимум текста и максимум иллюстрированного материала, ведь в таком случаи мы легко понимаем, в чём ошибка или как выглядит не правильный дизайн сайта. Что касается текста, то он чётко и по делу объясняет мысли авторов. Пустословие в книге отсутствует, а что касается тем, то все они построены вокруг удобства и неудобства пользователей, при использовании сайта начиная с регистрации нового пользователя, поиска нужного товара и заканчивая онлайн-оплатой на сайте. Как я уже отметил выше, сегодня все или почти все перечисленные ошибки в строении web-дизайна сайтов найти довольно трудно, а возможно даже и невозможно вовсе. Так что данная книга представляет хороший пример литературы, которая теряет большую часть своей ценности с каждым годом. В крайнем случаи можно просто посмотреть, как функционируют интернет сайты крупный корпораций, взяв их в качестве образца для подражания.
This book has only one significant problem - the year of publication. In the US, this book was published in 2004 and 2006. But even without knowing that, from the very first pages, you notice the era of the emerging Internet, the first web pages, etc., which in turn means that the book is outdated. Nevertheless, if you consider the book as a kind of equivalent of a checklist for a newly created website, the book is relevant and important. However, given the fact that medium and even small businesses do not create today themselves sites with their own hands, and delegate this task to professional firms, then, in this case, the book will be of little relevance because the book tells about the mistakes regarding the design that today few people commit. It should be mentioned that I consider this book not as a paper assistant to a web designer but as an assistant to a marketer to check or compare to his subordinate site of the company in which he works. For web designers, the book, with a probability of 95%, not be useful, but for marketers, it has a small chance of becoming useful (although the chances are not great for the above reason).
The book has little text because most of the images are images of pages of various sites with correct and incorrect web designs. In principle, for this topic, this is a very good approach - a minimum of text and a maximum of illustrated material, because, in this case, we can easily understand what is the error or how it looks not the correct design of the site. As for the text, it explains the author's thoughts clearly and to the point. There is no twaddle in the book, and as for the themes, they are all built around user convenience and inconvenience when using the site from new user registration, to finding the right product, to online payment on the site. As I mentioned above, today, all or almost all of the above errors in the structure of web-design sites are quite difficult to find and perhaps even impossible at all. So, this book is a good example of literature that loses much of its value every year. As a last resort, you can simply look at how the Internet sites of large corporations, taking them as a model for imitation.
February 7, 2020
The book is old but there are many guides still valid. It made me laugh because of the stupid mistakes we as developer make when we design or build web applications and we neglect the user perspective.
March 30, 2021
Timeless.
January 22, 2024
Required reading for anyone designing/creating websites.
October 9, 2024
Old book but the principles are timeless! Made me think about shopping sites I use everyday and how they work and don’t work.
January 4, 2011
Although this book tries to be easy to comprehend and the main rules are repeated all over the book, it would be a lot clearer if the examples were in color. Even a little experienced UI designer will learn nothing new from this book, I've however found a nice tip or two. Examples are sometimes quite old and many recommended solutions were outdated.
September 9, 2010
All of these guidelines seem so simple to follow and I can see how these would really have a positive impact on customer experience. Every guideline was backed up with examples of websites that were doing things right or wrong. A great read for anyone working with websites!
February 26, 2015
- Good, would be handy to have on bookshelf as reference material
- Covered everything you'd need for contingency design - comprehensive, whilst being concise
- Plenty of examples but it did get a bit repetitive at times
- Covered everything you'd need for contingency design - comprehensive, whilst being concise
- Plenty of examples but it did get a bit repetitive at times
November 29, 2007
simple and effectively timeless points
January 10, 2008
Yet another good book on usability.
February 2, 2009
Good book on how to surface errors, how to prevent them, and how to avoid lost $$ from bad web design.
April 17, 2009
Usually giving redundant examples to emphasize simple points. A seasoned web developer would be aware of 80% of what's mentioned in this book. But it's a good refresher after all.
June 12, 2009
Easy to read with many examples (same as Letting Go of the Words). Some of the reading is cut-and-dry, though, so can be boring if you're not familiar with the terms.
May 5, 2010
Straightforward book on making sure a website user can get out of bind through well-categorized, to-the-point guidelines, supported by good and bad examples. Great as a design reference.
September 9, 2010
Reading this in conjunction to the Web Anatomy book-a full comment will follow once I finish it.
March 21, 2011
Interesting dive into interaction design challenges; a good companion guide for example when defining and testing use cases.
February 10, 2012
Very useful, very impactful. Not nearly enough people pay attention to contingency design, and this book brings it all to the forefront. Highly recommended.
December 20, 2010
Great. Not flashy, but great.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews