Defensive Design for the Web
by 37signals, Matthew Linderman, Jason Fried
The full title is: Defensive Design for the Web : How to improve error messages, help, forms, and other crisis points (Voices That Matter)
Book News, Inc. reports:
"Linderman, a web designer specializing in customer-focused design, offers guidelines for preventing errors in web sites and rescuing customers when problems occur, providing hundreds of real-world examples that show the right and wrong ways to handle crisis points. The book will be useful for designers and information architects, developers, copy writers, and project managers and executives." [end quote]
Let's admit it: 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.
Here are 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.
Don't miss 
Defensive Design for the Web
by 37signals, Matthew Linderman, Jason Fried
Paperback: 264 pages Publisher: Pearson Education (March 2, 2004); List Price: $24.99 - buy now: Price: $16.99 and You Save: $8.00 (32%)
See similar titles in the Web department Keywords: Web: Web design, Web development, html, shtml, gifs, jpgs, web graphics, layout, pages
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