Do’s and Don’ts
I used to read a free publication called Vice magazine. I’ve been too busy with school and design jobs to look for it recently but I fondly recall my reason for picking it up: "Do’s and Don’ts."
I tool guilty pleasure in ogling at the stylish wunderkind and laughing at the unfortunate fashion disasters alike. Defensive Design for the Web by 37 Signals is “Do’s and Don’ts” for Web User Experience.
These Guys Know UE
There isn’t a group more capable of covering this topic than the people at 37 Signals. This studio does Web design for notable clients with a particular focus on Usability and IA. Rob and I have written before about this excellent studio, specifically their online PMS, Basecamp.
These people have taken real-world examples and uncovered the complex psychology and logic behind seemingly no-brainer topics including Forms and “Out of Stock” feedback for consumers. This is done in plain English, using common sense that never condescends.
A Stitch in Time…
The last month of a web design project is never painless no matter how often you do it. Worse still is the post launch phase when the support emails and irate client calls start rolling in.
Technical issues notwithstanding, what often remains is a well-intentioned User Experience catastrophe. Isn’t it obvious what that form is supposed to mean? Well no, actually. Users can be expected to get your logic as much as they could get the inside jokes that run around your office.
Defensive Design arms you with tactics to fix or prevent the top issues that plague commercial sites. The big-name examples are criticized and acclaimed with equal vigor. Some sites are both praised and prodded for one point or another.
You would think such a subject matter to be dry, but like Vice there is a perverse pleasure to be had in picking a high budget site to pieces. Most enjoyable are the "Head-to-Head" sections where two similar sites face off, with only one leaving the ring with its pride intact.
Who Needs "Defensive Design?"
Admittedly, this book isn’t for everyone. It has a particular focus on e-commerce sites, mapping out the potential minefield of Usability mishaps that could and do occur too often. Having worked on a small e-commerce project recently, much of the advice came as a revelation.
The book at 245 pages is a slim one. This fact isn’t necessarily negative as you can give a chapter a quick once-over as needed. It certainly falls into the reference category though you could read it cover-to-cover in a couple of days.
Conclusion
If you have a commercial site on the go, use it to assess and fix problems you know about. The last chapter is a comprehensive checklist to help you do just that. Developers and online business owners would benefit equally by running that checklist.
Alternatively, if you haven’t yet tackled a commercial site or have one coming up, use this book to prevent issues before they happen.
Either way, you owe it to yourself to pick up this book. It’s far cheaper than hiring a consultant, and you can’t afford to let the Usability just "happen" if you want to retain clientele.
Make sure your site isn’t singled out as a "Thumbs Down" in the next edition of Defensive Design.
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Defensive Design for the Web: How to improve error messages, help, forms, and other crisis points
by 37signals
New Riders Press ; ISBN: 073571410X