Product Description
The dot.com crash of 2000 was a wake-up call, and told us that the Web has far to go before achieving the acceptance predicted for it in ’95. A large part of what is missing is quality; a primary component of the missing quality is usability. The Web is not nearly as easy to use as it needs to be for the average person to rely on it for everyday information, commerce, and entertainment.
In response to strong feedback from readers of GUI BLOOPERS calling for a book devoted exclusively to Web design bloopers, Jeff Johnson calls attention to the most frequently occurring and annoying design bloopers from real web sites he has worked on or researched. Not just a critique of these bloopers and their sites, this book shows how to correct or avoid the blooper and gives a detailed analysis of each design problem.
Hear Jeff Johnson’s interview podcast on software and website usability at the University of Canterbury (25 min.)
* Discusses in detail 60 of the most common and critical web design mistakes, along with the solutions, challenges, and tradeoffs associated with them.
* Covers important subject areas such as: content, task-support, navigation, forms, searches, writing, link appearance, and graphic design and layout.
* Organized and formatted based on the results of its own usability test performed by web designers themselves.
* Features its own web site (www.web-bloopers.com)with new and emerging web design no-no’s (because new bloopers are born every day) along with a much requested printable blooper checklist for web designers and developers to use.
For more information: Web Bloopers: 60 Common Web Design Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them
Related posts:
- GUI Bloopers 2.0: Common User Interface Design Don’ts and Dos
- GUI Bloopers 2.0: Common User Interface Design Don’ts and Dos
- GUI Bloopers 2.0: Common User Interface Design Don’ts and Dos
- GUI Bloopers 2.0, Second Edition: Common User Interface Design Don’ts and Dos
- GUI Bloopers 2.0, Second Edition: Common User Interface Design Don’ts and Dos
If you like this blog please take a second from your precious time and subscribe to my rss feed
BY M. Chabot on May 2nd, 2010 at 2:49 pm
I found this book to be a bit lacking. I have read most of the usability books on the market, and this book did not cover anything new. The author did not go into the science behind the bloopers and does not cite any studies that were conducted. Rather, he uses pictures to back up each blooper. The book is 60-70% pictures. The layout of the book made it hard to read, since the pictures constantly interrupted the text flow.
You can find the list of bloopers on the author’s Web site and I do not think this book adds much additional value, since most experienced Web developers have already seen examples of each blooper. You can find better descriptions of usability problems by doing a Web search. This book would be appropriate for a new Web designer/developer, or someone who has not already read much about usability.
In conclusion, most Web developers would be better off with the book Don’t Make Me Think, a Jakob Nielsen book, or an Information Architecture book.
Rating: 3 / 5
Web Bloopers: 60 Common Web Design Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them
BY Jessica Sant on May 2nd, 2010 at 4:55 pm
If you get paid to develop a website, you should have this book. As the title says, “Web Bloopers” details 60 of the most common (and annoying) design mistakes committed by web developers and then tells you how to avoid them.
Each blooper is explained in words as well as in pictures (snapshots are taken of various sites around the web), and then the author explains why the blooper is so bad and how to avoid it. As with any design, there are trade offs, sometimes you have to commit one blooper to avoid another, but as long as you realize that’s what you’re doing, you’re gold. This book is very well organized. The title of each blooper is a good summary of the problem. The index in the back helps you to quickly find examples both good and bad (and it also lets you see if you’re company has been made an example of). The author even points out some blooper’s in his own publisher’s website.
If everyone who is responsible for creating websites took the time to read this book, think about the user, how intuitive their site is, and how easy it is to glean information from it, the Internet would be a much nicer and friendlier place. I highly recommend this one.
Rating: 5 / 5
Web Bloopers: 60 Common Web Design Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them
BY Anonymous on May 2nd, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Jeff Johnson has become known to a wider audience through his book GUI Bloopers, in which he describes common user interface design sins. His new book Web Bloopers continues on this track and offers a list of 60 common Web design mistakes.
The author not only illustrates the mistakes through examples but also gives advice on how to avoid them.
The overall sequence of parts and chapters starts with deep issues of Website content, operation, and task flow and proceeds to more surface-level presentation issues.
Every blooper is followed by hints on how to avoid it.
The book is supplemented by a Website, web-bloopers.com. Among others, readers will find there a very useful list for checking Websites before publishing them on the Web.
It is an excellent, well-illustrated resource for anyone whose work touches on web usability issues.
Rating: 4 / 5
Web Bloopers: 60 Common Web Design Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them
BY shaw6 on May 2nd, 2010 at 9:51 pm
As web designers, we have a responsibility to avoid the worst mistakes. There are so many of them to make, and they are so easy to avoid!
By using this well-presented book, you can design a site that avoids the worst bloopers.
Rigid rules are rarely 100% right, but I don’t think that’s the intention here. I’m sure Jeff Johnson is aiming for “rules of thumb”.
I’m not always sure I agree with his solutions, and they won’t always work in every situation. Sometimes the blooper would be the right solution in a particular instance.
But as a starting point everything in this book makes good sense, and the examples show clearly what he’s talking about.
It’s an easy read as well. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 5 / 5
Web Bloopers: 60 Common Web Design Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them
BY Stuart Gardner on May 2nd, 2010 at 11:05 pm
I’m an auditor, I review other peoples work and decisions. I wanted something to help provide a structure to assess web site quality. I don’t want to appear like the Boss in the Dilbert Cartoons but I needed a “soft” introduction – I’m not creative! My home page is sufficient evidence of very limited design skills http://mysite.verizon.net/vze48sdz/.
The cliche “a picture speaks a thousand words” is appropriate for this book. It provides illustrations of good and bad practice to illustrate common mistakes. There may be better books on web design, with more technical guidance, however this book could prevent expensive mistakes that could damage your brand and ruin customer experience.
If you are hiring a web designer, or approving the work of an internal team, this is probably the best book on web design you could buy. The book concludes with a 60 question checklist.
This is a great book to assess the end product and fine tune your site. It should also help avoid making mistakes along the way. It is short on creativity. That’s not what I was after, so I’m not disappointed. I like the checklist allot (suppose I have been in audit too long!).
Rating: 5 / 5
Web Bloopers: 60 Common Web Design Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them
Leave a comment