Web Bloopers: 60 Common Web Design Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them (Interactive Technologies)

by Jeff Johnson

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1558608400
• ISBN13: 9781558608405
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.8" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

Valuable concepts, presented in a fun-to-read way

I saw the author's presentation at SD West 05, and that made me even more interested in reading this book. Jeff obviously understands the material very well, and he explains the issues eloquently. Fortunately, his book is at least as impressive as his verbal presentation. As a Web/database developer (and small business owner) I have been steadily working my way through his "Web Bloopers" book. It's great stuff, and I enjoy reading it slowly and carefully pondering each issue. The more I read, the more I realize how desperately my own company's Web site needs to be improved. One of my clients is tasked with improving an intranet site at a large Bay area computer company, and I've just recommended this book to the client. If the senior stakeholders read the book, it's likely to greatly the odds of project success. Many IT-related books have good ideas. What makes Jeff's book so special is that he makes the learning process so enjoyable, with his interesting and funny real-world examples.

Expensive, but worth it.......

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!).

Never let this book leave your side

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.

An excellent reference and check-list

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.

A Must Read for Web Designers

Sometimes it's just better to find a book that tells you what not to do. That's what I like about this book. I'll build a site or be in the middle of one and open up this book to see where I've made a mistake. What's nice is that the author tells you how to fix your mistakes as well. Another thing that I really like is that the book is broad enough in its scope to cover all of the important Web Design issues and the advice is really easy to understand. Hopefully, this will lead to better educated Web Designers and a more usable Web.