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1. 19 March 2005

   Sat, 19 Mar 2005 23:56:00 GMT

   Defensive Design for the Web

   Matthew Linderman and Jason Fried

   2005-03-19

   What you should do to foolproof the ‘critical’ points of your website. How to keep people from getting frustrated while trying to accomplish their goals, ultimately allowing them to do buisness with you instead of getting pissed and walking off.

   Good stuff, a lot of common sense, but then look at most of the web sites out there and they will be doing something wrong. I love the 37signals style, probably a lot because it just works and makes sense and is usable. It looks good too, but it’s simplicity is what makes it shine.

   Notes

   • 62: use javascript to auto-format peoples phone numbers.
   • 71: <form ... maxlength="500">, I didn’t know forms had a maxlength attribute.
   • 79: javascript form validation – a good thing.
   • 116: yahoo uses a nice form structure, it looks like a <fieldset> with a label on top, the form data about 65% on the left, and a little help box explaining why you need to enter the information on the right.
   • 124: take advantage of the help people who use your site can provide to others having trouble – use boards, wikis, interaction.
   • 137: connect.apple.com apparently sends you an email with your login/password if you enter it wrong three times consecutively – great idea.
   • 187: it should be simple to expand your searches, you shouldn’t just have to start from scratch again.
   • 208: use email notification if there is something that a customer will want to know about down the road, don’t make them come back and check for it.

   tags:

   • 37signals
   • application
   • contingency
   • design
   • devensive
   • web

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