Web Bloopers : 60 Common Web Design Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for Web Designers
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: This is the type of book you want right next to your desk
Review: This is a great book! It reads as a collection of bloopers from many well known sites of what not to do. That's what I like about this book: it's fun to read and instructive at the same time. I'll build a site or be in the middle of one and open up this book to make sure that I haven't made a blooper. What's nice is that the author tells you how to easily fix your mistakes. 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 right on. Hopefully, this will lead to better educated Web Designers and a more usable Web.

Rating:
Summary: I would have to disagree with others
Review: While this book does offer some insight to the pitfalls of "all too common" web mistakes, I have to disagree with the author's conclusions in many cases. In particular, he seems to place blame a lot on web developers as though we are often irresponsible, responsible for poorly written content, lackluster site maintenance and other "bloopers" as he calls them. Fact is, most web developers would love to spend the time "investing" in doing a thorough job. However, in many cases, the client often doesn't want to pay the additional monies to do a thorough job. While there is enough blame to go around in poor web design, it seemed all to common for the author to blame the web developer for critical mistakes. I also take exception to his commentary at times, in specific, his early mention of Enron and an obvious sarcastic knock against the company. He points to a bold claim Enron still makes on its site as to its size and stature. While Enron may have troubles, it's still a viable company with many assets and still provides services to many customers. We can do without the authors injection of cynicism and personal feelings about the company to prove his point. Lastly, I found the layout to be a little difficult to read. Often, the author would reference figures that were one to two pages ahead making you have to skim forward to see what he was talking about. The book is a very large format and anyone with a better sense of book design could have done a better job laying out this book. These are only a few points in a long list of what's wrong with this book. While the author makes some valid points, I found this book a little too much to stomach. Read at your own peril.

Rating:
Summary: I would have to disagree with others
Review: While this book does offer some insight to the pitfalls of "all too common" web mistakes, I have to disagree with the author's conclusions in many cases. In particular, he seems to place blame a lot on web developers as though we are often irresponsible, responsible for poorly written content, lackluster site maintenance and other "bloopers" as he calls them. Fact is, most web developers would love to spend the time "investing" in doing a thorough job. However, in many cases, the client often doesn't want to pay the additional monies to do a thorough job. While there is enough blame to go around in poor web design, it seemed all to common for the author to blame the web developer for critical mistakes. I also take exception to his commentary at times, in specific, his early mention of Enron and an obvious sarcastic knock against the company. He points to a bold claim Enron still makes on its site as to its size and stature. While Enron may have troubles, it's still a viable company with many assets and still provides services to many customers. We can do without the authors injection of cynicism and personal feelings about the company to prove his point. Lastly, I found the layout to be a little difficult to read. Often, the author would reference figures that were one to two pages ahead making you have to skim forward to see what he was talking about. The book is a very large format and anyone with a better sense of book design could have done a better job laying out this book. These are only a few points in a long list of what's wrong with this book. While the author makes some valid points, I found this book a little too much to stomach. Read at your own peril.