Web Application Design Handbook: Best Practices for Web-Based Software

by Susan Fowler, Victor Stanwick

Overview

The standards for usability and interaction design for Web sites and software are well known. While not everyone uses those standards, or uses them correctly, there is a large body of knowledge, best practice, and proven results in those fields, and a good education system for teaching professionals "how to." For the newer field of Web application design, however, designers are forced to reuse the old rules on a new platform. This book provides a roadmap that will allow readers to put complete working applications on the Web, display the results of a process that is running elsewhere, and update a database on a remote server using an Internet rather than a network connection. Web Application Design Handbook describes the essential widgets and development tools that will the lead to the right design solutions for your Web application. Written by designers who have made significant contributions to Web-based application design, it delivers a thorough treatment of the subject for many different kinds of applications, and provides quick reference for designers looking for some fast design solutions and opportunities to enhance the Web application experience. This book adds flavor to the standard Web design genre by juxtaposing Web design with programming for the Web and covers design solutions and concepts, such as intelligent generalization, to help software teams successfully switch from one interface to another.* The first interaction design book that focuses exclusively on Web applications.* Full-color figures throughout the book.* Serves as a "cheat sheet" or "fake book" for designers: a handy reference for standards, rules of thumb, and tricks of the trade.* Applicable to new Web-based applications and for porting existing desktop applications to Web browsers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780080481708
Publisher:	Morgan Kaufmann Publishers
Publication date:	07/21/2004
Series:	Interactive Technologies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	658
File size:	76 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

Table of Contents

ContentsChapter 1: What is a Web Application?Chapter 2: The Browser FrameworkChapter 3: Data InputChapter 4: Data Retrieval: SearchChapter 5: Data Retrieval: Filtering and BrowsingChapter 6: Data Output: ReportsChapter 7: Data Output: Printed FormsChapter 8: Interacting with OutputChapter 9: Designing Graphs And ChartsChapter 10: Graph Types Based on UseChapter 11: Designing DiagramsChapter 12: Diagram TypesChapter 13: Designing Geographic MapsChapter 14: Interacting with Geographic MapsChapter 15: Types of MapsAppendix A: Web Application Design WorksheetsAppendix B: Quality TestingAppendix C: Usability TestingAppendix D: Design ChecklistsGlossaryReferences For Further Reading

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

The first interaction design book that focuses exclusively on web applications.

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
So many tools for designing web applications. So many ways to get the job done. So many folks who’ve learned web application design on their own, scrambling to meet deadlines. No wonder these applications are so inconsistent -- and, often, so hard to use. Fortunately, out of all this chaos, best practices have emerged. This book brings them together for the first time.

Here are better ways to build data input forms and lists. Techniques for giving users more effective search capabilities. Solutions for improving web-based reporting in business and management applications. Providing email responses. Designing web graphs, charts, diagrams, even maps. If you’re not sure how to provide the most effective user interactions, don’t guess: get the Web Application Design Handbook. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2003 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

bn.com

Susan and Victor have written the 'Junior Woodchucks Guidebook' of Web applications: Everything you need to know is in there, including tons of best-practice examples, insights from years of experience, and assorted fascinating arcana. If you're writing a Web application, you'd be foolish not to have a copy.” —Steve Krug, author of Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability“Web sites are so nineties. The cutting edge of Web-design has moved to Web applications. If you are, like many Web designers, struggling to create dynamic, highly-functional Web-based applications, you need this book. It describes how Web applications differ from Web sites, and provides excellent guidance for common Web-application design problems, such as navigation, data input, search, reports, forms, and interactive graphic output.” —Jeff Johnson, Principal Usability Consultant, UI Wizards, Inc., and author of Web Bloopers and GUI Bloopers“User interface designers have been debating among themselves for years about how to design effective Web applications. There were no comprehensive references that covered the myriad topics that emerged in these debates until Fowler and Stanwick took on the challenge and wrote Web Application Design Handbook, the first comprehensive guide to building Web applications. This book tackles design problems faced by every Web development team with uncommon wisdom, clear prose, and detailed examples. Key topics include: modifying the browser interface to meet application security and efficiency requirements, searching, sorting, filtering, building efficient and usable data input mechanisms, generating reports, preventing errors, and using creative visualization techniques to optimize the display of large sets of data. This thorough work should be a primary reference for everyone designing Web applications.” —Chauncey E. Wilson, Principal HCI Architect, WilDesign Consulting“Every so often you run into a book and say to yourself: 'It's so obvious that this book should be read by every developer, so why wasn't it written years ago?' This is one of those books.” —Scott Ambler, author of The Object Primer: Agile Model Driven Development with UML 2“Web Application Design Handbook is beautifully produced with full-color screen shots on almost every page. The writing is clear and straightforward. The authors speak directly to their readers.” —Janice Redish - Technical Communication“Delivers a thorough examination of best practices and proven results for many different kinds of applications, including porting existing applications to the Internet from a PDA or Web-enabled cell phone, plus a quick reference for designers looking for fast solutions to enhance Web applications." —Paper Clips“Web Application Design Handbook is a panoramic book covering a lot of territory from how to design graphical user interfaces for Web applications to a discussion on the types of information visualization that are possible ... it provides a good overview on the techniques used to create Web applications, especially helpful for the novice Web designer who is tasked with building useful and effective Web applications ...” —Robbie T. Nakatsu, Department of Finance/Computer Information Systems, Loyola Marymount University

From the Publisher