A Brief Introduction To Defensive Web Design
No matter how carefully you design your website or application, and how much testing you do, the visitors to the site might still come across problems that affect their use of the website. These issues may arise either due to website errors or because of user errors and the solution to them can be found through Defensive Web Design.
Also called contingency design, defensive web design refers to creating the user interface in such a way that potential barriers do not ruin the user experience. It can be equated to defensive driving; just like a driver tries to avoid dangerous pits and reckless drivers to remain safe on the road, a website developer must also anticipate the errors that can spoil the users’ experience at the site and prevent them from happening. More than attracting a new audience, defensive designing focuses on serving the existing ones better. This automatically translates into better lead and sale conversion, which is the ultimate target of the site owner.
Here are some of the problems that can be avoided through a contingency design:-
Error pages: – Everybody who is internet-savvy must be familiar with 404 errors. Usually, these errors lead to pages which are full of unnecessary and irrelevant information that tends to irritate the user. When you employ defensive design, you can add a few lines explaining the reason why the user is unable to access the information he/she was looking for and also suggest the best way out of the problem.
Poor handling of forms: – Another common issue relates to the poor handling and designing of forms. Whenever a user makes a mistake while filling in a form, the form does not get saved or accepted, and generally, he/she has to repeat the entire tiresome process. Contingency design allows the user to make only the required corrections without having to re-fill even the correct information.
Slow connections: – Many users use computers that have a slow-paced internet connection. To make the website load fast, regardless of the type of connection, you should embed elements such as Flash animations, JavaScript, and jQuery into HTML and CSS format. This defensive approach will prove helpful not only for those who are accessing the internet from slow connections but also for those accessing it through public wireless networks.
You should adopt the fore-mentioned defensive measures to get around the most common issues thwarting your website users’ experience. These will help you maintain unhindered interaction with your prospective customers and give them a happy time that not only generates sales now but also brings them back to you in the future for more business.