Forms broker the most crucial online interactions: checkout (commerce), registration (community), data input (participation & sharing). This book will provide everything you wanted to know and more about designing effective and engaging Web forms that optimize these key customer interactions.

Who this book is for

Anyone that needs to design or develop Web forms, including usability engineers, Web developers, product managers, visual designers, interaction designers, information architects and more. Beginners will receive a broad overview of all the considerations that constitute good form design. Experienced practitioners will engage at a deeper level with issues and solutions they may or may not have encountered before.

Why you need an entire book on web form design

As arbitrators of checkout, registration, and data entry, forms are often the linchpins of successful Web applications.

• Checkout forms are how eCommerce vendors close deals -they stand between people and the products or services they want and between companies and their profits. Example: eBay’s vast inventory (it’s the 30th largest economy in the World) is driven by their Sell Your Item form.
• Registration forms are the gatekeepers to community membership –they allow people to define their identity within social applications. All of MySpace's 150+ million users joined through a Web form.
• Data input forms allow users to contribute and share and companies to grow content. All of YouTube's videos come from their Upload Your Video form.

Despite the importance of these interactions, the design of the forms that enable them is often poorly thought through. Understanding the considerations and best practices of form design will help designers, developers, and product teams of all levels of experience make better decisions about the crucial interactions that enable their Web businesses and applications.