Design for Community

• Design for Community goes beyond the basic how-to of programming Web features to actually dissecting the purposes and best ways to implement those features to foster a real, productive online community.

• Each chapter culminates with a personal interview between the author and a well-known, respected member of the Web community. The interviewees offer tips, hints, and advice on designing, fostering, and maintaining successful online communities.

As community features keep cropping up on even the simplest Web site, it's important for Web designers and developers to understand how these features work and the best way to--or not to--implement them. The Web site for the book www.designforcommunity.com serves as an interactive example and legitimate online community for readers of this book. It incorporates all the examples and suggestions outlined in the text and fosters a direct online community, not only between readers, but between the author and readers as well. Each chapter opens with an in-depth explanation of a single issue, from practical issues like email and list moderation to more conceptual issues like trust and intimacy. These discussions lay the groundwork and provide an even-handed explanation of the issues, as well as advocate for the right way to solve the problems, based on the author's years of experience. Then, each chapter concludes with an interview with an expert who has firsthand experience with issues covered in the chapter. Organizing the book by specific issues and corresponding interviews allows the readers to skip around and focus in on the single issue they're struggling with. Of course, the readers can also read the whole book in order, although each issue-based chapter serves as a central place to find the best thinking on the subject. This results in a book that is totally unlike anything on the market, and far more powerful than a "how to" cookbook or a "do it my way" screed.

Contents

• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Is This Trip Really Necessary?
• Chapter 2 Content Comes First
• Chapter 3 Design Matters
• Chapter 4 Tools for Doing the Heavy Lifting
• Chapter 5 Policies and Policing
• Chapter 6 Moderation, Karma, and Flame Bait
• Chapter 7 Chat, Cams, and Virtual Intimacy
• Chapter 8 Barriers to Entry
• Chapter 9 Email Keeps the Conversation Alive
• Chapter 10 Commerce Communities
• Chapter 11 Killing Your Community
• Chapter 12 What's Next?
• Postscript