How can I protect my buildings against creepers?

I love building in minecraft just as much as I love the idea of random mobs attacking me while I build. However, I don't like it when I'm just walking out my door after a snooze and a creeper didn't get the memo and was hiding on one side of my house and sneaks up behind me as I walk out and does an amazing job of remodeling my front door wall.

What I'm hoping for is something that will prevent this terrible thing from happening. I've tried fences but they still blow up if you are on the border of the fence and you happen to be unsuspecting of their approach. Some good building techniques would be great for anticreeper measures.

Solution 1:

A list of things to help with creepers:

• Light up the outside yard to reduce the chance that a creeper can spawn and randomly walk into awareness range
• Always allow your entrances to have a clear view of the outside area so you can see what is there.
• Always use those clear views to check for creepers.
• When you leave your house, dash.. Get some good distance between you and the house. (While not directly a building thing, this is more of a consideration to make sure You can run some where :))
• Always -always- have more than one exit from a place. Preferably on different sides of the house/dwelling/whatever.
• Creepers can not blow up Obsidian blocks (but obsidian is a pain in the ass to build with)
• Creepers will still damage you but not blocks if they are in water, even in a stream of water seems to work with this.. However its quite a bit more of a pain in the ass than building in obsidian to build things with water covering all/most of it.
• Become that creepy person with tons of cats around.. But also be aware they will not halt/hinder/interrupt an already hissing creeper.

At the end of the day just putting up enough torches and making sure you can see whats around the doors is your best bet. There really is no way to make a house creeper proof. If it can get to where you are and you are next to your house, chances are it will blow up and take something with it.

Solution 2:

James seems to like the defensive. Being defensive around creepers just allows them to build up. The best way to deal with creepers around your property is to dispose of them.

• Create an anti-creeper perimeter, fences are good but glass (and glass panes) are just as good.
• Have bows and arrows ready to shoot down creepers from a distance. All they can do is hiss and complain at a distance.
• Create a waterless moat underneath your anti-creeper perimeter. If your head is at their feet level, they can't see you. Get your sword out and start swiping.

For a demo of creating an anti-creeper zone, see the "murder holes" in this video: