Posts filed under 'Book & Software Reviews'
Recently, the topic of design process came up in conversation and I submitted rather sheepishly to a friend that I didn’t begin my design process in Photoshop or an image editor, but in CSS. I have always felt a bit unsure about my approach, but cannot feel confident and oriented to a project without getting a feel for the actual content.
I have always needed two elements to create anything beyond the threshold of boring and predictable: clients who like to talk about their dreams and business … perhaps also a bit about design, and samples of actual content with which to work. Anything else provides no real-world grounding for design. It appears that my ideas about the process of design are not as radical as I thought. Andy Clarke’s book, Transcending CSS, makes an excellent case for the “Content-Out” approach.
Anyone who has jumped feet first into CSS design and had some success will find this book a refreshing re-orientation to the basics of where we’ve been, the reasons we’ve been there, and where we should be heading as a Web standards design community.
The technical content and practical advice alone are enough to recommend this volume, but the part of the book I read with the most gusto deals with finding creative inspiration. On occasion, designing for the Web can become somewhat dry, constraining, and predictable. Thankfully, Andy Clarke points out a host of sources for design inspiration as well as many approaches to structuring content and presentation. There is enough here to break a designer out of a creative rut.
This is the most significant Web design book I’ve read in 2006; it has the potential to remain the most significant Web design book of 2007 as well.
January 1st, 2007
On my first forays into HTML/CSS design, Javascript was still viewed as almost completely evil by many in the accessible design community. So when I started to read the ppk Quirks Mode Web site, I wasn’t completely sure Peter-Paul Koch was writing safe and accessible code. Now he has removed all doubt about exactly what he’s achieved as a Javascript scripter.
ppk on Javascript is a clearly written project based presentation of the basic principles of Javascript programming for the Web. The book is organized around each principle and each section features working code examples with a complete explanation of exactly how and why they work as they do.
Written in a style that is accessible to the CSS design community, this book will be sure to expand the number of Web designers who embrace unobtrusive Javascript as a usability enhancement tool.
Book Details
- Author: Peter-Paul Koch
- Softcover: 528 pages
- Publisher: New Riders Press
- ISBN: 0321423305
- List Price: $44.99
- You can buy the book on Amazon.com
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October 4th, 2006
If you have ever taken the same approach to a problem repeatedly while hoping for a different result, this book may be exactly what you need. Our daily routines form patterns that trap us in narrow thinking, and sometimes we need a fresh perspective. Sam Harrison gives us a tool to help us overcome creative lapses by looking at our surroundings with new eyes.
Harrison’s book, IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea, is a collection of witty anecdotes, creative exercises, inspiration, and wisdom written in an engaging tone and embellished with whimsical line art and typography.
Pick up this book if you are feeling a need for a new perspective and creative boost.
Book Details
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September 9th, 2006
In CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions, Andy Budd makes Web design with cascading style sheets accessible to readers of all levels with clear explanations of standards compliant design techniques, CSS bugs and case studies. CSS Mastery features exceptionally clear explanations of the causes of CSS bugs and provides elegant hacks along with the reasons each hack is effective.
This book does not skimp on detail in its discussion of:
- background images and image replacement
- styling tables and forms
- list based navigation menus
- fluid page layout techniques
- rounded corners and dropshadows
- and demarking offsite links with attribute selectors.
To strengthen his clear presentation of CSS methods, hacks, and best practices, Budd hosts two talented CSS designers, Simon Collison and Cameron Moll, to create cutting edge Web sites using the techniques featured in the book. Their detailed case studies with full code samples available by download close out this comprehensive book.
Product Details
- Authors: Andy Budd with Cameron Moll and Simon Collison
- Softcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Friends of Ed
- ISBN: 1590596145
- List Price: $34.99
- Buy the book on Amazon
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August 20th, 2006
Do you want to improve your Web site’s search engine results rank but feeling intimidated by the complexity of Search Engine Optimization and confused about where to begin? If so, Search Engine Optimization An Hour A Day may be exactly what you are looking for to help you get started. Where other books offer facts, tips, and conceptual background, this volume offers simple tasks that demonstrate the core principles of SEO.
The authors, Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin, introduce SEO objectives a week at a time and break each objective into goals and tasks that can be easily understood and completed each day. Written with clarity and detail, the book leaves little room for confusion about what you can do to improve your Web site’s rank in the search engine results pages.
One of the most valuable sections of this book discusses team building in a company or organization with competing departmental agendas. In detail, the authors present proven methods for communicating the benefits of SEO in language that reflects the priorities of the Webmaster, programmers, marketing department, graphic designers and more. If you need the help of others to improve your Web site, you’ll find this chapter on team building invaluable.
Topics covered in Search Engine Optimization An Hour A Day include:
- determining business goals for your Web site
- creating an SEO plan
- getting your team on board
- selecting keywords for your Web content
- increasing the visibility of your Web site by link building
- implementing a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign
- understanding and using Web site analytics to understand your Web site traffic
- writing monthly and quarterly SEO reports
This book is an excellent resource for task-oriented realists who want to find a way to improve their Web site’s search engine rank. If you already understand the basics of SEO, you may become frustrated by the pace of progress through the book. If so, don’t forget that you can proceed at any pace and that you may find gems that make the format worth reading. For beginners, the daily task format makes SEO easy to understand and, more importantly, easy to put into practice. No implementation details are left unaddressed and the companion Web site features a full array of documents to track Web site changes, keywords, pay-per-click campaigns and link request letters.
I recommend Search Engine Optimization An Hour A Day for anyone interested in Search Engine Optimization and new to the concept of improving search engine results by optimizing content, especially if your organization or business structure will require you to build teams across deparmental structures.
Product Details
- Authors: Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin
- Hardcover: 318 pages
- Publisher: Sybex (Wiley)
- ISBN: 0471787531
- List Price: $29.99
- Buy the book on Amazon
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August 9th, 2006
The MindValley Way to Ecommerce Success offers mentoring wisdom based on the real-world experience of its authors. Covering 40 eCommerce Tactics modular enough to be read on their own, this ebook will provide any e-business newcomer with an excellent source of advice.
Much advice offered by experts on web marketing is theoretical and difficult for a newcomer to apply. By contrast, the MindValley Way is almost completely applied information. With only a rudimentary knowledge of Internet technologies, a reader will be able to apply and test much of the tactics offered. Many of the tactics presented here will also help marketing veterans to see a new approach or hone their existing procedures.
The main subject areas covered are:
- Creating products that sell online
- Setting up your site for success
- Pay-per-click advertising secrets
- Turning browsers into buyers
- Closing the sale
- Profiting from untapped channels
- Growing into a million dollar business
What I Learned
Pay-Per-Click Advertising Needs Focus
Though I found the whole book to be of value, several subject areas were especially helpful to me. Time and again, I have made attempts at using pay-per-click advertising to send traffic to client Web sites. However, I have rarely showed a measurable gain for these clients. While many factors are relevant to this short disclosure (should a professional ever admit failure? … publicly?) I now have a better understanding of some key shortcomings of my Google Adwords campaigns. Edit: See my comment on this post for some relevant information that this eBook does not address, and notice a more thorough discussion here.
These factors that cause a pay-per-click campaign to fail include:
- too broad a range of keywords for each ad group
- reluctance to create landing pages for each ad group
- a focus on quantity of traffic generated rather than the specificity of the keywords that drive traffic
While I was aware of these issues while running the campaigns, I didn’t have the language to communicate my concerns clearly or troubleshoot effectively. Thanks to this ebook, I am now more equipped to discuss these issues with clients and to plan more intentionally for success.
Copy Writing Is Key
The MindValley Way also discusses sales copy writing for the Web in various contexts including pay-per-click campaign landing pages, advertisements, Web pages, and email messages. Through repetition and many examples, the basic concepts of quality sales writing are reinforced and clearly demonstrated.
In addition to their own experiments and advice, the authors present valuable copy writing advice from experts and often link to Web sites, ebooks, and other resources to expand on their presentation.
What Did I Think of It?
Though every tactic presented here is worth absorbing carefully, the two areas of pay-per-click campaign management and sales copy writing are worth the price of the book when looked at as a business investment. If you do not have an experienced mentor to guide you, this book could stand in for many of the questions you would ask.
- How can I select or create a product that will sell online?
- Is there a way to get more site visitors to contact me or buy my product?
- How can I attract more keyword targeted visitors to my Web site?
- Can I improve my customer service without increasing my workload?
There are some possible drawbacks to this ebook. First, if you don’t like reading lots of information on your computer screen, you will find it necessary to print each tactic as you read the book. Second, though there is plenty of information here to help sellers of physical products that require shipping, most examples provided refer to digital downloads. The challenge of setting shipping rates and finding the best distribution methods will need to be addressed elsewhere.
Still, this resource is in a class of its own due to the breadth of time-tested advice it provides. I hope my review does not sound like any magic bullet solutions are offered. It will require testing and a great deal of thought to successfully apply the principles and examples it contains. However, it is the most comprehensive repository of online marketing knowledge I have ever seen in one place. As such, I recommend The MindValley Way to Ecommerce Success to newcomers and eCommerce experts alike as an investment in their business marketing plan.
July 12th, 2006
Approaching online marketing is a bit like entering a wilderness without a map, compass, shelter, or food. Let me explain. The typical Web site fails to anchor its message in the needs of real world customers, provides no means of discovering whether the message is persuasive, and relies on intuition and experimentation for improvement. Companies with little room for experimentation in their budget can easily become discouraged or exhaust their resources in fruitless experimentation. Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg have provided a model in Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? that addresses the lack of landmarks in online marketing.
This book maps out the difficult wilderness terrain of customer communication and persuasion as an intentional process that includes measurable and achievable goals. The Eisenbergs approach an extremely complex process with finesse that rarely oversimplifies and yet provides a conceptual framework that helps us approach it rationally.
It is very difficult to summarize Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? because it is a comprehensive system of thought and a marketing methodology. Little about the specifics of marketing are redefined here, but Persuasion Architecture places each component of marketing into a framework with specific goals and metrics. When read cover to cover with an open mind, this book has the potential to demystify much of the marketing process.
Like any book that paints a big picture, the chief challenge to the reader is to apply the principles of Persuasion Architecture to their own marketing efforts. Though the first few chapters are mostly abstract, the last nine chapters anchor the conceptual framework in real world scenarios that will help you get started.
The model of Persuasion Architecture meshes well with the culture of the Internet where participation is voluntary and transient. According to the authors, “The frameworks available in Persuasion Architecture create a persuasive model of voluntary momentum rather than a coercive model … it isn’t about control, it’s about choice.”
What’s my advice? If you are involved in marketing, but especially marketing with an Internet component, choose to read this book!
Product Details
- Authors: Bryan Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eisenberg, Lisa T. Davis
- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Nelson Business; Book & CD edition (June 13, 2006)
- ISBN: 0785218971
- List Price: $19.99
- Buy on Amazon.com
- Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
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June 27th, 2006
Today I took my first steps towards using application development frameworks professionally. I needed to develop a database application to track client information and since I have read about a number of application frameworks in PHP that simulate the behavior of Ruby on Rails, I installed one and gave it a test run.
My first attempt at installing a framework (which shall remain nameless) was not entirely successful due to limited documentation and the fact that I’m more of a scripter than a hardcore PHP programmer. On my second attempt, I stumbled across Code Igniter, an application development framework built on the Model-View-Controller pattern. One of many such frameworks, Code Igniter enforces, or at least encourages, the separation of content and application data and when used wisely, can result in cleaner code and more rapid development of PHP applications.
I’m pleased with Code Igniter after the first day of use mostly because of its two introductory video tutorials and because of the extensive and clear documentation. All of this coupled with a very active forum with qualified programmers actively solving problems results in an attractive development platform for us PHP programmers who don’t want to, or can’t switch to Ruby on Rails due to platform restrictions.
If you are an intermediate level PHP programmer looking for a way to automate repetitive programming tasks and move into object oriented programming, Code Igniter is very likely to meet your needs. With a little work, you’ll move to the next level in PHP Web development.
June 19th, 2006
With so many books about standards based design on the market, why do we need another one? Dan Cederholm’s Bulletproof Web Design
answers this question by providing not only the “how” of CSS design, but also the “why” of each design choice recommended in understandable and engaging prose. It goes beyond comparable volumes by it’s focus on the long-term repercussions of the decisions a Web designer makes. Dan Cederholm examines the common approaches to Web design solutions and explains why each approach is flawed and what can be done to improve upon past design techniques. The components and design elements discussed include text size and scaling, navigation, expandable rows, the use of floats, indestructible boxes, convertible tables, and fluid layouts. Bulletproof Web Design concludes with a chapter on putting all the design elements discussed previously into practice by creating a complete template design. I commend this book for carefully avoiding theoretical knowledge and getting into the nuts and bolts of everyday design challenges and providing workable solutions! It is a perfect blend of theory and practice, the “how” and the “why.”
- Author: Dan Cederholm
- Softcover: 270 pages
- Publisher: New Riders (2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN: 0321346939
- List Price: $39.99
June 1st, 2006
Ajax for Dummies by Steve Holzner, PhD offers an engaging introduction to developing Web sites that behave like desktop applications. Written in accessible language that assumes very little technical expertise, Ajax for Dummies will be valuable for anyone interested in JavaScript, PHP, and how these languages can be used to enhance a Web user’s experience.
Ajax for Dummies is organized in four main parts: Getting Started, Programming in Ajax, Ajax Frameworks, and In-Depth Ajax Power. After a brief overview of ways that Ajax can improve existing Web site features and add new functionality, Holzner introduces basic JavaScript programming concepts to lay the groundwork for a project-based Ajax introduction. In two chapters, Ajax for Dummies will give you enough knowledge to begin basic Ajax programming and to understand how the XMLHTTPRequest object interacts with both the Web visitor’s browser (client-side) and how the browser interacts with the Web site host computer (server-side). Though I have read quite broadly on the subject of Ajax, this introduction to Ajax was the most thorough I’ve yet encountered.
Holzner’s painstaking line-by-line introduction of code and careful commentary on each bit of code will ensure that anyone can understand Ajax. However, the thoroughness of Ajax for Dummies will be an impediment to some readers who already are proficient in JavaScript programming and who simply want an introduction to Ajax. These readers will do well to skip Part One and launch into the Programming in Ajax section. Even here, they will be likely to move rapidly and absorb only the relevant bits of code and conceptual material that emerges. Though not everyone will move at the same pace, the last two parts of Ajax for Dummies offer information that will be of use to most readers.
Parts three and four introduce some of the programming frameworks available for Ajax and various server-side languages from PHP to Java and ASP. In part four, there is a brief introduction to XML processing with JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and various uses of PHP. Here readers will choose to read whatever compliments their current skill-set.
The last section of the book is the obligatory for Dummies Part of Tens. Here, Holzner discusses the limitations and design issues surrounding the use of Ajax in Web sites. One comment was especially relevant to anyone considering Ajax for their design project:
Sometimes, developers use Ajax just because it’s a new thing. Be careful about that tendency, too. Ajax solves many problems, but if you don’t have to use it, there’s no reason to. And also, don’t forget that your Ajax applications might not work in all browsers - such as those where JavaScript has been turned off. You should provide some kind of backup in that case.
In a Web design climate where Ajax is becoming the new Flash and is simply used because it’s “sexy,” this advice is needed and, hopefully, will be heeded!
Ajax for Dummies closes with a list of resources that will help you use Ajax for maximum effect in your Web applications. Listed here is Jesse James Garret’s original essay on Ajax, links to resources for Ajax best practices, reference materials, blogs, tutorials, and a discussion group.
- Author: Steve Holzner, PhD
- Softcover: 359 pages
- Publisher: Wiley (March 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN: 0471785970
- List Price: $29.99
May 30th, 2006
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