Posts filed under 'Book & Software Reviews'
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
Search Engine Optimization for Dummies by Peter Kent is not, contrary to its title, just for dummies! Even though I have been studying the best SEO experts and search engine behavior for the last two years, I learned something from every chapter of this useful and visionary book.
Until now, my professional Web design projects have primarily focused on creating search engine friendly Web sites that are easy for search engines to index. This book has spurred me towards considering the counterpart to search engine friendly sites - intentionally crafted keyword rich (optimized) content. Though I had examined this in a limited way while creating client’s Web sites, I now see it as an even more vital component of Web design that requires client input or else a great deal of creative and strategic latitude and a content creation budget.
Ever wondered how your Web site could become more useful? SEO for Dummies includes ideas that may spark your imagination and open doors you don’t anticipate.
Kent does a brilliant job of presenting ideas for competing with content. The book is rich in brainstorming ideas. I found many new sources for content that I hadn’t previously considered.
Kent’s lucid discussion of the search tail helps me explain more clearly why my clients should not focus only on high volume keywords for which top rankings are difficult to achieve.
SEO for Dummies covers the often tedious and time consuming process of submitting your Web site to search engines and directories. This section is an absolute must for Web site owners who tend to fail to harness a treasure-trove of contextual links available with a little research and a lot of time, but no money.
Ever wondered how to get other Web sites to link to yours? You are your Web site’s best promoter whether you feel confident about the process or not. There are enough ideas included here for you to get a good start towards accumulating links from other Web sites.
Much of the book deals with techniques for Web site creation that search engines like and things to avoid. Most of this area deals with using frames, javascript for content, redirects, cloaking, clutter on Web pages etc. This is very useful but is also covered in other books.
I have already made one recommendation about a book that I feel every one of my clients should read (Search Engine Visibility by Shari Thurow). This is the second recommendation for every client of Design Delineations. In fact, I’ll expand it to a recommendation for every Web site owner who wants to use his or her Web site effectively. Unless they just want to pay an Internet marketing professional big bucks to handle all their search engine optimization for them.
I have barely scratched the surface of the themes discussed in this must-have resource. If you own a Web site and have ever wondered how to make it more effective, please consider buying this book, Search Engine Optimization For Dummies.
- Author: Peter Kent
- Softcover: 382 pages
- Publisher: Wiley (May 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN: 0471979988
- List Price: $24.99
May 10th, 2006
I have been working with eCommerce solutions for the past several years. In that time, I haven’t begun to scratch the surface of all the eCommerce shopping cart software solutions available. Please plug your favorite shopping cart software and provide a working link to each suggestion’s Web site along with reasons that you favor working with your recommended solution.
I prefer to hear from designers about shopping cart solutions because I want recommendations that are flexible enough to handle design requirements while being praiseworthy as software applications. Of course, others are also welcome to post suggested shopping carts.
April 30th, 2006
Admittedly, the title of this book feels a bit like hype to me as did much of the content. I feel a bit of queaziness about regarding blogging, a forum for the free and unrestrained expression of opinion, as one more tool for marketing spin. However, I still feel that Blog Marketing is worth repeated reading for the owners of small businesses.
Here’s why: in the new economy of information, content and community are as real a currency as is the US Dollar. Without either of these components, small businesses must spend non-existent capital to generate more-or-less disinterested Web traffic from the pay-per-click services provided by Google, Yahoo!, and others.
While I don’t mean to demean pay-per-click as a marketing strategy, I do acknowledge that it is extremely difficult to run pay-per-click marketing campaigns in a cost-effective way for start-up businesses (which make up most of my client list).
Blog Marketing’s author, Jeremy Wright, is a marketing veteran who points out the latest trends, tools, and tips for creating a successful blog marketing strategy for business. Though almost all of the many examples in this book are drawn from the ranks of big business, most of the principles you will extract from the case studies will apply to businesses of any size.
Blog Marketing covers topics ranging from getting into the blog mindset and how your company can use blogs to using external tools that will help you succeed as a blogging company. For companies with employees that blog, Wright has included a sample blogging policy that will help spur your internal debate and policy formation around this powerful new social phenomenon.
- Author: Jeremy Wright
- Hardcover: 321 pages
- Publisher: McGraw Hill (December 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN: 0072262516
- List Price: $24.95
April 24th, 2006
Joseph W. Lowery’s book, CSS Hacks & Filters, makes a great effort towards amassing all the current CSS Hacks available on-line and explaining their appropriate usage. To a great extent this volume succeeds in making order out of chaos and I heartily recommend its use as a supplemental resource for anyone who does not want to bookmark every CSS Hack Web page they might find useful.
While Lowery’s clear explanations of the rationale and appropriate application of each hack adds significant worth to this book, the real distinction between CSS Hacks & Filters and other CSS volumes I own is its focus on implementing CSS design with Dreamweaver’s internal template engine. This can be a real time saver for those new to Dreamweaver’s template engine and/or CSS.
CSS Hacks covers tasks like using Javascript/DOM to serve appropriate style sheets to various browsers, server side solutions for CSS, CSS based navigation systems, and image scaling with CSS. In addition, it includes several example templates that have been broadly tested on current browsers and that can provide a more secure foundation for your cross-browser design project than your own untested layout. Lowery also includes a detailed appendix that lists the various CSS Hacks/Filters and their applications.
This book is an excellent resource for those beginning CSS, especially if they are interested in Dreamweaver and Web development or scripting languages like Javascript, PHP, or ColdFusion.
You can find a bit more information about the author at his Flashbang! Web site.
- Author: Joseph W. Lowery
- Paperback: 266 pages
- Publisher: Wiley (June 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN: 0764579851
- List Price: $29.99
Wiley books are available at your local bookstore or by calling 1-800-225-5945. In Canada, call 1-800-567-4797.
April 24th, 2006
An idea is neither more nor less than a new combination of old elements.
If you have never been stumped by a problem that seemed too complex for you to solve or overwhelmed by a creative challenge, then read no further. In fact, you can probably stop reading altogether because you have surpassed the need for learning! Almost every day, I face challenges that need problem solving. I used to wonder how it was that I sometimes found ideas that worked well and failed miserably to generate ideas in other situations.
Though I still am mystified by the mind’s ability to synthesize data and create solutions, I have found a process that works quite predictably to minimize the confusion I feel when facing a tough challenge. James Webb Young’s little book, A Technique for Producing Ideas, has been on my bookshelf for about three years now and rarely gathers dust. The ideas Webb presents are simple, effective, and discipline is required to apply them.
Originally presented as a lecture to graduate students in advertising at the University of Chicago’s School of Business, the book contains a simple framework on which to hang the shreds of creative thought that pass by us so fleetingly. After some excellent discussion of the social theory of Pareto, Webb clearly explains his framework. I’ll provide a simple summary below, though it in no way replaces the book!
When facing a project whose solution requires a creative idea:
- Gather specific materials related to the project.
- Seek a synthesis of facts by focusing on new relationships between ideas
- When you have exhausted all avenues of inquiry and have applied all your efforts to finding a solution, put the project completely out of your mind.
- A solution will arise when you least expect it as a “Eureka” moment.
- Bring your baby idea into the real world for critique and application.
So run out to the bookstore today and grab a copy of this resource and tackle your next challenge head on!
- Author: James Webb Young
- Paperback: 48 pages
- Publisher: McGraw Hill (2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN: 0071410945
- List Price: $6.95
April 24th, 2006
Recently, I started designing Web sites based on Dreamweaver templates. It was something I avoided as long as I could since I prefer to create my own PHP driven templates. They are simple and never break!
Since Dreamweaver’s internal CSS rendering engine differs from those in Web browsers, the folks at Macromedia kindly created something called design-time stylesheets that can be used to make things look attractive and useful as clients maintain their pages.
There is a major drawback. When I create a template, I expect the behavior emulated in that template to be passed to any page created with it. Reasonable right? Design-time stylesheets, however, cannot be passed on to child pages at present.
What this means is that my carefully crafted Dreamweaver CSS hacks will not grace new pages created by clients. I don’t expect clients to have to learn how to add design-time stylesheets, but will need to alter my expectations for now.
Macromedia, are you listening? Please create persistent design-time stylesheets so CSS Web designers can avoid headaches!
By the way, Stephanie Sullivan at Community MX says, “Paul Boon created an extension at CMX that allows you to put it on a whole group of pages (or entire site) at once.” This is part of a solution I suppose.
February 21st, 2006
Though we at Design Delineations have been doing Web site design and even blog theme design long enough to feel quite expert in this area, I have been relatively ignorant regarding social bookmarking. Today I set out to find out exactly what goes on in the world of social bookmarking.
Here are some things I learned. First, there are several Web sites that allow users to subscribe to RSS feeds, store their bookmarks online and share them with friends. These are del.icio.us, Furl, Simpy and many more. I tested all of the ones mentioned above and liked each of them about equally.
What I found when I tested both Digg and Reddit though really surprised me. These are sophisticated content filtration systems that allow peers to critique and promote articles. What rises to the top is likely to be heavily reviewed and therefore, hopefully, worth reading.
On Reddit.com and Digg.com I posted similar content and received similar response. However, friendly fact checkers at Digg corrected some errors in my post while at Reddit, all I received were negative votes. Which community will serve me better?
Edit: Another social bookmarking Web site that I found extremely fun to use and not super combative was BlinkList.
Edit2: I submitted other content to Reddit - better researched and written - and have not received the strongly negative response.
Edit3: Steve Rubel says, “Yahoo won when they bought del.icio.us. Game over. Move along. Nothing to see here. The bookmarks have left the building.” I need to pick one service and stick to it to avoid hassles managing mulitple lists. It will likely be del.icio.us. Not because of Rubel, but because it is easy to use, the standard tool by which all others are measured, and well supported by plugin developers for many Web applications.
February 15th, 2006
I downloaded IE7 primarily to see what problems it would cause with my existing clients’ Web sites. I must say, I was surprised at how little trouble this upgrade will cause! Microsoft seems to be listening well and learning about what designers and end users want in a browser.
IE7 adds tabbed browsing, RSS subscription, and best of all - ClearType. After a couple of weeks of regularly using IE7, I have to say that this enhancement is by far the most significant change for the better in Web browsing history in the last few years.
IE7 is easy on my eyes! For someone who spends most of every day in front of a computer, that’s a compliment indeed. Edit 2/18/2005: Still easy on my eyes when reading sans-serif type, but I’m beginning to see the blurriness on serif type as a real problem with cleartype.
Of course, not everyone agrees!
There’s an interesting article about ClearType over at Designorati.
Edit: As pointed out over on Digg by Rob, ClearType is a Windows XP feature that has been integrated into IE7. It is not technically an IE feature. Until now, it had to be enabled for every application at a system level. IE7 allows you to apply it to the browser only.
February 15th, 2006
The days of bully pulpit marketing seem to be waning. What these men are proposing is that unless an idea or product has value that excites people and drives them to share it with friends, it is likely to be ignored.
Continue Reading February 4th, 2006
Next Posts
Previous Posts
