Web Application Design Handbook: Best Practices for Web-Based Software (Interactive Technologies) Review

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Web Application Design Handbook: Best Practices for Web-Based Software (Interactive Technologies) ReviewI bought this book because Krug's book (Don't Make Me Think) recommended it and because my main concern was web-based business applications not public web sites.
I was extremely disappointed by Web Application Design Handbook:
1) It doesn't say much more than what any Windows developer has known
for the past 10 years
2) It is full of discussions about software DEVELOPMENT but it is
supposed to be a DESIGN book
3) It is supposed to be a book about WEB design but half of it is
about reports, graphs, diagrams, and maps
The first half of the book concentrates on what was advertised: design/usability of web-based applications. But it doesn't offer many new ideas. Most of the recommendations are well-known to Windows developers. It doesn't give enough attention to what's different about web-based applications.
The amount of useful, thought-provoking information in this book that could help a Windows developer create better web-based applications is no more than 50 pages. Not very good for a book of 600 pages.
The book does not inspire confidence that the recommendations are based on real usability testing. There's a lot of conventional wisdom followed by a lot of suggestions to figure it out yourself with your own usability tests.
The book has a maddening tendency to slip into development issues. Why on earth are there JavaScript code examples in a design book???!!! Why are there discussions about the impact of client vs server-side code on network bandwidth? Not only are these discussions distracting, they are also full of half-truths, oversimplifications, obsolete information, and some outright mistakes.
Almost 2/3 of the book is about topics that are beyond the scope of web application design (ok they're at least straining the limits): reports, graphs, diagrams, maps. That material would be handled better in a separate book, dedicated to those topics. As it is, most of the book is irrelevant to my needs.
If you are concerned with usability/GUI design of web sites or web applications forget this book and get Krug's Don't Make Me Think instead.
Web Application Design Handbook: Best Practices for Web-Based Software (Interactive Technologies) Overview

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Tagging: People-powered Metadata for the Social Web Review

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Tagging: People-powered Metadata for the Social Web Review
This was a really good book. It wasn't what I expected it to be. But it was a worthwhile read. I picked it up because I do a fair amount of work writing book reviews and making guides and booklists on Amazon. And Amazon now lets guys like me create tags for the books I review and include in guides and lists. I kind of expected this book would have talked a little bit about the Amazon system of tagging. Nope. But that's OK. It's still a good book. It includes seven chapters and three appendices:
1. What is tagging?
2. The value of tagging
3. Tagging system architecture
4. Tags, metadata, and classical systems
5. Navigation and visualization
6. Interfaces
7. Technical design
A. Case study: social bookmarking
B. Case study: media sharing
C. Case study: personal information management
Tagging is a form of information that is really starting to take root in our computer systems and online systems. I first experienced it back in 1998 when I purchased a copy of Lotus Organizer to use as my Personal Information Manager (PIM) when practicing law. The program allowed me to cross-reference the many lists I had created in its database. I thought it was really cool back then.
I was just getting into creating Web sites in 1998, too. And I found the tagging features in Lotus Organizer enabled me to do with the data in my database what I was doing with my Web pages in my Web sites. Basically tagging is another name for hyperlinking. Nothing more and nothing less. A tag will take you to a new idea, concept, data item, data page, or database. It's a springboard that will take you to information.
This book points out that tagging is a new form of information management as it relates to personal organization, information architecture, and online communities. I suppose my Lotus Organizer program is an example of the first, and Amazon's system is an example of the last. So is it really all that new?
All in all, this book explains the value of tagging. It's a guide to what, how and why to tag. Each chapter ended in a list of bullet points called a Summary. I liked this feature very much since it helped me skim through the book quickly. 5 stars!Tagging: People-powered Metadata for the Social Web OverviewTagging is fast becoming one of the primary ways people organize and manage digital information. Tagging complements traditional organizational tools like folders and search on users desktops as well as on the web. These developments mean that tagging has broad implications for information management, information architecture and interface design. And its reach extends beyond these technical domains to our culture at large. We can imagine, for example, the scrapbookers of the future curating their digital photos, emails, ticket stubs and other mementos with tags. This book explains the value of tagging, explores why people tag, how tagging works and when it can be used to improve the user experience. It exposes tagging's superficial simplicity to reveal interesting issues related to usability, information architecture, online community and collective intelligence.

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Mobile Design and Development: Practical concepts and techniques for creating mobile sites and web apps (Animal Guide) Review

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Mobile Design and Development: Practical concepts and techniques for creating mobile sites and web apps (Animal Guide) ReviewOriginal review written by Pasquale Granato, JUG Lugano, [...] First of all, let's clear the field from a possible misunderstanding: this book is not about general mobile design and development but it is about web mobile development. The author states a precise, despite arguable, opinion that brutally said is: do not code native applications but prefer as much as you can web applications. This statement is largely discussed across the book and everyone can make up his own opinion about this. Mine is that currently times are not mature to consider to write just web applications both because mobile browser are not powerful enough (on average) to assure a smooth experience on all devices and because of the lack of a good way to make money from your web app.
The first three chapters of the book are a really good introduction to the history of mobile, to the mobile current status and to the reasons that should drive an approach to the mobile development. These chapters are a well written recap of the status of the art and present a lot of data useful to understand the global situation. Unfortunately the book is printed in black and white and several pie-charts and graphs are pretty much impossible to read.
The central part of the book, chapters from four to ten, is devoted to design issues and, despite the lack of an in-depth examination of some subjects, offers a pretty good survey of the topic.
The final part of the book is slightly more technical covering topics such as XHTML-MP, CSS, HTML5, device adaptation, etc. The problem here is that there is nothing really practical and all remains at an introductory level. To give you an example, a capital topic in device adaptation like Media Queries is covered in half a page with just a trivial example. Furthermore the author seems to be unaware of things like XwapProfile or UAProf (that is probably a obsolete and unreliable method but deserve at least a notation).
My biggest complain is anyway about the author's obsession for the iPhone. The Apple's jewel is referenced continuously and always with great glorification: the word iPhone recurs 99 times in the book and out of the 115 pictures in the book as many as 37 depict an iPhone. An entire chapter is devoted to iPhone web applications development even though most of the concepts presented here are common to other modern devices.
This is overall a decent introductory book, if you are completely new to the field, and it's packed with many good advices but do not expect much from the practical techniques promised by the title.Mobile Design and Development: Practical concepts and techniques for creating mobile sites and web apps (Animal Guide) OverviewMobile Design and Development by Brian Fling is a start to finish guide for designing and building mobile apps regardless of experience, device or platform. Brian took on the daunting challenge to write the mobile guide missing from bookshelves. As Brian describes it "this is a book that teaches people how to cook, not a collection of recipes."Since its release the book has been incredibly well received. It has being described as a "must have" by many experts in the mobile community. The 16 chapters, and 85,000 words within the book have helped thousands understand and dive into mobile.The first half is a crash course in the mobile ecosystem: how to develop a strategy, address the mobile context--even how to decide which of the multiple mobile application types is best for you, and finally, how to create a user experience for it. The second half is focused on using these principles to make a mobile website or web app.Mobile Design and Development is a comprehensive resource covering all aspects of the mobile ecosystem. The book covers a great number of topics, however each are described in practical and common sense way—making easy for anyone at any technical level to understand the inner working of the mobile medium.
A Brief History of Mobile
The Mobile Ecosystem
Why Mobile?
Designing for Context
Developing a Mobile Strategy
Types of Mobile Applications
Mobile Application Medium Types
Mobile Application Media Matrix
Mobile Information Architecture
Mobile Design
The Elements of Mobile Design
Mobile Design Tools
Mobile Web Apps Versus Native Applications
When to Make a Native Application
When to Make a Mobile Web Application
Mobile 2.0
Mobile Web Development
Mobile Markup
Mobile CSS: Cascading Style Sheets
Mobile JavaScript
iPhone Web Apps
iPhone Markup
iPhone CSS
iPhone Javascript
Creating a Mobile Web App
Web Apps as Native Apps
Tools and Libraries
Adapting to Devices
Device Targeting
Full Adaptation
What Domain Do I Use?
Making Money in Mobile
Working with an App Store
Mobile Advertising
Supporting Devices
Device Testing
Desktop Testing
Usability Testing
The Future of Mobile
If you're a web designer, web developer, information architect, product manager, usability professional, content publisher, or an entrepreneur new to the mobile, Mobile Design and Development provides you with the knowledge you need to work with this rapidly developing technology.

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Secrets Review

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Secrets ReviewI don't usually do reviews but this book took me by surprise. I am impressed with the content, it was a fresh perspective on search engine optimization and it offered some really practical, useful advice that virtually anyone who understand the basics of SEO would be able to implement.
I eagerly pre-ordered the book because I have read Danny's articles on SEOmoz. It came 7 days ahead of the scheduled release date so I was delighted with Amazon.
I started reading and I couldn't put it down. Maybe I'm a nerd but I live and breathe online marketing and SEO was the core of it all.
Here are some of the key takeaways:
1. SEO Consulting Process - Learn how to win clients, how much you should charge for your services (master services agreement,
NDAs, SOW) and the best deliverables/reporting for your clients.
2. Suggested SEO Pricing - Website Audit, E-Commerce Site Audit, Link Building, Reputation Management, Social Media Management,
Keyword Research and etc. (Very helpful if you are looking at doing consulting work, it is so hard to determine the right price
point on your own).
3. 58-Page Comprehensive Technical SEO Site Audit - Unless you paid for SEO site audits in the past you won't be able to get a more
in-depth sample. Oh and he also show you how to do the Site Audit as well.
4. How to Conduct an E-Commerce Audit - In my opinion the first 4 items are worth it's weight in gold for a SEO freelancer, SEO
consultant or even an SEO agency.
5. SEO for Local Business - What works and what doesn't: customer opinions/reviews, universal search, image search, video search
and ranking factors.
6. Optimizing for Alternative Search Engines - Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Delicious, Flickr and Twitter (this help outline how
search and social is truly intersecting and in order to be successful on the web you need to go beyond Google).
7. The Essentials - The book includes an explanation of how SEO works, top SEO tools to use, finding and troubleshooting common and
advanced SEO problems and of course SEO Best Practices (some of which you can find on SEOmoz).
The bottomline: Danny makes SEO actionable for the average person, more importantly he makes it lethal for the seasoned SEO veteran
(you can become a superstar-SEO-ninja with this book).
Since the SEO field is always rapidly changing, I highly recommend picking up this book as soon as possible (today if you can) because it will give you 80-90 percent of everything you need to start consulting successfully with SEO right away. I teach SEO at a local community college and I am contemplating to make this a required reading, it is that good and applicable.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Secrets OverviewTips, tricks, and little-known methods used by professional SEO consultants to rank in some of the most competitive search phrases
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of creating, formatting and promoting web pages in a manner that ensures that they are ranked highly for chosen keyword phrases after a user performs a Web search. This unique book taps the relatively unknown market of advanced SEO knowledge, and reveals secrets used by only the best SEO consultants.
You'll take your Internet marketing skills to the next level as you gain a thorough understanding of standard SEO techniques such as on-page optimization, off-page optimization, and link building. Packed with real-world examples, this essential guide demonstrates how real SEO consultants work with Fortune 500 companies to get the results they desire.
Explains the basics of search engine optimization (SEO) and how it enables a specific site to rank high in a Web search based on particular keyword phrases
Shares little-known tricks and tips of SEO consultants that work with Fortune 500 companies
Demonstrates how to perform a professional SEO Web site audit
Reveals the techniques that current SEO leaders use to remain high in rankings
Divulges secrets for spying on your competitors' ranking techniques

As the only book focused on the subject of SEO consulting, this must-have resource unveils secret tricks of the trade. From the Author: How to Get Your First Major SEO ClientI have worked with many of the webʼs most popular websites as an SEO consultant, and each of them shared one infuriating trait. While their SEO problems were not that difficult, the process of getting them to hire me was.Before I can explain how I overcame this barrier, let me set the context. Large clients generally suffer from many or all of the same difficulties: 'The potential major client's website scaled quickly but without SEO in mind. This makes going back and working with a legacy Content Management System (CMS) very difficult. 'The amount of inbound links is no longer a problem, but optimally passing the value of those links throughout the site is a problem. 'The production of content is no longer a problem, but that same content being duplicated across multiple URLs is massively devaluing that same content's value. 'Big organizations generally have very big websites. While the raw materials for a search engine optimized site are there, the information architecture is not. So how do you use this knowledge to get your first major SEO client? The answer is to create solutions to these problems before the potential client even identifies they exist and then sell your services to them in the correct way. Once you have done that, offer your solutions at a cheaper than market price (for your first major client only!) and make it clear you have the follow through necessary to guide these changes through their companies structure. That sounds good but how do I establish myself as a trusted source? That is exactly the correct question! Larger companies usually need hard data in order to make these decisions. This means you will need appropriate case studies. Case studies pay dividends so always be sure to create them after working with noteworthy clients. (I even recommend doing this in exchange for a lower price, if necessary.) Since in this scenario, you haven't already had a major client in the past, the best case study isn't really a case study at all. Use the potential clients site as an 'in progress case study" and cite actual problems that exist on their site today and show them the results your previous (although smaller) clients got in the past. Back this up with inside information on how others have seen similar results at other major websites. The most cost effective way to get that evidence is to take other SEOs who already worked with major clients out to lunch or coffee in exchange for examples and anecdotes they experienced with past clients. This will both help you become more knowledge and improve your ability to sell yourself. This combination of pre-identifying the potential major clients' problems, reassuring them that you have the stamina to push the changes through their company structure, demonstrating the type of results they will likely receive from working with you and basing all of that on case studies and actual examples make up the system you need to get your first big SEO client. While this should get you the results you need, more details are available in this book, Search Engine Optimization Secrets, in case you need more detailed instructions. This system has worked for me and it has worked for others. Now it is your turn.

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