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Comment on Principles of Web Design: The Web Technologies Series by S. Aviles

S. Aviles — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 03:46:48 +0000

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Principles of Web Design, February 11, 2005

This review is from: Principles of Web Design, Second Edition (Paperback)

Clearly written/explained for the beginner or for an easy-to- follow review of HTML. Pages are well laid out and easy to read. It's important to me to be able to read the text while sitting in front of the monitor, therefore a book should be legible at "lap height". My only complaint is that "figure" examples should printed on the same page as the text explaining them.

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Comment on Principles of Web Design: The Web Technologies Series by JVUE05

JVUE05 — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 03:32:34 +0000

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Too Basic, only useful part of the book is the CSS but it's very limited, February 2, 2009

JVUE05 (Sunny California) -

This review is from: Principles of Web Design, Third Edition (Web Warrior Series) (Paperback)

This book is a bit outdated but it was required for my Web Development and Design class for college. If you have NEVER been exposed to HTML or CSS then you will find it helpful. If you already know HTML and only need to learn CSS, you are better off learning CSS off the web or a book dedicated to CSS. With this book we had to use the Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 book by Shelly Cashman Wells Freund. For the brand new price of this book, it would be wiser to spend that extra money elsewhere. But if you really need this book you should rent the book for class from Chegg (that's what I did).

I started HTML in 1998, the only thing I saw useful was using CSS to make your pages uniform. The book doesn't really teach how to make re-usable templates which would have been useful. You're better off getting a reference book if you want to learn HTML & CSS tags and how to use them.

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Comment on Principles of Web Design: The Web Technologies Series by Jerry Deutschendorf

Jerry Deutschendorf — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 02:39:38 +0000

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

Code errors confuse my students, September 6, 2000

Jerry Deutschendorf (Oklahoma City, OK) -

This review is from: Principles of Web Design (Paperback)

I'm a full-time web development instructor with both high-school and returning adult students. I am using this book in my web design class. I liked the introductory chapter and the chapter on tables. However my students and I have run into a number of code errors (especially in the frames chapter) that are unacceptable. So I will continue looking for an excellent instructional book on web design. This book doesn't fit that criteria and I will not force it upon future students.

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Comment on HTML5 Guidelines for Web Developers by Rob Spoor

Rob Spoor — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 07:37:27 +0000

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Good but no full reference, September 18, 2011

Rob Spoor (Den Bosch, Netherlands) -

This review is from: HTML5 Guidelines for Web Developers (Paperback)

After an uninteresting itroduction (do we really care about all the meetings that lead to HTML5?), the book finally starts with why I got it - all the new features! Starting with semantics, the new form input elements and audio/video, the book contains a very lengthy chapter on the new canvas; 71 of the 290 pages are dedicated to this subject. This is caused by all the images, code snippets and, well, many features of the canvas. It's quite an impressive and overwhelming chapter.

After that lengthy chapter you get the complete opposite in the SVG and MathML chapter. There are just 5 pages, and they don't really cover much, stating that these topics require books of their own. This chapter could and should have been omitted.

Next are some more interesting chapters about geolocation, web / offline storage, web sockets, web workers and microdata, to end with a catch-all chapter with all the remaining stuff the authors wanted to mention. Although there are nice features in it, but the chapter feels incoherent.

All in all it's a good book that describes quite a bit of new features. Just don't expect a full reference of what HTML5 does and does not have. Also, be prepared to read a lot of JavaScript. If you don't know it, several chapters are going to be hard to understand.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of JavaRanch. This review has previously been posted on JavaRanch.com.

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Comment on HTML5 Guidelines for Web Developers by I. Devlin "Ian Devlin"

I. Devlin "Ian Devlin" — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 07:16:51 +0000

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

A thorough HTML5 introduction for developers, October 6, 2011

I. Devlin "Ian Devlin" (Cambridge, UK) -

This review is from: HTML5 Guidelines for Web Developers (Paperback)

This is a decent introduction to HTML5 for any web developer as the title states, it is definitely not aimed for anyone who is not technical in any way. As mentioned by another reviewer, the inclusion of the examples showing you how everything talked about can actually be used, is a great help.

I've written a lengthy review at: [...]

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Comment on HTML5 Guidelines for Web Developers by ClearCSSJimmy

ClearCSSJimmy — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 07:02:03 +0000

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Decent Book, October 9, 2011

ClearCSSJimmy -

This review is from: HTML5 Guidelines for Web Developers (Paperback)

As an experienced web developer who was self taught on HTML 4, I had unfounded reservation about HTML5 in general. Maybe it was the fact that the standard was changing and that I had to learn something new from scratch. Thankfully this was not the case.

After reading HTML5 > Guidelines for Web Developers by Forster and Oggl, I was confident in my ability to design evolving HTML 5 compliant sites.

The writing style is concise and easy to read. The topics covered, are not necessarily meant to be followed in order. One can skip and read about a certain subject.

The first chapter is brief and in my opinion doesn't really add value to book. The book really starts at Chapter 2, "Structure and Semantics for Documents." One of the biggest change is that HTML5 is the fact that one no longer has to create div sections with classes name footer, header, etc. Now one can use

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Comment on Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences (Voices That Matter) by G Colborne

G Colborne — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:06:44 +0000

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

A delightful and practical guide for improving user experience, July 24, 2011

G Colborne -

This review is from: Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences (Voices That Matter) (Paperback)

What is it that makes some software addictive and enjoyable to use so much of the time software feels tedious and dull? If registration forms are inherently dull, how is it that the registration process for the iLike website is so interesting that people voluntarily answer pages of extra questions? These are the kinds of questions that Stephen Anderson tackles in this beautiful, entertaining book.

I should disclose that I was one of a great many people Stephen Anderson interviewed in researching this book, so I have been fascinated to see what he made of it all. What he has done is put together an excellent collection of tips and tricks that can be used by anyone designing a website, mobile app or even mundane software like a timesheet system to get users engaged and enthused. And if you can do that then your software is more likely to be effective and popular.

Each point is backed up by a memorable example and psychological principles - so whether you're staring at a blank sheet of paper hoping for inspiration, or sitting in a meeting trying to decide how to improve your website, you'll find yourself recalling examples and ideas from this book.

It's practical and enjoyable - whether you're designing your first website or a seasoned professional I'd recommend it as a source of inspiration and ideas.

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Comment on Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences (Voices That Matter) by Katherine Sierra "Passion for learning"

Katherine Sierra "Passion for learning" — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:36:40 +0000

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

A lot of power in this playful book, August 26, 2011

Katherine Sierra "Passion for learning" (California) -

This review is from: Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences (Voices That Matter) (Kindle Edition)

I love this book. You can get something useful just by randomly opening it to any page, though I strongly suggest reading it start to finish, and then again with a highlighter! I was looking forward to this book for some time, though a little skeptical given: A) the bold promise of the book and B) this is a topic my own work centers around, so my bar was set quite high. But after spending time with the book, I believe it will be a *HUGE* help to anyone who takes the messages within it seriously.

It's a playful book on a playful topic, but that doesn't mean it isn't powerful. The author has done an amazing job of synthesizing research and implementation ideas from a wide range of domains, all devoted to one goal: creating sustainably engaging user experiences. He manages to do this while including a topic that I typically do NOT like: gamification. However, the author understands the deep implications of how these (game mechanics) techniques can be used, and stays focused on a user-centered context (as opposed to pure marketing-driven manipulation).

This book may look like yet another superficial "make things fun" or even "delightful customer experiences" book, but it's much more. If you want to give your users richer experiences at every level from initial exposure to more advanced use, and create users/customers more likely to stick around and grow with the product, I recommend this book. It's the only book I have found that summarizes these topics in a useful, actionable, way.

Footnote: I was shocked to find my name listed in the credits as an "inspiration" for the topic. I don't know the author, and I would have been extremely disappointed if the book failed to live up to its promise, given my "association" with it. So I was both relieved and thrilled with how helpful and insightful the book is. As an end-user of many, many products and services, I want a world where those who design and deliver user experiences have taken the message of this book seriously.

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Comment on Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences (Voices That Matter) by John McSwain "Compound J"

John McSwain "Compound J" — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:44:54 +0000

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Small and Thorough, June 19, 2011

John McSwain "Compound J" (Atlanta, GA) -

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences (Voices That Matter) (Kindle Edition)

Stephen Anderson does an excellent job introducing the questions that we ask ourselves when we visit a website, open software, buy physical products, and gravitate toward certain people. The book's psychological approach to explaining the catalysts and triggers of human behavior is thorough and provides good examples of how to use those triggers to create a lasting and impressionable experiences. There are 25 chapters which are grouped into four sections...see section descriptions or skip to the bottom line.

Section one (Aesthetics, Beauty, and Behavior) covers topics like gestalt principles/psychology, perceived affordances, product credibility and personality, affect, cognition, and association. Anderson makes plenty of references to other quintessential UX books such as Designing with the Mind in Mind by Jeff Johnson, Visual Thinking for Design by Colin Ware, and Emotional Design by Donald Norman. Section two (Playful Seduction) covers ways to engage audiences with positive affective states such as humor, the mystique of unexpected behavior, and `delighters'. Anderson also uses specific phenomenon such as the information gap theory to explain alternate methods of eliminating the feeling of deprivation in users seeking information. Section three (The subtle Art of Seduction) covers some of the covert ways that our behavior is influenced by revealing topics such as the endowed progress effect, default options, and the many interfaces that offer suggestions such as Twitter's `Who to follow'. Topics such as loss aversion were clearly outlined and empowers users to be more aware of the influences we encounter while online. Section four (The Game of Seduction) takes a gamification approach to explaining the intrigue of certain user experiences. Anderson explains the power of `fun' by introducing the elements of game design (challenges, choices, and conflicts)

BOTTOM LINE
This book provided so many examples and references that even a proficient UX specialist would learn something new or easily be referred to other helpful sources of information. Rarely have I found so much information packed into such a short book. I highly recommend the book for newcomers to UX, but I also encourage experienced practitioners to grab a copy for reference.

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Comment on 7 Secrets of Inbound Marketing by Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:02:11 +0000

Free Advertising secrets, October 30, 2011

bregister -

This review is from: 7 Secrets of Inbound Marketing (Kindle Edition)

great tips on how to achieve free advertising on the internet using search engines and other websites. excellent way to build a brand

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