Rating: 
Summary: Good book on design process, not web design
Review: I'm working on a re=design of a non-profit site and had expected this book (based on the title) to give me some real-world design advice. Instead, the book focuses on the design PROCESS itself. Things like knowing who your users / customers are and what they need from your site, getting buy-in from the site owners, prototyping, testing, etc. And even then the amount of real "take-away" information is scant (in my opinion). I had used another book (The Design of Sites - highly recommend) and must have bookmarked (the old fashioned way) 100 or more pages. On Ms. Phyo's book I found only 6 pages to be valuable (to me). If you're in the market to set up a web design team or business, this is a good book. If you're looking for decent web design help, look elsewhere. My 2-cents.
Rating: 
Summary: Just-in-Time Design for Web Applications
Review: If you ever wanted a 7-step recipe for designing applications for Web delivery, this is the book for you. I appreciate the time and money I am saving on my current Web project by following a tested process that really works.
Regardless if you are responsible for site management, defining system requirements, Web content development, visual design, back-end programming, or usability testing of Web-delivered applications, following this process is both cost effective and fun. Return on Design is a gourmet meal consisting of step-by-step procedures, supportive examples, visuals, resources, and a consistent information design approach, which all serve to differentiate this Web design book from the others.
The bottom line is: do you want your site to be revenue generating? Your chances for success are better if you follow a user-centered design "recipe" for success.
Rating:
Summary: As easy or complex as you want it....
Review: The thing I like about this book is that it ranges from basics to advanced development strategizing. It seems to have been developed for use by individuals as well as in a (relaxed, hip?) classroom situation. I read it on my own, but can imagine it's structure making the teacher's job easy. As an "international reader," I think this book offers good insights into the workings of the U.S. corporate web economy... valuable when thinking about new directions for developing websites in one's own country.
Rating:
Summary: Makes me want to start a book group
Review: There's so much practical information in this book that after reading it I was tempted to start a book group at my company, buy everyone a copy and start discussing. I've been involved with web design for many years, and I still found the book valuable. Definitely recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Hits the sweet spot for anyone designing Web sites
Review: This book distills the best practices for designing Web sites to meet agreed-on goals. This book gives readers guidance on how to make high-level decisions needed to achieve a successful Web design or redesign. It gives 7 steps to be done in order to define a site and implement the design. The author compares Web design with other design projects, such as software design. People think of Web site design as artistic and creative, but imagine if a software company assigned a team to create an application with no precise guidelines early on, no feedback along the way. There's no way the finished product will meet any vaguely-defined objectives. The author convincingly demonstrates that there are repeatable steps that are essential for Web design also. The book is filled with practical, hard-won advice undoubtedly won over many projects for many types of organizations. There are anecdotes that will help you spot "red flags" and myriad questions to ask at each phase and ways of gleaning what needs to change for redesigning a site and forms and wireframe examples and techniques on how to test and refine a design. There was an interesting story about how the author found what was most lacking to a site's users. This information could have been available to anyone who knew how to find out what users really thought, but was obviously not recognized by the company! It's no wonder that web sites during the 1998 - 2000 era so often failed. There are no snippets of HTML, nor recommendations on fonts or styles, but this book thankfully does not try to introduce the topic of what is a JPG, etc. Too many books try to leave no child behind, thus diluting their amount of useful info. The amount of wisdom per page is substantial. Most of all, the author stays focused on the USER and how to see things from their point-of-view. She defines different types of users, even sometimes giving a persona a name, age, occupation and reason for using the site. Lots of organization decisions become clear when you realize typical things a user would want to do or search for. Her commitment to users comes through in her writing. The appendix lists some additional books of interest, and the author's "I welcome user suggestions" rings sincere.
Rating:
Summary: Impressive!
Review: This book is great for anyone interested in creating a successful, professional looking USER-ORIENTED websites. It outlines a clear seven step process from beginning to end in a straightforward and easy to understand language and there are plenty of graphics to help readers visualize the concepts. She really makes professional looking websites attainable for everyone. What I especially liked about this book was that it was very comprehensive thus allowing individuals to access as little or as much information depending on their level of knowledge. In sum, this book is highly recommended for anyone whose goal is to create a website that will be user friendly and accessed over and over again!!
Rating:
Summary: Web designs that make sense and money.
Review: Web site design criteria is masterfully tied to business concepts that any MBA will appreciate. Anyone interested in return on investment should thoroughly understand RETURN ON DESIGN.
|
