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Summary: Applications Developers Turning Web Application Developers
Review: Beth Keller, my business partner at Integrated Technologies and Systems Group, found Philip Greenspun's book at Barnes&Nobel one weekend in a fit of frustration as we searched for a set of tools (a.k.a. 'junkware') on which to build our future. A few days later on a trip to Boston we read Philip's book (it's now mandatory reading for all Associates).
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Summary: Read It!
Review: This book actually does what it says it will do in the introduction. It provides useful information on Web design from several perspectives. Philip Greenspun writes intelligently and amusingly about harnessing the Web's strengths to meet the needs of your family / friends / customers / clients -- whichever group causes you to build a Web site. Then he tells you where to find free software tools to help do that.He knows his computers and programming, has good business sense, and shares a long list of examples of success and failure in Web design and execution. He speaks plainly about what works and what doesn't work, and draws examples from an eclectic range of sources. The Michigan Militia's site? Thumbs up. Ford Motor Co.'s site? Thumbs down. The book is also available online free (do a search for the URL), though I found it more convenient to read in traditional book form. Greenspun's principles are basic and practical, and cut right to the heart of Web design and functionality. The Web does X well, and does Y poorly - design for X and not Y. Figure out your goals for a Web site and don't confuse glitz and snazzy technology with functionality. He expects you to do your homework in identifying Web goals, and he doesn't gloss over the cost of the hardware, software, and programming skills needed to achieve some goals. He also has a refreshing sense of social responsibility notably lacking in most books written about the Web (and most other business-related topics). This book can help you use the Web as a tool to do many things -- to make money, to do solid business research, or to educate, inform and entertain others. So read the book, and do it.
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Summary: Brilliant, Funny, Technical, Entertaining, Worthwhile
Review: A friend recommended your book as the best Web book they'd ever read. I'm only through the acknowledgements and chapter 1 but I laughed all the way down on the number 4 train this AM! As someone who's taught web technology for 4 years, I have many books that just take up space, this one is different. Thanks for changing Shovelware to keepware.
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Summary: Unique coffee table imaged technical book written with humor
Review: I'm a graphic designer who loves your book!...& will hit my digital design students at North Shore Community College over the head with Edward Tufte's book too. Noticed unique cover design & On Sale $29! at new bookstore (turned out to be "Bait & Switch" marketing tactic). Did my in-line reading time with other sneakernet consumerettes having time to hold in my hands a unique coffee table imaged technical book written with sense of humor. I was hooked! Bought it despite paying $44.95. This book is a great aid to understanding what's really up & not with Net technology. Hoping this book will enable my graphic design students to Think First & "Tart Up" later.
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Summary: Chatty, personal, technical, 100% good advice ...
Review: ... if you are planning to build a web site that's going to go $5 million over budget, get 3 months behind schedule, crash 3 times a week, and still get only 300 hits a day, then read this book now, before you order your pallet load of NT servers.
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Summary: The best resource for building database backed sites
Review: I looked long and hard over the web to find some useful information for implementing a site design that included a database. I test drove a lot of junkware and wasted a lot of time sifting through useless information to glean a few pearls of wisdom before I stumbled across Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing. This book bowled me over . The book is well written and the information well organized. Beyond that though I was able to begin design of my website in earnest armed with the highly pertinent information contained within. This book is a must for anyone designing websites that use databases, and all web designers would do well to read through it to gain style tips on how to speed up one's site as well as avoid serious mistakes to which beginner's are prone. This is definitely the best book I've read on the subject bar none. I couldn't put it down.
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Summary: a tech book so good it reads like a fairy tale
Review: I used to browse Philip's photo.net site and never realized all the hard work, software and hardware that must sit behind a real database-backed website. Philip is absolutely right that anchor sites like his must have user content and user comments. One thing I'd love to do is implement the ACS in my American high school in Sao Paulo, Brazil, so that alumni, students, teachers and parents would have a way of communicating, exchanging ideas, and creating a better school. This is a fantastic book, an incredible achievement. Philip's mordant humor is at its best, and by the end you'll know not only a bunch of cool anecdotes but also how to write SQL and set up a db-backed server. A must-read; this is Internet in the 90s and into the future.
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Summary: I bought two!
Review: I gave my first copy to a friend and then got another one for myself. The guys at work are going to each get their own copies too. Phillip and his hairy Samoyed's guide is one of the most useful and readable computer books I have come across. It's the first technical book that I have ever read from cover to cover. The book has essentially become an outline for our company's webserver's architecture. My one complaint is that the binding can't hold up to more than 2 or 3 readings. (fortunately the gutters are wide enough so that it can be spiral-bound after it falls apart.)
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Summary: A brilliant book, required reading for any programmer.
Review: If you want to build a web site which works, keeps working, and lets you sleep at night, read this book. It's one of the best programming books I've ever read, and it's certainly the funniest. I've never seen anything like it before. I've recommended it to all my programming friends, whether they're developing for the Web or not. The lessons to be learned here can be applied everywhere.
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Summary: The "Bible" for anyone in the Internet Business
Review: Get beyond the hype and learn what really works on the Web. This book is amazing in it's scope and usefulness. I'm the CTO of a major web company (save.com) and even I found it to be incredably vital.
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