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Summary: Simply outstanding!
Review: Simply Outstanding! Phillip's book is both entertaining and informative; a welcome departure from the dry, mind-numbing text one usually associates with computer programming. Phillip's book is a must read for anyone who is interested in web-publishing!
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Summary: This book makes sense
Review: This a well presented book both in content and in form. I liked it because it provides excellent information and resources to start up on the path of good web programming. I also recommend this book because it shows how people can work successfully together rather than undermine each other, how encouraging creativity and talent makes more sense than buying it off for one's profit.
Rating: 
Summary: Dishonest re-packaging of a previous title
Review: I read "Database Backed Web Sites" by the same author and it was so good I thought I would look for later titles by Greenspun. I bought "Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing" from Amazon so I could not browse its content before purchase. Well, its practically exactly the same (excellent) book with a new title. Not much updating has occurred. The Oracle information is somewhat out of date and was out of date well before the new publication date. A dishonest re-packaging by an author who revels in dishing out the dirt well deserved by many software vendors. Still a good read but I cannot give BOTH versions of the same book 5 stars.
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Summary: Study this book. Change your life. Contribute to the Web.
Review: When I bought this book less than two months ago, I never imagined that I would become a computer programmer. In fact, thanks to the ingenious learning opportunities found in this beautifully illustrated textbook, anyone with guts, even a former secretary like me, can become a bonafide web programmer. If you dream of presenting your creative uniqueness to the world through the Internet but are hindered by your lack of technical expertise, buy this book, study it, and realize your dreams.
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Summary: Every web designer should own a copy of this book.
Review: A robust dynamic web site is full of both conceptual and technical challenges. Philip's ideas about community systems should open any designer's mind to the endless possibilities. Philip's idea of "bells and whistles" on a web site is to customize a fax and send it to a neighboring, polluting business to advocate for awareness and change. His solutions might seem anti-graphic instead, they are meant to push designers past pure graphic solutions. Being innovative goes far beyond creating a cool rollover. Real interaction enables the user to interact with their community, not just their mouse. Every web designer should own a copy of this book. Philip's book also captures much of what it is like to work with him - especially his sense of humor. Check out the juxtaposition of his photographs to the text. As a whole, this book is a keeper.
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Summary: Wonderfully opinionated, original, and effective. 5 stars.
Review: Philip is refreshingly opinionated. Within the first few pages, you get the sense that he is giving you the straight dope on a topic he is well-qualified to teach. His style is entertaining, original, and effective. Great book. Highly recommended. The rich color photographs are a nice suprise for a technical book. My 2-year old daughter currently considers it to be one of her favorite picture books. She asks "what's that?" and "what is she doing" at picture after picture.
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Summary: A top notch book about the web.
Review: "Philip and Alex's Guide" is the best book I've read this year. Why? It presents the technology of web publishing and e-commerce, from the big picture of where the web is and where it's headed, down to details of making a database-backed web site work well. The author has assembled hundreds of web sites, and has a successful consulting business to vouch for his expertise and experience. Anecdotes from this experience are plentiful, serving both to amuse and instruct. It's surprising how much like a novel it reads, although it's a serious engineering study. But that's not all: he describes his experience developing an online interactive community of photographers, deals with scalability issues, and makes his software for this freely available - in the open source, share-what-you-know tradition. Almost every page of the book has a photograph by the author from his travels. They're a treat. So, buy the book, look at the pictures, all the while absorbing bunches of web practice and philosophy.
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Summary: A must read for anyone interested in the webs REAL potential
Review: If you're feeling a bit dizzy with all the hype being written about the web, this book is a must. Even though the book get's involved deeply (to a non programer anyways) in code, there are many gems worth mining. Philip gets the real potential of the web across- the ability to help people collaborate by discussing ideas, sharing information, and forming communnities. Not only does Philp write about these possiblilites, he has moved forward with his own web sites and services that illustrate these ideas with working examples. A visit to his web sites will give you examples of his ideas in action. He has utilyzed technology in the best possible way- to enrich the lives of all who wish to access his sites. Beyond offering the experience of his on line sites, he has embraced the ideas of the open software movemment. The code, as well as detailed information regarding the architecture of his sites and servers has been made available,at no cost to the user. The systems he uses and the tools he provides seem to be very robust solutions. It will take a great effort to learn to use them, but the reward will be a proven system to provide stable and dependable services via the web. The book also offers a wonderful aesthetic experience to it's readers. It is profusely illustrated with wonderfull photographs by the author. A little thought on the viewers part will yield another layer of understanding to the subject matter. Far from being a dry technical exercise, this book resonates with warmth, humor, and an optimism that is very welcome. Thank you Philip (and Alex) for sharing this marvelous volume with us.
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Summary: Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing is a must!
Review: This would have to be one of the most resourceful books I have ever read! It has filled in many gaps for me personally in setting up a Web server...such as determining which OS to use, etc. It will also give you a laugh!
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Summary: Create like a God, Command like a King, Work like a Slave
Review: I first learned of this book through Danny Yee's glowing review of the first edition: _Database Backed Websites_. Greenspun put the entire book (plus an enormous amount of additional material)online at photo.net, so I devoured the online material in a weekend. I've since purchased both the first and second editions of the book. I loved Greenspun's wit, which makes the book enjoyable to read even if you care little about building web sites: "Money is nice. Bandwidth is nice. Graphic design is occasionally nice. But if you treat your Web site as a pimple on the butt of something much larger, then it will probably be ripe for suck.com."(pg. 19) I also loved Greenspun's philosophy: "Our first principle is that we do not lie to customers. If a service goes down because of something we did wrong and should have known not to do, we tell the customer exactly what we did wrong in as clear language as possible." Although this quote comes not from the book, but from the mission statement of Ars Digita, Greenspun's company, this attitude permeates the entire book. Tell the truth. Treat the customer the way they wish to be treated. Don't make surfers struggle through Shockwave portal tunnels. Create a Yahoo-style site map. Why purchase the book if it's available online? 1) The book brims with beautiful pictures (though, damn him, my favorite, that of a naked blond woman reaching for a book in a well-stocked library, did not make it into the book). 2) It lays flat on the desk while you work on the screen. 3) You don't have to worry about batteries or cables. Greenspun does lob a few obligatory ad hominems at Bill Gates ("...Bill Gates gave bloated monopoly a name, a face, and a smell...."), though Greenspun appears to have no problem touting the products of the second largest bloated software monopoly, Oracle Corporation. However, I laughed at even this bit of peevishness, and it pales in comparison to the value of the rest of the book. Greenspun's book is the best technical book I've ever read.
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