Rating: Summary: The Bible of Redesign Review: "Web Redesign Worlkflow That Works" is every developers dream. It is the Bible of redesign. This book offers an essential step by step process of developing a web site project. It helps readers to understand how to get the clients perspective and how to deliver above and beyond what is expected in a professional and efficient manner. How do you get content from the client? How do you budget for site tasks versus site team? How do you know a good client from a bad client? How do you understand your target audience? "Web Redesign Work Flow That Works" answers them all. Every site project has these issues and not going through every step as stated in this book could make or break a project. It's all about the user not only the company. My company has developed many sites. I only wish I had this book as a resource in 1998 when I first founded my business. I would have saved thousands of hours and heart ache. This book is easy to follow and provides quick links to downloadable forms that help implement the site development process referred to within the book. I recommend this book to any and all involved in developing a site project. IT IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK!!!
Rating: Summary: A good introduction to Web Publishing processes. Review: A book printed on glazed paper in a non-standard (10 in. x 8 in.) format normally incites me to be more careful before purchasing. A rather serious browsing made the book attractive. After reading from cover to cover, I can say that Web Redesign|Workflow that Works, is a good acquisition. This book covers in details a Project Life Cycle, called Core Process, developed and extensively used by the authors in their Web Publishing consultancy business. The Project Life Cycle contains 5 phases: 1. Defining the Project; 2. Developing Site Structure; 3. Visual Design and Testing; 4. Production and QA; 5. Launch and Beyond. A separate chapter is dedicated to each phase and provides sufficient information for the reader to obtain a solid understanding of the various processes involved. The reader will also find numerous survey forms and checklists in the book as well as on the companion Web site ....P>This book is not a design manual and, as such, does not cover information architecture, graphics design or production tools like HTML, JavaScript, etc. Also, discussions on the technical infrastructure (hosting, hardware, database, connectivity, security, etc.) normally required to support Web Publishing are considered outside the scope of the book and are not covered. The very important subject of usability testing is covered in a chapter of its own, primarily from a project process point of view. The last chapter is dedicated to various techniques used in analyzing the competition. Rightly so, the book remains focused on project processes. The suggested Project Life Cycle appears to be using a Waterfall methodology with some fast tracking. No mention is made of the existence of other more recent methodologies such as the Rational Unified Process or those at the origin of the Agile Alliance such as Extreme Programming (XP). Surprisingly, examples of project schedules are presented in a Microsoft WORD format and no other project management software are covered. The experience Project Manager familiar with the PMBOK Guide will sometimes be puzzled as no distinction is made between project management processes and product-oriented processes and both can be intermixed and covered in the same paragraph. Once realized, this situation had no further negative impact. There is no mention or reference to the PMBOK Guide. This book is best for the experience Project Manager who wants to become familiar with the Web Publishing environment. The novice should first acquire basic knowledge of project management to make good use of this book. The PMBOK Guide is a very good start. Here are a few suggestions for the second edition of Web Redesign | Workflow that Works: 1. A new chapter on Information Architecture with emphasis on project processes; 2. Summary review of Content Management Systems; 3. Integration with the PMBOK Guide; 4. Discussions on the latest project development methodologies; Jean C. Ducharme, PMP
Rating: Summary: Great Book! Review: A great book for any web professional. It goes into detail about managing projects. Myself being a web freelancer, I found the book very helpful. It also gives you sample forms in which you can use with you own clients. The people that wrote this book must be amazing organized. They add a sense of flair to the book that others cannot convey as easily as they do it. A warning to all: This book DOES NOT actually go into detail about the web design process itself, except for a couple small examples. It talks more about the process than the design.
Rating: Summary: Excellent book for web designers without a formal background Review: Even in the post dot con bubble, this is still a great practical introduction to systems analysis for websites. The forms and case studies are especially helpful for people who haven't had formal training in software or systems engineering.
Rating: Summary: The book covers a lot more ground than what the title says Review: First of all, this book is probably one of the most current ones (at the time of this writing) to dive into the waters of Web Design from a Project Management perspective. It has to be noted that its focus is heavily on design, but always tying things to dealing with the client, timelines, cost, etc. I thought the title didn't do the book much of a favor: in fact, if you're expecting to find content focused exclusively on re-designing your Web site, you're probably bound for dissapointment, since there's only one chapter (the first one) that touches on this topic that has turned into a very commonplace nightmare situation for Web people to be caught in these days. However the book IS packed with a wealth of content about WEB DESIGN at large, following what the authors call the "Core Process" which consists of 5 phases, all the way from defining the project to launching it an beyond. Two things that I found the book incredible about were: the space devoted to the first two phases of their methodology (planning and developing site structure) clearly overwhelms the rest of the book, which we all (should) know to be in line with the way things should be done -"measure twice, cut once." Also I loved the fact that the book is packed with illustrations in full color, as opposed to other publications out there, which limit those to "centerfolds" or B&W graphics. So, like I told you some time ago to go get the book on "Web Project Management" by Ashley Friedlein (published in 2000), I now advise you to get a copy of this book. As a Web designer, Webmaster or Web Project Manager, you will thank me for it.
Rating: Summary: A Book That Helped Me When I Was Lost and Desperate Review: For a few years I have been studying web design on my own while pursuing a CIS degree. In my studies, I have aquired many books on various aspects of web design some better than others. An opportunity came along for me at a time least expected and I thought, great! Now I finally have a chance to design my first professional website. I was flying by the seat of my pants, and the client was asking for all kinds of documentation, and I needed an answer. This book was a life saver! I was at a web conference several years ago and Kelly Goto was a speaker, I didn't pay much attention to her then, but this book got my attention and helped me through my first web design project. The downloads are terrific time savers and the diagrams are great visual supports. The authors take an approach that is similar to systems design and analysis, but for the web. I highly recommend this to anyone who is lost, needs a little documentation help, or just wants to be better organized when designing websites.
Rating: Summary: Not practice Review: For me whose a little time to read, this book is useless. Too crowded and too many theories.
Rating: Summary: Good advice heavily padded with meaningless blather Review: I bought this book looking for precise workflow I could use to schedule a web site redesign. The presented 5-step process works, but is completely mired in page after page of unqualified observances and quips on the history of web design -a series of blandishments to widen the spine of the book. If you stripped 50% of the text from this book, it would be 200% more effective. After reading half the book, I was not able to construct a mind's eye view of the author's project plan for site design. There was simply too much text between the important points, and no graphics to weld it together. I was unable to summarize the book for executives, and am relying heavily on my highligher for key concepts, as this book cannot be used as a desk reference without extensive modifications. The authors tried too hard to cover the complete experience of being a web design firm. Clearly derived from the experiences of artists, this book lacks the conciseness an engineer would have brought to the table. Don't read it at night.
Rating: Summary: Best book on project management. Review: I bought this book to learn project management and get my design projects on track. I have already used the client and technical surveys with success. This book has definitely professionalized my web design company.
Rating: Summary: Workflow that Works *Works* Review: I expected a book to help me with my job as web developer for a non-profit organization that has about 100,000 webpages. We do a major web page redesign once every three years, and the last redesign was a nightmare in its lack of organization. This book was to become my roadmap. The layout of the book was pleasing. The front cover appealed to the designers in the office and the content appealed to the developer (me). There was a nice overview of the process and definition of terms so that both new and seasoned developers (and others involved) are able to follow. The companion website, is easy to use. I was able to download the checklists in the book, since the book didn't come with a CD. That's understandable since I'd want the most up-to-date versions of data in the book. I wish, however, that I could converse with other readers to see how they are implementing the process. It's sometimes difficult to apply business-style web books with a non-profit organization. It's nice to see in print solutions to things that drove me insane not too long ago with the last redesign. I think this method the authors have laid out will greatly lighten the stress level for all involved. And simple things like establishing deadlines and tracking time spent is so key, but easily forgotten till too late. And it's easy to back up suggestions for a process when the authors have given such great explanations and examples. I also liked that the expert essays about various web topics, including knowing your client before you code, web standards and branding. I've already started implementing some of the tips these guest authors included, with great success. The production and QA section is amazingly well done. It has example check sheets instead of drowning the reader in dry theory. It's easy to quickly (the key here) adapt these sheets for real world use. Each phase is laid out with excellent illustrations, checklists and easy to follow project plans. It's so helpful to know where the road is going before getting three miles down it and realize you have to redo it all again. I prefer normal book size, however, since it's easier to handle and fit on my "Most Used Web Books" shelf. But, at least the binding seems to be sturdy to put up with all my use. This book has greatly helped me begin to plan our next web redesign.
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