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Web Design - The Ultimate Resource
O'Reilly's CD Bookshelf series is exceptionally well-designed; each 'volume' consists of a hardcopy book - usually a Nutshell title - and a CD with the complete contents of six books in HTML format.
The Web Design CD Bookshelf comprises: Web Design in a Nutshell 2/e; HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide; Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide; ActionScript: The Definitive Guide; Information Architecture for the World Wide Web; and Designing Web Audio. Web Design in a Nutshell is the hardcopy title that fills the 'box', and is probably the reference that a professional Web designer would turn to most often. It is a concise compendium of just about everything a Web designer needs to know; it has been compiled for those who know their subject, but who need a desktop reference for specific how-to information. The other titles are complete guides to specific topics.
Information Architecture is an important text for novice designers and a valuable resource for the experienced designer. It describes the principles and application of information architecture, and brings library science to the design process. The role of an information architect is described in the book: "Clarifies the mission and vision for the site, balancing the needs of its sponsoring organization and the needs of its audiences; determines what content and functionality the site will contain; specifies how users will find information in the site by defining its organization, navigation, labeling, and searching systems; and maps out how the site will accommodate change and growth over time".
The three definitive guides in the collection cover HTML/XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and ActionScript. Each deserves the description, definitive; they are detailed and comprehensive, and do not assume any particular level of technical knowledge and lend themselves to inclusion in a searchable resource such as this.
Designing Web Audio, a title in the O'Reilly Web Studio series, is also a valuable inclusion for its technical information about Web audio formats and their application. It is probably the most comprehensive in-print coverage of Web audio.
The Australian RRP for this package may seem daunting, but the price of the hardcopy Web Design in a Nutshell is $79.95, which means the other five titles in html format average out at $27.00 each. The Nutshell book is also on the CD. The real benefit of the CD collection is that over 3000 pages of information can be searched as a single entity; each book has its own index and table of contents; and there is a master index. It's nice to have a real book in one's hands, but for 'power' information retrieval this format is unbeatable.
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The Web Design CD Bookshelf ISBN 0-596-00271-8 Published by O'Reilly, RRP $215.00 incl. GST |
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JavaScript
JavaScript is "... a lightweight, interpreted programming language with object-oriented capabilities.
The general-purpose core of the language has been embedded in
... Web browsers and embellished for Web programming with the addition of objects that represent the
browser window and its contents. This client-side version of JavaScript allows executable content to be
included in Web pages - it means that a Web page need no longer be static HTML, but can include programs
that interact with the user, control the browser, and dynamically create HTML content".
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
First published in 1996, JavaScript: The Definitive Guide is now in its fourth edition that covers
JavaScript 1.5. The present edition runs to over 900 pages, an expansion required by browser diversity as
much as the development of JavaScript itself. A constant concern of Web designers and developers is - or
should be - the plethora of browsers installed on end-user systems. It is not just the number of different
browsers, but also the many versions, that imposes a burden on content providers and designers. Another
new element is the extension of browsers to PDAs and mobile phones.
JavaScript itself has undergone a number of changes, and is affected by other standards. A book such as
this has to accommodate earlier versions of JavaScript, and take note of standards such as ECMA-262 (on
which JavaScript is based) and Level 2 of the DOM (document object model) standard.
The book has been divided into parts so as to separate core JavaScript material from client-side JavaScript,
thus making it more convenient for programmers working in other than a Web browser environment. In order
to fit all the material in a book even as large as this, the reference entries are terse. For programmers -
the intended audience - who know JavaScript, but who need a reference, that terseness is an advantage:
information is specific, easy to find, and is not burdened with superfluous verbiage. In the explanatory
sections the language is concise and clear, but eminently readable. Extensive use of example code supports
the text; the code - and any errata discovered after publication - is available for download from a Web
site. A comprehensive table of contents, a forty-five page index, and a separate
Class, Property, Method, and Event Handler index make information easy to find. The book is a
pleasure to use; the typographic design is of the highest order and the lay-flat binding is exceptionally
effective for a book of this size.
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David Flanagan: JavaScript: The Definitive Reference 4/e ISBN 0-596-00048-0 Published by O'Reilly, 916 pp. RRP $120.00 incl. GST |
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Web Metrics
Measuring a Web site's success
"If you build a Web site you must have a solid reason for doing so. Once the Web site is operational it
is important to understand how well it is working and how it contributes to your overall business strategy.
Failure to do so is a waste of time and money because the construction, operation, and maintenance of a Web
site (or any other online initiative) requires capital. It is no different from the other investments that
an organisation makes, and it should always be subjected to an appropriate business cost/benefit
analysis." [Measuring the Success of Your Web site]
Measuring the Success of Your Web site is an Australian publication and the author, Hurol Inan, has
a substantial background in management and technology consulting. I use the term, 'substantial', to
differentiate him from wafflers and evangelists whose presentations may be slick, but are largely hollow.
This book is not about the technology per se of Web metrics, but discusses issues and techniques
in concrete terms and explains what particular tools and services do and why they are necessary. It has
been written for people who want to investigate "ways to maximise the success of [their] online initiatives
... using systematic tracking and analysis of . performance". Application of the tools to achieve that is
usually outside the scope of the resources available to most enterprises, which is why this book is
important. It is an empowering text; the reader who has taken it all in will be well equipped to thoroughly
scrutinise any Web-measurement service provider.
The book tabulates Web-measurement solutions by category; a list of vendors and a brief review
of each solution are available at the author's Web site, which ensures up-to-date data in a fast changing
environment. The Web site also provides access to the author.
The standard metrics offered by some vendors and service providers often fail to return a true picture.
The author cites some examples to illustrate what can happen. High traffic volumes may indicate no more
than that lots of keywords have resulted in search engines indexing the site better than others. Customers
may be visiting a site, but not buying. Pricing and similar information may be attracting competitors and
others (it is common for those in the book industry to use the Amazon site as a source of information).
Standard metrics may show that average total time spent on a site is lower than the competition, but
that may be the result of better information architecture.
To be meaningful the results of Web measurement have to be put into context, which requires more than
standard metrics. That context requires what the author calls a
customer-centric approach. It involves engaging with one's customers to know who they are, what
they need, and their respective patterns of online behaviour.
The book describes in detail all the topics associated with the building of a measurement framework. Under
Defining a Framework a number of 'stages' of customer engagement are defined:
reach, acquire, convert, and retain. The convert stage is described thus, "Some of the
people who have reached the acquire stage will see a match between their needs and what is offered by
your site. They will proceed with purchasing, or will comply with whatever else the Web site is trying to
achieve. This stage is referred to as the convert stage . ". Later on in the book there is a detailed
discussion of various facets of the convert stage, including the unit cost of conversion (the average
cost per sale in dollar terms) and unit value of conversion (the average yield per sale).
The reader does not have to be an accountant, a programmer, or expert in Web technologies. What the
author presents is an exceptionally comprehensive explanation of how to approach the effective measurement
of a Web site's performance.
An essential resource for executives and managers who have responsibility for commissioning and supervising
the administration of Web sites.
Anyone who is thinking of taking up, or working in the field of, Web metrics should study this book. It
is concise, has useful cross references, and lists sources used by the author. Numerous case studies are
used to support the text.
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Hurol Inan: Measuring the Success of Your Website ISBN 1-74009-648-7 Published by Prentice Hall, 232 pp., RRP $49.95 incl. GST |
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Reprinted from the December 2002 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
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