Customer Reviews

FBML Essentials: Facebook Markup Language Fundamentals

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased this book after reading a review calling this book "Totally obsolete". That reviewer has lost credibility with me, but I will admit there are portions in the book that restrict it to a period of time in the past (I feel authors should avoid referencing the future with expectation, unless they are planning a revised edition to follow those dates). This may be what the one reviewer focused on while ignoring the real context of the book. There is also a major resource link referenced I found not working, but these types of things are beyond an author's control (unless they are controlling that domain... hmmm...).

Anyway, except for a few things that date the content of this book I found it to be a solid addition to my reference library and as I begin to develop Facebook Applications it will be one of my resources to help me determine the best development route (FBML vs API).

I do appreciate the author's interests in reviews of his book and in truth it was his statements (not solely the negative review) that encouraged me to purchase the book for a closer look.

To quote Rodney Rumford; "Jesse has given you the direction to properly use FMBL with this great book. Use it often and it will save you hours of frustration." I have to agree.

Today (October 28, 2009) I have received from Amazon this book and the book Facebook Cookbook by Jay Goldman.
These two books might have been perfect in an earlier time but today they are utterly useless. The facebook interface has totally changed from what is described in those two books. I am a very experienced programmer (Java, C, C++, Objective C, HTML,PHP, Javascript , CSS and more) but here I am totally lost!

Pretty detailed - probably should know SOME HTML before going through this book. Overall though, it seems like a good tool to use for work.

If you're looking for an overview of the Facebook development processes, this is an excellent, concise and easy-to-read book. Very helpful to get you started and then some!

This is a great little book. Stay has put together a solid reference that exceeds what is available at the facebook developer wiki while at the same time not going overboard with lots of unnecessary extras. This is FBML with a little bit of context. Not much more or less. A great launching point for anyone who would like to tap into the largest global social network in existence.

Are you an experienced developer who wants to get started in the new world of Facebook development? If you are, then this book is for you. Author Jesse Stay, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that is intended to be your guide to perhaps the most important and basic components of the platform: FBML.

Stay, begins by showing you how to create an entire simple application by using FBML by itself. Then, the author covers a few things to be aware of when designing your Facebook application in FBML. He also covers the details of FBML, every single tag available, and how each tag works. Finally, the author discusses FBJS: Facebook's own set of Javascript libraries.

The intent of this most excellent book, is to get you to the point where you, as a Facebook developer, can decide when FBML makes sense for your application. But, more importantly, this book helps you determine when you are better off using the Facebook API.