Customer Reviews

Secrets of Successful Web Sites

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Secrets of Successful Web Sites is a great resource if you want Case Study after Case Study with very little content ascribed to Project Management. Pages 161 and beyond contained the only worthwhile content for Project Managers.

Secrets lacked back-end integration processes, discussions on powerful web apps like BroadVision and Vignette and was fundamentally positioned for Web Agency types like US Web and agency.com. It lacked serious discussion on the technology and the Project Management methodologies could have been expanded on, instead of wasting 161 pages of case study narratives. I did, however, like the fact that the author included the client in the chapters.

I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in what the competition is doing and not in how to Project Manage a web development project with serious integration and legacy build applications.

I was first attracted to David Siegal's work via his HighFive.com web site and one of his other titles, Creating Killer Web Sites. I have always been impressed with how he designs - in a very simple, yet elegant manner. This book is written in true Siegal style - easy to read and understand. It's also a great book to read during lunch time because you can digest one or two chapters in an hour while enjoying your favorite snack!

What I liked the most about the book were two things: the case studies of real life web projects and the project managment methodology.

The case studies were humorous at times, spawning the "I've been there." response. But more importantly, the studies outlined what went right, what went wrong, and how these companies involved overcame the hurdles that are somewhat inevitable in this business. I was encouraged to think about the ways I have been dealing with clients and how I might better serve them in the future.

Siegal's methodology about project management is clearly described, easy to follow, and has become a standard for the way I deal with clients today. I have had far fewer problems with clients and my clients truly appreciate me exerting the extra effort into the project management aspects of web development.

This book is a must read for anyone who wants to succeed in web development.

Project management finally has a bible to call its own! In this wonderful book, David Siegel begins the reader with tales of websites. He goes through how they were conceived, born, and how they grew up. (I love the Land Rover story) The stories are a quick read and contain many useful tips to the careful reader. Part two discusses the CLIENT-CONTRACTOR relationship. This is perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of web design. Siegel demands that the customer has the right to define the goal of the project, and that it is the responsibility of the Project Manager to LISTEN! No IT deparment mumbo jumbo, no new bells and whistles. Siegel pushes for open and honest communication between the client and the contractor, and slips clever ideas into the book along the way. BTW: The chapter on PRODUCTION SITES is worth the price of the book alone. Overall, a tremendous book, if you produce websites, this is one that you simply cannot miss. Thanks for another great book David!

If you are looking for a Methodology for managing the successful development of an ecommerce project in the 21st century then keep looking. This 1997 edition addresses only the front end graphic aspects of web site development.

I bought this book based on the dozens of accolades here at Amazon.com. What a joke this book is! The thing is UNREADABLE. It is as if a graphic designer simply was let loose. It is impossible to follow the narrative and get at the "project management on the world wide web" part that the title promises. I really don't care that this web designer nearly had a heart attack when their ISP was down and Bill Gates was going to introduce IE 3.0 using it, in front of thousands. This is more of a scrapbook of a cadre of overly proud graphic designers. This book needs a major rewrite if it is to become useful and provide guidance to building USEFUL websites

Written entirely from an ad agency point of view. OK if you're still doing brochureware. Offers no insights into the business process or technology challenges of e-commerce web site development.

...and Siegel's pudding sucks. A direct quote from his own online "diary" (http://www.dsiegel.com/diary/mar.20.97.html): "All the projects where I've been a project manager have been handled poorly, not because I'm too busy doing other things, but fundamentally because I'm no good at it." So naturally he's qualified to write a book on the process.... Like the saying goes, those that can, do; those that can't, teach. The rest of that journal entry reveals some of what this book glosses over when it comes Siegel and Studio Verso.

There really isn't anything in this book for current, competent web professionals, but I don't think that's the true intended audience anyway--it's too small a group to make any real money off of with a book. Nope, this book is for the legions of web wanna-bees who gasp in awe at such things like reduced-palette GIF images--the ones who snapped up his last piece of trash, which was obsolete even before it was printed...but I digress.

I will say that the first half of the book (written not by Siegel but by Amy, one of his employees) is interesting reading and the only reason this book didn't get a zero from me.

Adding insult to injury is the book's companion web site: given Siegel's penchant for blowing his own (propaganda) horn, it came as no surprise that he included his own firm on an "A"-list of web shops. I find this rather akin to a mother's appreciation of her own toddler's art; I don't think anyone else who's at all competent to judge such matters would ever include Siegel or his firm in the same company as some of the others on the list.

Perhaps the good Mr. Siegel could post Studio Verso's financial statements online to show how successful his strategies really are (or aren't, as the case may be). But that would expose the truth, and no one would then buy his book, would they...don't hold your breath and don't waste your money on this one.

I bought and read this book more than a year before and I still keep it sitting next to my monitor. I refer to it always, and trust the information inside without exception. I recently purchased my own domain and obtained my first contract as a direct result of the information in this book. It seems that every word between the covers is pertinent and provides valuable advice for the new comer and experienced designer alike. Thank you Mr. Siegel for helping to launch my successful career as a web site designer.

While the hype about this book is absolutely incredible, expect to be let down albeit gently if you sit down and read it. With the changes to the Web occurring at an ever-increasing pace, this book, which was published in 1997 (and written before that), still retains interest but is sadly out of date. Considering the content, it is somewhat overpriced.

Mr. Siegel's new book, "Secrets of Successful Web Sites" is a highly comprehensive guide to the tactical methodology of creating and implementing a business-oriented Web site. In that regard the book could certainly be considered successful and of value.

The profession of Web site development can benefit from the degree of professionalism and business acumen that Mr. Siegel and his firm, Studio Verso, would appear to possess. And his obvious passion for and devotion to the development of the Web is admirable.

However, from some of his endeavors such as this book and his previous one, "Creating Killer Web Sites", his "High 5" site and his weekly "Journal" entries I find it hard not to detect the presence of a pretty hefty ego at work and a sense of self-importance I find disconcerting.
Taken from the same somewhat self-serving perspective, one might get the inkling that "Secrets..." was written with the aim of promoting his design firm very much in mind. (I was left with pretty much the same impression after reading designer Roger Black's recent book, "Web Sites that Work". (What is with these guys? Why do they feel the need to self-promote themselves so blatantly?)

I also find wearing Mr. Siegel's almost total focus on the Web as a business opportunity and it is rather dismaying that his particular vision seems to be so widespread.
In that same vein it is very depressing to find Steve Jobs quoted in this book as saying, "Real artists ship." Aaarrgh!!! If that be the case, by Mr. Jobs' standards, Leonardo da Vinci was not a "real" artist.

In summary, I appreciate Mr. Siegel's efforts and the quality of work he would like to see on the Web. I found the book helpful, challenging and informative but the qualifiers described above were discouraging and a distraction. I certainly think Mr. Siegel means well and he has valuable things to say but for me the message is obscured by the vehicle. As an alternative to Mr. Siegel's particular viewpoint, I would suggest that developers might look towards artists such as Joseph Beuys and Bruce Nauman, both tremendously influential contemporary artists of vision and integrity whose work encompasses a wide breadth of artistic endeavor. "Real" artists.

Books: "The Essential Joseph Beuys", by Alain Borer and "Bruce Nauman: 25 Years Vol 1" by Castelli and Brundage.