Customer Reviews

Web Site Cookbook: Solutions & Examples for Building and Administering Your Web Site (Cookbooks (O'Reilly))

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
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The author says this is the book he wished he'd had when he started building websites ten years ago. I agree. The book is structured as a series of problems posed, with solutions, a discussion, and related links for follow-up. Some of the problem/solution match-ups certainly sometimes read like notes kept handy after some bit of knowledge was learned the hard way.

The book is written for those who make a living by designing, developing, maintaining, and marketing Web sites for themselves or other people. The exclusive focus is on the familiar world of LAMP -- Linux/Unix with Apache, MySQL, and PHP.

The author shares lots of handy code snippets (mostly PHP) to deal with technical issues but he does not neglect the soft skills, such as approaching the information architecture of a proposed site -- and marketing the finished one.

Addison goes into as much depth as is necessary to solve a problem and resists the temptation to go further. He clearly keeps up with best practices. I was impressed that his advice for a printer-friendly site is to use print media CSS. Most sites, even new ones, use more expensive and labor-intensive methods, like adding middle-layer software or creating separate content versions.

Quibble: the book does not mention, nor do the publisher's or author's sites offer any way to download the code snippets and the lists of related links. That is very odd for a book of this nature and I hope the author corrects the oversight for readers soon.

This is one of the few books where I would say that I wanted more from it. The choice of recipes is good. And it certainly covers my top ten. But I liked how the material was presented so much that I found myself wanting more.

This is a grab bag book, so you will want to check the table of cotents out before buying to make sure you will get enough material for your dollar. What is in the book is covered well.

Excellent for beginners, but I would have liked to have gotten more detail. Perhaps that is the trade-off for so broad a subject. This book has answers to alot of questions that beginners (like me) might have. For instance, when I was shopping around for a hosting service for a personal website, features that were common to most hosting plans were cron (a scheduling utility) and ssi (server side includes). What are they? Why would they list them as a plus for hosting? Why would I care if they featured these or not? Well the Web Site Cookbook not only tells you what they are, but also gives you examples as to when, how, and why you might use them.

Each topic (recipe) is broken down into 4 sections:

1. Problem: A one or two sentence description of what you need or want to do.

2. Solution: A step by step solution.

3. Discussion: A discussion of the applied solution.

4. See Also: Additional information from other "recipes" in the book and/or outside resources.

There are also sections on planning your site, organizing directories, creating color schemes, as well as tips on making URL's easy to find and remember. (just to name a few). This book will get you well on your way to putting together a well designed web site. Highly recommended.

What's refreshing about Addison's Web Site Cookbook, is that it's decidedly not a Martha Stewart Web Site Cookbook. In other words, you won't encounter loads of interesting, but esoteric and elusive online reference material that you're not likely to understand, let alone actually use on your site (Read: no blanched albino Peruvian endives here. But I digress...).

Addison has put together a fine collection of practical, useful and downright helpful info for those charged with managing all aspects of a site. For Web denizens who've been at this for a while, you're still likely to find new material that can be readily applied to existing sites (say, the addition or favicons, or new PHP tools). For others, newer to Web site management, there are hosts of items that should save time in overall execution (i.e. flow charting processes, protecting images files/directories, naming conventions, etc.) by getting it right the first time.

Doug Addison is a professional. He knows his stuff. This book covers all the aspects of setting up and administering a web site. Doug's instructions are clear and comprehensive. I do think, however, that the density of the text might be off-putting to a new web site builder and administrator. More graphics would have helped and more white space. I was also puzzled why an animal was on the cover. These are small points, however, and don't affect the value of the contents of this very excellent book.

Doug Addison has produced a very useful and informative guide to working on Web sites. While many books look at the mechanics of HTML, or detailed coding, Web Site Cookbook rather follows the O'Reilly cookbook structure, looking at specific issues and needs and presenting answers. The book looks at the other aspects of good Web site work - colors, design and small tasks that are part of everyday Web sites now. Many of the recipes will make a more experienced Web site author go "duh," but I found myself flagging many of the entries if nothing else to do more research using some of the Web resources cited at the end of each recipe. Much of what is talked about is Web Design 101, but with so many WYSIWYG tools out there allowing anyone to produce a simple Web site, it's useful to have someone succinctly state the ideas behind complimentary colors to try and avoid those awful sites that just make your eyes burn. Nothing here is earth shattering or is something that you couldn't find on-line, but the value is Addison's organization and presentation, distilling Web speak into simple language, showing some examples and sending the reader off to other resources if he or she wants. The book is written with the idea that you are programming in PHP on top of an Apache Web server, which may not be relevant to all readers, but even those readers, like myself, who don't use PHP or Apache can carry away quick and valuable information, and have a flagged book to grab and look for information on a specific topic in the future. It's going to be a useful addition to my my desk.

I skimmed through the book, and I know I will find it very useful. It points out many things that web developers will want or need to do at some point and provides easy information on how to make them happen.

The one issue I have with the book is that it is about 70% PHP and Apache Server, which I don't use. This isn't a problem with the book, I just didn't quite realize this when I bought it. But, regardless of the language you use to program, even the PHP examples are useful as they show you the methodology to implement solutions in a clear, concise, and easy to understand way. It is also a good reference if you're considering using PHP or use it a little bit.

I have purchased hundreds of technical books, but I never purchased an O'Reilly book before - they just seemed to be too sparse, where I was looking for more in-depth instruction. However, now I know why they are so popular. I think you can learn more from a good example...or a good solution to a problem...rather than reading many chapters of most other books.

This book is definitely for people with some experience and again, I would just stress that it is mainly a PHP and Apache Server reference.

When you run a web site, there's always "one more thing" you have to take care of. Web Site Cookbook by Doug Addison can help you figure out what some of those things are, as well as how to fix them.

Contents: Web Server Startup; Site Planning and Setup; Page Design and Navigation; Formatting Text and Code; Formatting Graphics; Displaying and Delivering Information; Interacting with Visitors; Promotion and E-Commerce; Maintenance and Troubleshooting; Index

This is an O'Reilly "Cookbook" title, so it follows the standard format for the series. You get a Problem, a Solution, a Discussion of the solution, as well as a See Also section if there's a source for additional information. The pros and cons of books like this are that not all of the problems will apply to you, and you may feel like you didn't get your full money's worth. For instance, if you already have a domain name and a site, the recipe for Registering A Domain Name doesn't help you out at all. However, if you run a PHP site and you want to incorporate the use of captchas to foil automated bots, then the recipe for Using A Graphical Character String For Form Authentication might be all that you need to make this book worth buying. It's really hard to predict whether any given person will value the material. On the other hand, all the recipes in the book *are* well written and do what is intended by the author.

So, I like the book, but I'm aware that there might be differing opinions on how good it is. Basically it comes down to what you're looking for. If you get a chance to scan the book before purchasing, it might help you make your decision...

Are you a web developer and designer? If you are, then this book is for you! Author Doug Addison, has done an outstanding job of writing a book about building web sites that people will visit, use, bookmark, and revisit.

Addison, begins by untangling the choices that confront web site builders during the process of getting a new web site off the ground. Then, the author discusses site planning and setup. Next, the author presented solutions that will help you balance aesthetics with usability. The author then focuses on the written content that, for the majority of sites, constitutes the meat and potatoes of their online offerings. He continues by covering a few of the most common issues surrounding the use of graphics on a web site, including how to choose the right ones and optimize them for a fast download. Then, the author looks at some techniques for using visual clues. He then goes over some of the little details that make a web site visit successful and enjoyable. Next, the author explains the trust-building techniques and fraud-avoidance maneuvers that help secure both sides in an online transaction. Finally, he discusses both the administrative tasks you should use to maintain your site, as well as the technical procedures you'll need to know to keep your site and your job trouble free.

In this most excellent book you'll find solutions to everything from choosing, registering, and protecting a site's domain name to keep spammers from harvesting the addresses you display on its pages. More importantly, this book can lead the way in showing you how to publish a site that is not only a useful and attractive representation of the business, organization, or person behind it, but is also easy to build, maintain, and update.

This book is an ideal reference for non-technical Product Managers who work closely with software and web developers. The Web Site Cookbook provides enough context for those who make their living crafting functional requirements and translating user needs into specifications to "talk the talk" and get outstanding results from their developers. This book should be required reading for Product Managers who want to understand how to get the best results from their team.