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jQuery in Action
Bear Bibeault, Yehuda Katz
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Manning Publications
Published: 2008-02-07 |
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jQuery is a Javascript framework that aims to let you think structurally and conceptually, rather than worrying about syntax
and other details. In that largely succeeds, and so does this remarkable book.
Every technical book should be like this one; having written a few myself, I know that's a tall order. "jQuery in Action"
is concise but clear, humorous but not silly, and answers all the questions it raises, quickly. The reader is never left wondering
"But what about..." for more than a sentence or two. The authors clearly gave a lot of thought to pedagogy, because things
are explained in a clear way which progresses naturally from chapter to chapter. Factor in the extremely readable style and
the handsome diagrams, and it's easy to see why reading this book is a sheer joy.
For each major feature of jQuery, this book provides a "Laboratory page", a kind of interactive HTML playground where you
can try the feature out using different options. The remarkable flexibility of these pages is a testament to both the power
of jQuery and to the imagination and creativity of the authors.
Perhaps the most commendable feature of "jQuery in Action" is its unflinching honesty. Too often authors are selling you on
a product, and they'll gloss over rough spots to win you over. These authors don't do that. They present their topic as it
is, describe its merits, and let the reader decide.
(Ernest J. Friedman-Hill - Sheriff,
April 2008)
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More info at Amazon.com ||
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The Unusually Useful Web Book
June Cohen
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New Riders Press
Published: 2003-06-02 |
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The Unusually Useful Web Book could have been titled The Book You Should Read To Help You Plan, Design, Build, and Maintain
A Successful Web Site. Everyone who is on a team developing or maintaining a website should read this book and then re-read
it frequently to keep the information and lessons fresh.
This book provides an overview of the processes, the techniques, and the technologies that can (and should) be used to develop
and maintain a successful web site. If you are looking for an in-depth technical book on HTML, CSS, or other specific tools
this is not that book. Buy this book anyway! It will be worth it.
The book is divided into four major sections: Planning Your Site, Designing Your Site, Building Your Site, and Maintaining
Your Site. Each section has good information that you can use right now whether you are starting to create a new site or are
involved in the maintenance and upgrade of an existing site.
A conscious effort was made to make the book look and feel like a website. This approach works very well. Sections are short,
important points are highlighted, and I found myself following "links" to more in-depth information on topics that were of
interest to me. This book lives up to its title by being full of unusually useful information and also being unusually readable.
I think this book is going to be an instant classic.
(John Wetherbie - Bartender,
June 2003)
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Webmaster In a Nutshell
Stephen Spainhour, Robert Eckstein
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O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Published: 2002-12-01 |
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Webmaster In a Nutshell is a conglomeration of reference materials for today's web developer. Nary a web development project
goes by when you're not called on to remember something that you'd done so long ago that you can't quite remember how it goes.
That's where this book comes in. Webmaster In a Nutshell covers everything from HTML syntax to dynamic content to server performance
and everything in between. Keep in mind that this is not a become a webmaster in 24 hours book. Unless you've done a good
amount of web development in the past, it's doubtful you'd get much out of this text. The reference materials are great, but
this text is not designed to teach you to be a web developer. Rather, it's a handy reference for the jack-of-all-trades that
is today's web developer.
The writing is very straightforward and little time is spent on introductions of topics. In most cases, a topic will have
just a couple pages of introductions followed by many pages of reference materials. With the exception of PHP and XML, which
are covered heavily in this text, it's doubtful that you'll learn any technologies from scratch with this book. However, as
a reference for technologies that you already have experience with, this book succeeds brilliantly. It covers a wide range
of technologies and is remarkably complete and concise everything a webmaster could would want in a reference text.
(Corey McGlone - Bartender,
February 2003)
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Ajax - The Complete Reference
Thomas A. Powell
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McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Published: 2008-02-21 |
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This book is about writing Ajax web applications. It consists of four parts: Core Ideas, Applied Ajax, Advanced Topics and
appendices.The first part explains what Ajax is and describes different ways of implementing Ajax in considerable detail.
It describes some pre-Ajax techniques for implementing dynamic web applications, discusses the XMLHttpRequest object, data
formats such as XML and JSON and goes quite deep into the issues that you will encounter when using the different techniques.
In the second part, a number of concepts are presented by developing an Ajax library. There are chapters about networking,
security, user interface design and website and application architecture. In the third part some more advanced techniques
are described, such as calling web services.
What I especially liked about this book is that it goes deep into the details if needed. For example, differences between
web browsers are described in detail. The book isn't just a cookbook that explains step by step how to build an Ajax web application
- it focuses on making robust and secure applications that will work well on the different browsers and operating systems
that are out there.
I would highly recommend this book to people who are developing serious Ajax web applications. This book contains a lot of
valuable information, I certainly learned a lot by reading it.
(Jesper de Jong - Bartender,
May 2008)
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Pro JavaScript Design Patterns
Ross Harmes, Dustin Diaz
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Apress
Published: 2007-12-10 |
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"Pro JavaScript Design Pattens" is a useful read regardless of whether you have a JavaScript or server side language background.
An advanced topic that appeals to such varied audiences is tough to do, but the authors succeed admirably. In fact, I can't
do such a job, so read the chapter that applies...
JavaScript developers:
The book covers how to write good clean object oriented code in JavaScript. It introduces concepts that are not present in
JavaScript along with how to simulate them. The sections on when to use a given pattern are well written.
Server side language developers:
The book covers how to implement in JavaScript the design patterns we are accustomed to. Before getting to this, there are
several chapters on JavaScript idioms which are very useful. There were also a couple patterns that a server side developer
might not have encountered because the server side is not so memory constrained.
Everyone:
The book also covers tradeoffs of using the patterns. I appreciated where they mention the slight performance hit and how
to check/profile if it is a problem for you. All patterns were described clearly and succinctly. There were some real examples
as well. At times, it is a bit code heavy -- one example had 1.5 pages of implementation details that had nothing to do
with the topic at end. Overall, I think the book was great. If you have a significant amount of JavaScript code, the concepts
in this book are critical.
(Jeanne Boyarsky - Sheriff,
April 2008)
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Ajax Security
Billy Hoffman, Bryan Sullivan
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Addison-Wesley Professional
Published: 2007-12-16 |
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With the advent of more sophisticated client-side web apps -- facilitated by AJAX and the JavaScript XmlHttpRequest object
-- have come more numerous and more easily discovered security issues. As the authors point out, AJAX combines the vulnerabilities
of traditional web apps and web services.
This book is billed as "The Hands-On, Practical Guide to Preventing Ajax-Related Security Vulnerabilities", and it delivers
admirably on that count. It covers in detail the wide range of attack possibilities - from traditional web attacks and JavaScript
hijacking over client-side storage and offline vulnerabilities to request origin issues, mashups and even CSS. An analysis
of two JavaScript worms and a couple of chapters presenting tools to help test AJAX application and popular AJAX frameworks
round out the book. Many illustrations and code examples help convey the subjects, as do details of what to look out for in
particular browsers or server software. It's hard to picture a web worker (be it developer, tester, producer or manager) that
doesn't take away something (and more likely quite a bit) from this book.
It's written in a style that makes it easily approachable, and complex topics are explained well. Although some of the later
material assumes knowledge of the earlier stuff, most chapters can be skipped if the reader isn't interested in a particular
topic, and revisited later. I recommend the book to every web professional.
(Ulf Dittmer - Sheriff,
February 2008)
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Addison-Wesley Professional
Published: 2007-12-16 |
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Anyone involved in developing/testing AJAX should read "AJAX Security." It covers preventing a hacker from attaching your
application. The audience includes developers, QA and penetration testers. While there are code snippets, they are explained
well. While managers aren't in the target audience, I think they could benefit from understanding the concepts presented
in the book.
The book begins with a brief review of AJAX architecture with an emphasis on security. The writing style is quite engaging
including a chapter walking you through an attack from a hacker's point of view. All the major known categories of attacks
are included including resource enumeration, parameter manipulation (with SQL and XPATH injection), session hijacking, JSON
hijacking, XSS, CSRF, phishing, denial of service, etc.
I particularly liked the analogies to things that happen in the physical world such as resource injection into a roommate's
"to do" list and hijacking another customer's paid order in the deli. These made it easy to visualize the problem even for
people who don't code often.
The authors were realistic and included the limitations and drawbacks of each tool/framework mentioned. I liked the chapter
analyzing two major JavaScript worms including the source code. This really hit home on the importance of certain practices!
All information was up to date as of printing including comments on all four major browsers (IE, Firefox, Opera and Safari.)
They even mentioned the HTML 5 specification. The book is not server side language specific, which was nice.
(Jeanne Boyarsky - Sheriff,
January 2008)
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Pro CSS and HTML Design Patterns
Michael Bowers
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Apress
Published: 2007-04-23 |
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"Pro CSS and HTML Design Patterns" is a valuable reference for using CSS on your website. You should be familiar with reading
or writing CSS and have some experience with HTML for this book to be readable. In particular, you should feel comfortable
with CSS syntax and high-level concepts.
The book is still useful if you know CSS "a little" -- you may have to read parts a few times. In particular, there are a
few places were terms are defined after they are used. It's a bit of a catch 22, for the author as introducing those terms
relies on the initial sections. There aren't many of these and all becomes clear by reading the patterns twice.
I liked the style of having code/screenshots on one side and the pattern/description/limitations on the other side of each
two page set. This consistency made the book easy to follow. I particularly liked the emphasis of making the patterns accessible
to people using different browsers, screenreaders and with Javascript disabled.
Some of the design patterns are teaching patterns to understand concepts and terminology. The rest are techniques you could
want to use when designing a web page. Some techniques are self-contained, like styling text. The end of the book builds
more complex patterns out of those that came before. The box model and layout ones are quite valuable.
The companion website lets you play with each pattern. In summary: buy this book!
(Jeanne Boyarsky - Sheriff,
July 2007)
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Ajax in Practice
Dave Crane, Bear Bibeault, Jord Sonneveld
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Manning Publications
Published: 2007-05-30 |
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The back cover says that "Ajax in Practice" is a "second generation" book. The book covers a mix of problem/solution descriptions
for common problems, Ajax tips and advanced JavaScript techniques. The cookbook style is useful if you are trying to implement
a specific Ajax effect. The book touches on a number of libraries/toolkits where appropriate. It also covers integrating
with existing Ajax libraries.
The book assumes you know basic JavaScript, CSS and HTML. If you are new to Ajax, I recommend reading a "first generation"
book like "Ajax in Action" first. This book is a lot easier to follow if you have some exposure to Ajax. In particular,
the problem/solution style involves learning by reading a lot of code. This is overwhelming on the first shot. I had to
pull out my copy of "Ajax in Action" to follow parts of it. While some of the examples are long, they don't include unnecessary
code.
I liked that the book has a common flow to it. Even though there are seven authors/contributors, the style is the same and
it makes sense. I learned a lot about specific uses of Ajax along with examples/techniques of good Ajax code. This should
definitely be the second Ajax book you read!
(Jeanne Boyarsky - Bartender,
June 2007)
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ppk on JavaScript
Peter-Paul Koch
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New Riders Press
Published: 2006-09-20 |
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"ppk on JavaScript" fills an interesting void with the focus of today's JavaScript books. Most books either focus on "JavaScript
in 21 Days", "JavaScript -- Complete Reference" or "AJAX". This book covers techniques for creating clean and accessible
JavaScript functionality.
The book's stated audience is someone who knows at least some JavaScript -- a beginning level or up. Basically, you should
feel comfortable reading and understanding code. I think the book might be a little overwhelming for a beginner to understand.
A beginner could read it twice; once right away and once after reading another JavaScript book.
The author views JavaScript as a technique to add usability. He shows how to create "unobtrusive" JavaScript. In other words,
the JavaScript stays out of the HTML page and the page works without JavaScript, albeit with less functionality.
Eight case studies (real life examples) are used throughout the book. The author points out why he selected certain techniques.
He also notes bugs and where he would have done things differently. I particularly liked the emphasis on separation of concerns.
Keyboard users are also discussed from an accessibility point of view in several chapters. In other chapters, only users
without JavaScript enabled were discussed. I would have liked a little more consistency with how accessibility was treated.
Overall, the book was very good. The tips were useful and I enjoyed the emphasis on design. And AJAX is discussed from the
point of view of how it was used before it was called AJAX.
(Jeanne Boyarsky - Bartender,
October 2006)
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HTML, XHTML and CSS
Elizabeth Castro
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Peachpit Press
Published: 2006-08-26 |
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My first impression was that the page layout was strange for a book, but then I realised that the layout and presentation
of data was the point of the book, so I stopped worrying and went with the flow.
It treats HTML and XHTML as the same thing, only distinguishing one from the other when a specific point needs to be made.
This was a nice way to start as it removes the mystery of XHTML and allows the reader to concentrate on getting things displayed.
I was also interested in the way the book worked from basic structure to applying ids and classes without introducing styles.
These aren't introduced until chapter eight where you (hopefully) already have a feel for basic structure, layout, and markup.
The book races through the easier parts of HTML and I guess it could be possible for a complete novice to get lost, so pay
attention in the first chapter. The book is rated for 'intermediate users' though, so complete beginners may want to be wary.
The good news is this leaves room at the end for bonus content like character encodings, problem solving, marketing and RSS.
It is easy to see why this is a popular web design book. Topics are laid out in a no-nonsense manner that makes everything
look easy and achievable, there is plenty of content without being heavy, and the layout provides the flexibility for colored
examples and additional points of interest. Also, don't overlook a web book that is printed in color!
(David O'Meara - Sheriff,
October 2006)
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Beginning JavaScript with DOM Scripting and Ajax
Christian Heilmann
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Apress
Published: 2006-07-14 |
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Up until now, most JavaScript books I have seen have not really described how to be a good JavaScript programmer – most of
them have lead by example (which is how many JavaScript programmers I know learnt JavaScript). Unfortunately learning JavaScript
by simply viewing other people's code without understanding why it was written the way it was could also lead to learning
by bad example.
Christian Heilmann's "Beginning JavaScript with DOM Scripting and Ajax" is different – it teaches the reader the concepts
that will help them to become a good JavaScript programmer. Perhaps more importantly, it teaches how to use JavaScript, CSS,
DOM, and Ajax in a degradable manner, so that all visitors to your web site will be able to access it. Christian explains
not only the guidelines for developing good code, but the reasons why it is important.
Christian's passion for creating maintainable, standards compliant, usable websites is clearly visible in his writing. Throughout
the book he reiterates key issues that good programmers should know, and demonstrates them in his code.
This is an excellent book on JavaScript, and one that I will thoroughly recommend to anybody new to JavaScript programming.
I also recommend it to anyone who plans to make their website more accessible to a wider audience (and who doesn't want that?).
(Andrew Monkhouse - Sheriff,
September 2006)
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Web Bloopers: 60 Common Web Design Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them
Jeff Johnson
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Morgan Kaufmann
Published: 2003-04-14 |
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If you get paid to develop a website, you should have this book. As the title says, "Web Bloopers" (along with its companion
website www.web-bloopers.com) details 60 of the most common (and annoying) design mistakes committed by web developers and
then tells you how to avoid them.
Each blooper is explained in words as well as in pictures (snapshots are taken of various sites around the web), and then
the author explains why the blooper is so bad and how to avoid it. As with any design, there are trade offs, sometimes you
have to commit one blooper to avoid another, but as long as you realize that's what you're doing, you're gold. This book
is very well organized. The title of each blooper is a good summary of the problem. The index in the back helps you to quickly
find examples both good and bad (and it also lets you see if you're company has been made an example of) the author even points
out some blooper's in his own publisher's website).
If everyone who is responsible for creating websites took the time to read this book, think about the user, how intuitive
their site is, and how easy it is to glean information from it, the Internet would be a much nicer and friendlier place.
I highly recommend this one.
(Jessica Sant - Bartender,
June 2003)
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How to Do Everything with JavaScript
Scott Duffy
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McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Published: 2003-02-28 |
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"How to Do Everything with JavaScript" is a great book for everyone, from the beginner to the expert who needs a good refresher.
This is one of many books on JavaScript I have read and this definitely will not leave my desk. "How to Do Everything with
JavaScript" can be used as a reference for difficult topics, or a quick guide to the fundamentals of JavaScript. The book
topics are covered in great detail with well thought-out explanations and examples. Classes, arrays, functions, objects, DHTML,
browser compatibility, debugging your script, frame communication, and countless other things are delivered in manageable
chunks which make this book a great resource. Many of the basic questions asked in the HTML and JavaScript forum can be answered
just by reading this book!
(Eric Pascarello - Bartender,
March 2003)
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HTML & XHTML
by Chuck Musciano & Bill Kennedy
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O'Reilly
Published: 2000-08 |
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This was the very first book I've ever read about HTML, years ago I taught myself HTML by using tutorial available on the
net. Over those years it hasn't changed much, but now with HTML becoming integrated with XML (therefore becoming XHTML) things
are changing quickly.
This book will help those who already know basic HTML through the transition and is also comprehensive enough to be usful
to someone who's never written HTML in their lives. Typical of O'Reilly books this not only has chapters which go into things
in-depth but also comprehensive appendices which can be used as handy references along with a pull-out "Quick Reference" section.
It's extremely easy to read and I recommend it to anyone who has to deal with HTML or XHTML.
(Angela Poynton - Sheriff,
October 2001)
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Adobe AIR for JavaScript Developers Pocket Guide
Mike Chambers, Daniel Dura, Kevin Hoyt, Dragos Georgita
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Adobe Dev Library
Published: 2008-04-18 |
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I was trying to learn Adobe AIR and was looking for some good set of learning resources. I found the book "Adobe AIR for
Javascript Developers" from O'Reilly by and started reading it online. A cool book, the authors have done great job on presenting
the topics as an easilit readable pocket guide. Soon after reading this book, i felt i got the right resource i want for now.
- I found this book a bit more than a usual pocket guide.
- If you are a beginner and don’t know anything about AIR, then this book is the best bet.
- The chapters were well organized to take you from novice stage to advanced stage in AIR.
- Covers ADOBE AIR 1.0
- Chapter I and II of this book teaches you many information and technical details about the AIR which might lots of time if
you have to get it from Internet.
- The authors have given lots of code snippets while explaining a topic instead of lots of theoretical text. Some thing that
programmers always look for.
- This book also gives an insight about Webkit engine, architecture of AIR and the security model of AIR.
The most interesting part in this book is the “Mini cookbook”.
- The mini cookbook chapter contains worked out samples with complete code explanation. It includes samples that can help you
understand (from AIR perspective) Application Chrome, Windowing, File API, File Pickers, Service and Server Monitoring, Online/Offline,
Drag-and-Drop, Embedded Database, Command-Line Arguments, Networking, Sound.
- This book is worth buying for its content coverage and its also very cheap.
(Balaji Loganathan - Bartender,
May 2008)
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Pro Ajax and Java Frameworks
Nathaniel T. Schutta, Ryan Asleson
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Apress
Published: 2006-07-17 |
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The authors have taken good efforts to neatly introduce, analyses and compare various javascript tools specifically meant
for AJAX.
The flow of the book is well managed and its very reader friendly.
This book is definitely a one stop reference for knowing what development tools, editors, libraries available for supporting
AJAX in Java web applications.
Comes with 50MB examples source code. The source code has been configured to easily deploy and test using ANT.
This book mostly addresses the freely available AJAX tools.
Few drawbacks I found:
A lot of pages have been spent on describing and comparing between java frameworks, the authors could have avoided it since
this book about using AJAX in java framework.
The code listings in the chapters (like html, javascript, jsp) were not well formatted, so it very difficult to read.
The authors gives more preference to JSF framework which is again not the context of the book.
That's it.
Since the book is published recently(July06), this book covers many latest AJAX and JAVA Framework products, so its saves
your time on finding a right tool for your AJAX based websites.
I don't want to write again the table of contents of this book but want to mention that you will sure learn all the bit and
pieces that you need have for setting up a AJAX based java web applications.
(Balaji Loganathan - Bartender,
October 2006)
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Practical Ajax Projects with Java Technology
Frank Zammetti
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Apress
Published: 2006-07-24 |
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I have read some AJAX books and enjoyed them, but they typically concentrate on the client side and coverage of what occurs
on the server side, if any, is generally PHP or a smattering of almost anything. But I'm a Java guy. The book I've been looking
for would have not only the server side examples in Java, but would also use Java as the basis of discussion on client-server
communication and the tools available to ease the whole process.
The examples cover a variety of interesting projects and technologies, but the coverage of CSS, JavaScript, Servlets etc is
very light as to be almost non-existent. Some of the sample code has been cut and paste without too much scrutiny, so they
are often bloated by useless or even empty javadoc blocks but this is more of a annoyance than a real problem. Appendix B
has several pages of useful links, but I would have liked to have seen this as a closing chapter of the topics that didn't
warrant complete coverage.
Interestingly, while core AJAX books tend to favour the client action and be light on what happens on the server, this book
leans the other way. If you are looking to buy a single book to cover AJAX this will cause you a problem, but now that you
are fore-warned if you get the correct combination of client and server AJAX coverage you'll be well served for your future
needs.
(David O'Meara - Sheriff,
September 2006)
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Professional Ajax
Nicolas Zakas, Jeremy McPeak, Joe Fawcett
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Wrox
Published: 2006-02-06 |
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"Professional Ajax" shoots from the hip. Go ahead, scour the web. Find every forum, article, or review about Ajax that allows
users to post comments. You'll find a common complaint: "We've been doing that for years, we don't need a fancy new name."
These guys understand this comment. They know what they're doing here, and they've got the battle scars to prove it. Call
it what you want: Ajax, Web 2.0, or just business as usual, these authors know how to get the job done.
You won't find oversimplifications here: the authors don't skimp on details as they describe what goes into Ajax applications
and show you how to build your own. The book concludes with a large and lovely guide through the process of developing a realistic
Ajax-based email client similar to Gmail.
This is a nice pragmatic guide to coming up to speed with what's happening in interactive Web application development. You
won't go wrong with this book.
(Ernest Friedman-Hill - Sheriff,
March 2006)
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Ajax in Action
Dave Crane, Eric Pascarello, Darren James
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Manning Publications
Published: 2005-10-01 |
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Ajax In Action is a code-driven introduction to the collection of technologies and techniques that are known as Ajax. The
book has many code examples and the last five chapters take you through the development of some Ajax applications including
combo boxes, type-ahead help, and adding Ajax to a portal site.
The authors emphasize that developers and architects need to have a different mindset when developing applications that use
Ajax versus traditional web applications. An asynchronous (the first A in Ajax) web application will act differently than
a traditional web application and needs to be thought about and designed differently. There will also be more JavaScript code
to manage and the authors emphasize good coding and code management techniques.
I enjoyed the chapter on performance and the fact that it focused both on speed and memory use. The appendices cover Ajax
tools for your toolkit, an excellent JavaScript overview, and Ajax-related frameworks and libraries. The appendices are really
good but I appreciate that their information is located such that it does not break the flow of the book.
This book is a very good overview Ajax and its technologies. It assumes you are reasonably familiar with JavaScript, CSS,
DOM, and how web applications work. My one complaint is the feeling that the discussion of patterns and refactoring for a
developer not familiar with these tools was a little light and could have been beefed up a bit.
I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.
(John Wetherbie - Bartender,
December 2005)
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Manning Publications
Published: 2005-10-01 |
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"Ajax in Action" is not only an excellent book on Ajax, but the best JavaScript book I have ever read. The authors note early
on that Ajax is a process, not a technology. This theme permeates the book. There is an emphasis on requirements, design,
implementation, testing and maintenance. So the book shows how to do a real project, not just how to code.
Keeping with the real project theme, there is information throughout on refactoring and design patterns. The authors present
low level coding idioms as well. All this creates a language for coding Ajax applications. The second half of the book walks
you through the entire development process for five sample applications.
The book targets a wide audience range, from enterprise developers to self-taught scripters. Basic concepts are explained
concisely for newcomers and experienced developers may skim certain sections. However these sections are a very small part
of the 600+ page book.
An appendix covers an introduction to JavaScript. While you would want to supplement it with materials from the web, it clearly
covers the advanced topics that are hard to find elsewhere. There are also introductions and tips on CSS and DOM. In short,
I learned a ton about non-Ajax development and page manipulations too.
And the book even has a screenshot of JavaRanch! I was expecting a good book when I saw Bear and Ernest's comments on the
back. But it still managed to exceed my expectations!
(Jeanne Boyarsky - Bartender,
December 2005)
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Manning Publications
Published: 2005-10-01 |
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Over the past months, the Ajax commando has been actively pursuing its revolution on the web petitioning for a richer and
more standardized interaction model. Everyday, the commando manages to substantially increase its headcount by enrolling a
growing number of frustrated developers who were promised to an execrable future.
With "Ajax in Action" out of press, the commando will now be able to drastically accelerate its evangelization process. The
word is spreading that this book is a tremendously useful field guide specially written for developers in the trenches waiting
for the killer solution that will help them build cutting-edge web applications of unprecedented quality. After showing how
to switch from traditional to Ajax web development, the authors present the core techniques underlying Ajax as well as a couple
design patterns and how these fit into the Ajax development model. Furthermore, the book also contains great best practices
that can considerably enhance the user experience and that teach you how to design Ajax applications with security and performance
in mind. The second part of the book is fully dedicated to presenting five hardcore examples (live search, etc.) whose main
goal is to provide developers with ready-to-use off-the-shelf Ajax components that can be seamlessly integrated into any web
application.
Whether you are frustrated by low tech web development or you are willing to discover how the potential of Ajax is greater
than the sum of its parts, swallow this 600 pages bible and join the commando now.
(Valentin Crettaz - Sheriff,
September 2005)
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Manning Publications
Published: 2005-10-01 |
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Ajax is a Web programming technique for developing rich, interactive interfaces using only JavaScript, HTML and CSS on the
desktop. It's changing the landscape of the Web, and this book will help you gear up to be part of the revolution. Renaissance
men David Crane and Eric Pascarello show you how to weave together the pieces that make up an Ajax application: JavaScript,
server scripts, HTML, CSS, and XML. They teach you the tools and techniques you'll need to develop industrial-strength applications
using JavaScript.
This is really two books in one: first, it's a look at the Ajax technologies and prescriptions for their effective use. There
are detailed discussions of relevant design patterns and of strategies for designing usable and secure applications. There
are substantial discussions of a number of Ajax frameworks, libraries, and development tools, as well as developer features
of Web browsers that you've probably never learned about but can't live without.
The second half of the book is a cookbook, with detailed blueprints for concocting your own versions of several Ajax showcases:
dynamic double combo boxes, typeahead select boxes, and Web portals with selectable, draggable portlets. There are even recipes
for assembling standalone Ajax applications that use existing third-party Web services as a back-end. The cookbook builds
on the earlier parts of the book by applying the design patterns and refactoring techniques therein described.
If you're serious about helping to revolutionize the Web, you need this book.
(Ernest Friedman-Hill - Sheriff,
September 2005)
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More info at Amazon.com ||
More info at Amazon.co.uk
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Foundations of Ajax
Ryan Asleson, Nathaniel T. Schutta
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Apress
Published: 2005-10-14 |
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The first round of Ajax books have hit the shelves and Apress is trying to make their mark with Foundations of Ajax. A thin
book with only 273 pages including the index, Foundations of Ajax hits the mark with its recipe style format and examples.
Foundations of Ajax starts out the way most tech books do with a bit of history and primer for what's to come. Most people
familiar with web applications and design can probably just skip chapter 1 and possibly 2. But don't skip anymore. Chapter
3 jumps right in with your first fully functional Ajax enabled web page and it doesn't let up. Some of the examples are dynamic
tool tips, textfield autocomplete, dynamic drop down lists, and my favorite, the progress bar. The elements of each example
are well explained and easy to understand but aren't diluted with pages of theory and why's. This book is all how.
The last few chapters all deal with tools for the developer to help make Ajax development easier. It talks about Firefox
extensions, JSUnit, and lightly touches on some Ajax frameworks though no working examples of any of the frameworks are shown.
The book was not without its faults, however. There are syntax errors lightly scattered throughout some of the examples.
This was frustrating because I had to debug javascript for someone else's errors. The book also assumes a fair amount of
Servlet knowledge and J2EE web app deployment know how. While I'm all for examples in Java, this does limit the books potential
customer base. Ajax is pretty much server side technology agnostic. It can be used with ASP, PHP, J2EE, Ruby, and many others.
And while the book does touch on this fact, newbies to Servlets will find running the examples difficult.
I whole heartedly enjoyed this book and it really wet my appetite for Ajax and how I can use it to improve my own applications
UI and provide a better experience for the end user. I'd highly recommend this to anyone wanting to learn the "Foundations
of Ajax".
(Gregg Bolinger - Sheriff,
December 2005)
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Apress
Published: 2005-10-14 |
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"Foundations of Ajax" is the first book I've read about the technology, regardless of the astonishing hype it has received
lately. It was an easy read, I learned a lot, and, while I was left wanting something more, still, I'd say this is a great
book for getting started on Ajax.
The first half of the book runs through a quick history of web technologies and gives a pretty balanced view on the "why"
and "why not" of Ajax, explains the fundamental technologies and techniques, and showcases some typical Ajax features like
auto-completion, auto-refreshing pages, and a file upload progress bar. While at times the pace of the discussion seemed a
bit slow even for myself (not being too familiar with JavaScript in general), I found the fundamentals given on XMLHttpRequest
and DOM to be very valuable in terms of understanding what's happening "under the hood" when using those fancy Ajaxian features.
The second half of the book is more focused on tooling. The authors have done a huge favor to the reader by showing how to
debug and test JavaScript code, although I had to re-read a page or two of the jsUnit chapter after falling off the sled on
how and where the tests are actually executed. The first appendix gets an honorary mention as well, as I found the list of
cross-browser compatibility tips to be extremely useful.
The downside to the book, in my opinion, is that while the second appendix does enumerate a long list of Ajax frameworks,
only Taconite (the authors' own framework) is presented in any detail. Frankly, I would've wanted to see the authors present
even short examples of more "mainstream" frameworks such as Dojo and Prototype. Somewhat related to this, while after reading
the book, I feel I have a good foundation for Ajax and would certainly be capable of putting together some fancy Ajax widgets,
I'm afraid I wouldn't get as much "done" as I could if the book would've allocated more inches on using state-of-the-art Ajax
frameworks. Having said that, I knew that that wasn't a goal for the book so it's not really too big an issue for me.
In summary, a great book for building a foundation on Ajax technology. Get it, read it, hack on some JavaScript, and then
go learn the latest and greatest Ajax framework.
(Lasse Koskela - Sheriff,
November 2005)
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Apress
Published: 2005-10-14 |
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Ajax is an unusual beast. It's not a product. It's not a standard. It's not a tool. It's not a proper noun -- it's an acronym.
Instead, Ajax is a collection of techniques for building highly interactive Web based applications using industrial-strength
JavaScript and asynchronous communications, and it's taking the Web development world by storm. This is one of the first books
to appear on this hot topic, and it's a good one.
"Foundations of Ajax" takes you through the whys and wherefores of Ajax, as well as the meat and potatoes, at a brisk pace.
The examples are crystal clear. Multi-language code as used in Ajax is hard to describe clearly. Choosing a particular language
for server-side code might have alienated some readers unfamiliar with that language. This book uses fixed XML files to sidestep
the problem, which leads to startlingly simple descriptions.
I found the second half of the book even more valuable. The last few chapters talk about tools and techniques for building
real-life professional-grade applications. There is excellent, detailed information about documenting, unit testing and debugging
for JavaScript, debugging Ajax communications, and using some of the newfangled Ajax frameworks that have begun to appear.
These chapters credibly demonstrate that it's possible to treat JavaScript as a Serious Programming Language.
In sum, I think that "Foundations of Ajax" is an excellent piece of work which belongs on every Web developer's bookshelf.
(Ernest Friedman-Hill - Sheriff,
September 2005)
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More info at Amazon.com ||
More info at Amazon.co.uk
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Designing with Web Standards
Jeffrey Zeldman
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New Riders Press
Published: 2003-05-24 |
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Designing with Web Standards by Jeffery Zeldman has two main points: 1) using web standards will save you and your clients
time and money and; 2) you can achieve great effects by using web standards. The author takes the practical view that using
web standards is a good thing but isn't dogmatic about it. The majority of examples in the book focus on a "hybrid" strategy
that makes web sites compatible with older browsers by using tables to provide some of the layout structure in conjunction
with CSS.
The first four chapters provide an overview of where web design has been and where it is currently with the advent of XML.
Even if you aren't into history I highly recommend reading the latter part of chapter four for the pointers to resources on
the web.
The second section focuses on constructing the design of a web site using the "hybrid" approach mentioned above. The reader
is introduced to the differences between HTML and XHTML, to CSS, problems you will run into with various browsers and their
solutions, accessibility, and the DOM. Designing a site only using CSS for controlling the presentation is the topic of the
last chapter in this section.
I found the book an enjoyable read. This book is more for web designers who don't have much experience with CSS. I would
also have liked the book to have more on "pure" CSS approaches but can understand the author's pragmatic viewpoint.
(John Wetherbie - Bartender,
November 2003)
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More info at Amazon.com ||
More info at Amazon.co.uk
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Son of Web Pages that Suck
Vincent Flanders
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Sybex Inc
Published: 2002-04-05 |
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This book teaches the reader about what constitutes good Web site design and is the sequel to "Web Pages that Suck"; it does
this primarily by way of negative examples: sites where the design is somehow flawed. Then, specific explanations of why
the design is wrong are presented; this is accompanied by guidelines on how to fix some.
The book doesn't stop with just a series of Web site snapshots with large red crosses through them; there are general guidelines
on how one can design a site to avoid the problems outlined. Each chapter ends with a summary of the more important points
from the chapter. One of the features I enjoyed is the "Two-Minute Offense" sidebar where a specific Web page's snapshot
is shown and the user is told to examine it for two minutes and try to spot all the problems -- an explanation of each problem
the author spotted follows.
The companion CD contains several shareware utilities as well as all the links mentioned in the text -- because of the nature
of the Web, some of the links are no longer valid and some of the Web sites mentioned in the book have changed their look.
(Several did so after appearing on the author's site!)
The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way were the somewhat (intentionally) creepy photos of the author in various poses
and garb on all the sidebars; they are meant to be amusing, but I just found them creepy.
(Salman Halim - GreenHorn,
October 2003)
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More info at Amazon.com ||
More info at Amazon.co.uk
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GUI Bloopers
Jeff Johnson
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Morgan Kaufmann
Published: 2000-03-17 |
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This book discusses some of the more common problems with modern user interfaces. It takes the approach that the user interface
is arguably the most important aspect of an application (or Web site) and shouldn't take a back seat to the business logic
therein.
The book begins with a treatise on what a GUI should be like and serves as a good set of things to keep in mind when designing
an application's front-end. The bloopers themselves are arranged by category, one category to each chapter. There are 82 bloopers
in all, so the book contains quite a decent amount of information.
The individual bloopers themselves are laid out quite well: there is a description of the blooper and the common variations
thereof (usually with a picture from a real or sample application demonstrating the problem); this is followed by guidelines
on how to avoid the particular blooper (often with a fixed version of the original pictures).
There weren't any real problems with the book; the only thing that irked me was the author's habit of pointing out something
that was a problem and following it up with, "Bzzzt. Blooper!" It was cute the first time but quickly became something that
grated on me.
Recommendation: for someone who knows how a GUI component works, but doesn't know how to make it look professional, this
is a great book. Everybody who does GUI work could learn something here, though.
(Salman Halim - GreenHorn,
August 2003)
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More info at Amazon.com ||
More info at Amazon.co.uk
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Maintaining & Evolving Successful Commercial Web Sites
Ashley Friedlein
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Morgan Kaufmann
Published: 2002-12-10 |
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