Computer Book Reviews
Back to the User by Tammy Sachs and Garry McClain, Ph.D.
New Riders, January, 2002Trade Paperback, 360 pages
ISBN: 0735711186
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Attractive designs, excellent copy and cool special effects like Flash can all be useful on a website, but the most important focus in web design is usability. The users are the ones that will be reading, visiting and interacting with the website. Numerous websites today are so over-produced that they are both confusing to the user and difficult for a web team to easily maintain. Back to the User focuses on developing websites that will appeal to web surfers based on research and analysis of what web users actually what. The authors, Tammy Sachs and Garry McClain, hold positions at Sachs Insights, a company which provides Internet consulting and research. In the book they convey some of the knowledge they have acquired from helping companies establish their online presence and highlight findings from their analysis and research.
From ideas to what to put on your homepage (the book tells you only have about 30 seconds to grab a websurfer's attention!) to tips for when and how to use graphics and icons, the book provides a large amount of good, practical advice for developing a useful website. The most helpful thing about the book is that it points out many common website mistakes that will cause users frustration or to simply ignore a portion of your website, possibly costing you a sale. For example, an inefficient search tool might lead your web users to wander elsewhere. The book provides tips on what an efficient search engine is and how to best design one -- including suggestions for understanding what keywords your users might enter. The book also includes information about conducting your own research, using Flash and plug-ins, when and how to provide online help, site navigation, establishing brands online, online communities and surveys. A must-read for communications, ecommerce and web professionals. Highly recommended.
Inside XSLT by Steven Holzner
New Riders, July, 2001Trade Paperback, 616 pages.
ISBN: 0735711364
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Inside XSTL provides comprehensive instruction and tips for using XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation), which is used to transform XML documents into XML, HTML or other kinds of documents. The book covers several popular XSLT processors which are available free on the Internet: Xalan, XT, Saxon, Oracle's XSLT processor and IE's built-in XSLT processor. The book covers numerous XSLT-related topics including trees, nodes, stylesheets, templates, match patterns, sorting data, Xpath, XSLT processors and XSL-FO.
Steve Holzner frequently writes about programming topics like XSTL and has authored 67 books, including Inside XML, which could be used as a companion to this book. In Inside XSTL he provides complete coverage through examples, samples and easy-to-follow instruction. Holzner explains how in many ways SQL can function like a database language and that some people even think of XSLT as the "SQL of the Web." Holzner uses the same XML document throughout the book, which makes it easier for readers to follow along and grasp new concepts. Some prior knowledge of XML and HTML is recommended.
XML, XSLT, Java and JSP by Westy Rockwell
New Riders, July, 2001Trade Paperback, 746 pages.
ISBN: 0735710899
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
The book for software developers focuses on building a specific application using XML, XSLT, Java and JSP. The book contains a case study which shows how the book's authors developed a chat application using several web technologies. Each step of the development is covered in detail, and the complete source code for the chat application is provided. The tools used in the book can be found free online and are also included in the companion CD-ROM. The book provides a great look at how a specific set of problems are solved by programmers, which can be of help to web developers that find themselves in a similar situation. The book would be very useful for a developer looking to create a chat environment online using these technologies. However, for beginners and experts looking for comprehensive instruction on XML, XSLT, Java and JSP, the material is too focused on a developing a specific application to be of value.
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