Early reviews of Designing for the Social Web are in!
Date : 2008 06 02 Category : Design & Usability
Bokardo - Social Design by Joshua PorterWell, Designing for the Social Web has been out for about a month and I’m happy to report that the early reviews are positive. I can’t tell you how nervewracking it is to have a book out there…it’s such a mix of emotions generally…will they find it useful? Will they like it? Will they tell me? Etc…
If you’re considering diving into it yourself, here are some reviews from folks who have already read it.
“First, this is not a programming book- there are no lines of code. Instead, this is about the design of social websites. It is very well written, with many illustrations and examples, in a style which makes it both easy to read and useful as a reference. It’s clear that the author put a lot of time into this- probably because he’s read countless books himself lacking in these areas. You can probably find books with more information on each topic he discusses but I have never seen one that pulls the information together so completely and coherently. For this alone, he deserves high marks.”
David Mantripp says:
“Designing for the social web is a great little book, and deserves to become a classic.”
Mike at Web Worker Daily writes:
“The book overall is a good mix of theory and practical advice. The author doesn’t hesitate to bring in things like Milgram’s experiments on authority or Axelrod’s work on cooperation when they inform his subject - but he’s not mired in theory. You’ll find plenty of concrete tips (many of which may be obvious after you’ve seen them) on subjects as diverse as removing friction from your sign-up process to where to place the most important content on your site.
If you’re serious about building interactive sites, this book should definitely go on your shelf. I wish the designers of some of the sites that I struggle with had read it.”
“Some of the highlights so far have been things like the intro to the rise of the social web, AOF (Activities, Objects, and Features) method, how to build authentic conversations with your users, and how to communicate the actual benefit of your service in a way that will get your users coming back over and over again.
Buy This book. You’ll love it.”
(Note that some of these links points to a larger review, and I’ve just grabbed the juiciest bit here)
I’ve also had quite a few mentions on Twitter, which is an awesome way to get quick feedback and know what’s going on. Many are “I’m reading the book” type posts (I’m leaving those out), so no feedback as they’re still in the process of reading. If you have feedback, please send it my way (or post it).
Here are the folks who have read the book and are commenting on it on Twitter.
Chrissie Brodigan (@chrissieb) tweets:
“loved it myself - feels like the “Don’t Make Me Think” of the social web world - I expect it will become a classic.”
Chris Palle (@chrispalle) tweets:
“It has that simply said approach, @bokardo is hitting a readability/brevity sweet-spot.”
Amie Gillingham (@gillie) tweets:
“Josh, I think the new book is excellent. You gave our team a ton to think about. Kudos!”
And this one wins for inventive use of language:
“fwiw, the last 30 minutes reading your book have already given me two massive brainwaves for Protagonize. thanks for this!”
So, if brainwaves are what you’re after, give Designing for the Social Web a try.