I sometimes check the Amazon page for Adapting to Web Standards to see if anyone’s rated it (and to see how it’s doing, of course). It’s been out for four months, and there are no ratings so far – good or bad.\
So, I’m asking a small favor, if you’ve read the book, could you please go rate it? Good or bad, it doesn’t matter. If you’ve got any feedback on my chapter (#7, the one on AOL.com), I’d love to hear it. It’s the first thing I’ve written “professionally”, and I’d love to hear what people think of it, how it could be better and where it goes wrong.\
Thank you, please continue about your day.
Category: Adapting to Web Standards
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A Small Favor: Have You Read My Book?
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I Got Interviewed!
Frank Gruber interviewed me about Adapting to Web Standards the other day, and has posted it to his blog. Go check it out. I almost sound like I know what I’m talking about!\
And if you don’t want to go all the way over there, you can watch it right here! -
The Book Has Arrived!!
Not in stores or anything, but I got my author copy of Adapting to Web Standards from the very nice FedEx guy today. Christopher Schmitt had to convince me over IM to actually take the plastic wrap off and take a peek inside.\
There’s something really weird about seeing something I wrote in a real book… one that has my name on the cover, on the back of it… etc. But, here it is, sitting next to me on the desk – yep, still has my name on it.\
I took a look through it, and it’s gorgeous. New Riders went full-color with it, and it’s just plain lovely. My chapter’s been edited to the point it actually makes sense, and the other chapters are stellar (I wouldn’t say anything if they weren’t, but they are really good). What I like about the book is it’s not flowery. There’s real actionable stuff in it, and advice for how to solve not only the technical challenges of a project, but the human ones. There’s a ton of good stuff in there, and I’m not saying that because I wrote a part of it (the good stuff is in the other chapters anyway).\
I had a lot of help. Kevin Luman, Michael Richman and David Artz all sat through interviews (I’m sorry, guys), and Christopher Schmitt and Victor Gavenda (our editor) were always ready with an encouraging word or constructive feedback. And of course, Jen already puts up with a lot, with travel and long hours. She was very nice about letting me disappear for several weeks after getting home from work to go write.\
I can’t wait to have people read it and see what you all think. A lot of smart people worked on it, and I think it’s easily the best writing I’ve ever done (and then edited even more to make it readable!). I’m honored that Christopher asked me to help out, and I’m pretty damned proud of the result. -
Adapting to Web Standards: Going to Press!!
I just saw the e-mail today that the book I helped write is going to press on Monday!! It’s called Adapting to Web Standards: CSS and Ajax for Big Sites
, and I wrote a chapter about AOL.com. It’s available for pre-order now, of course, and would make a great Christmas gift for your favorite web nerd – they might even like two or three copies (really, they might).\
Writing the book (well, my chapter) was… difficult. I don’t think I’ll write another one any time soon, at least while I have a full-time job. It was a great experience, don’t get me wrong, and Christopher and Victor, our editor, handled all the hard bits. I’d always wanted to write a book, and am grateful that they gave me the opportunity to write a chapter for this one.\
I can’t wait to hold a copy in my grubby mitts and hear from folks what they think of it (good or bad).