Book review of "Web Design On A Shoestring" (free)
Carrie Bickner's book "Web Design On A Shoestring" is being much talked-about as a good blueprint for techniques, technologies and processes to get maximum-quality web sites on a minimal budget. DMXzone staffer Bruce Lawson reviews the book, and as a bonus, you can read chapter two of the book "The Pound Wise Project Plan".
Chapter 6 - Content Management on a Tight Budget
Choosing a CMS is a tricky business; commercial software exists ranging in price from free-for-personal-use, to over $100,000. A CMS is seriously worth considering if you are handing the web site over to the client for content updates in the future (although you'd probably recommend Contribute), if you will have more than one person updating content, so you need to be sure that you versioning and check-out, or for a myriad other reasons. One thing about a CMS is that it's always easier to add it at the start when there's not much content, than migrate existing static content into a CMS at a later date.
This chapter has an excellent check-list to ensure that you don't over-specify and get a CMS that is way beyond your needs. There are also comparison charts that cover a range of possible CMS choices for shoestring web sites.
If you're considering a CMS for a site, this chapter is worth the price of the book by itself.
Chapter 7 - Save Time and Money with Web Standards
If you're new to Standards, this is a very good introduction to the subject that doesn't preach because Standards are the latest fad, but shows you how to implement XHTML and CSS because they can save you time - and hourly pay is often the largest component of the shoestring budget. Does what it says on the tin.
Chapter 8 - Bang-For-Your-Buck Hosting and Domains
In the main, aimed at a
Executive Summary
This book definitely does what it says on the cover and more; the sites you'll create if you follow its advice will be better looking than the majority of current web sites out there on the web. Even if you are an experienced developer or designer, there's sure to be some useful tips you'll pick up.
It's nice to see New Riders publishing practising what their author preaches; the book is cleanly and carefully laid-out in black and white (to keep the cover price down, presumably) and lacks the typographic excesses that polluted some previous books like blink tags on a Geocities web page.
This slim book doesn't feel very big, and it isn't cheap at $24.99, but that's much cheaper than most computer software available and will certainly impact as much on your quality and productivity as most labour-saving software packages do. I recommend buying a copy, as it is full of good ideas, links, tips and project management suggestions that is almost certain to save you several multiples of the cover price.
Ian Blackham
Following a degree in Chemistry and a doctorate in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Ian spent several years wrestling with acronyms in industrial R&D (SEM with a side order of EDS, AFM and TEM augmented with a topping of XPS and SIMS and yet more SEM and TEM).
Feeling that he needed a career with more terminology but less high voltages, Ian became a technical/commissioning editor with Wrox Press working on books as diverse as Beg VB Application Development and Professional Java Security. After Wrox's dissolution and a few short term assignments Ian became content manager at DMXzone.
Ian is a refugee from the industrial Black Country having slipped across the border to live in Birmingham. In his spare time he helps out with the website of a local history society, tries to makes sure he does what his wife Kate says, and worries that the little 'un Noah is already more grown up than he is.
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