24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Executive's Guide to Web 2.0 Technologies, Aug 3 2007
By Mr. Panah Mosaferirad "joshua_pan" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativity (Paperback)
This book is an excellent book on Web 2.0 technologies and how they can be used to provide value to users in a Web 2.0 world. The book is a light on technical (programming), but rich on concepts and the business side of Web 2.0. What makes this book useful is the fact that it reintroduces common concepts such as blogs in a way that an executive can understand and take advantage of. The first chapter discusses a brief history of the web. The second chapter goes into explaining what web technologies such as CSS and XML are and what a web service can do for a business. There are a few other very useful chapters in this book, but by no means you should stop your Web 2.0 quest with this book. This book's a great way to start your Web 2.0 journey and it even puts forth the notion of semantic web. But, once you figure out what area you want to concentrate on, I recommend getting a more comprehensive book on that specific topic.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Concise and To the Point, Aug 13 2008
By Todd Hawley - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativity (Paperback)
When I first heard the term "Web 2.0," I dismissed it as hype left over from the dotcom days. What I've learned since is that Web 2.0 is a phenomenon that has forever changed the way we use the Internet. And while the 'Net is constantly changing, Web 2.0 is definitely NOT hype and it's time we all learn to use Web 2.0 to the best of our abilities. What I like about this book is that the authors describe various Web 2.0 technologies like XML web applications, Rich Internet Applications (like Google online documents), Application Programming Interfaces (API's), Web procedure calls (WPC), Ajax client and server-side applications, metadata and the Semantic web.
There's also items like blogs, wikis, and social networks. These are all explained in great detail in this book. There are also apps called "mash-ups." Before reading this book, I thought "mashups" were combinations of songs created by club DJs. Internet mashups aren't all that different combining different web programs to create something new and useful. RIA's have become quite popular. Think of Google online documents or spreadsheets.
The book starts off with a brief history of the "browser wars" between Netscape and Microsoft, then discusses developments in web technology (HTML, XML, CSS, etc), along with the emergence of client and server side applications enabled by using JavaScript and PHP, and then goes in more detail about RIA's, mashups and the phenomenon called "tagging." Tagging consists of tags that contain information about a site, photo or link that can be used by others for a wide range of uses.
There's also a chapter in the book devoted to the social implications of Web 2.0; items like business models and the social impact of online social networks like MySpace.
The authors did a great job in describing their topic. I appreciated their detailed look at Web 2.0. It makes an excellent "starter" book on the subject.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well organized overview of web 2.0, Jan 18 2009
By A. S. Johnson "seeking change" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativity (Paperback)
The book starts with a history of the development of web technology, covering things like:
- Search engines
- Client/server development
- HTML and XML
- Targeted advertising
- User participation and social networking
They then cover the technology that has allowed the development of Rich Internet Applications. This includes:
- AJAX
- Web based email
- Mapping applications
They also look at some of the frameworks for developing applications as well as the future of Web 2.0 and how the idea of the semantic web overlaps.
This is a good book for anyone in management who is in charge of web development and wants to have an understanding of the interplay of web tools. It is also good for developers who are new or who just want to keep current.