Customer Reviews

Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow that Works (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Web has become so pervasive that redesigns are now more common than new designs. In fact, nearly all Fortune 500 companies now have Web sites (those that don't shall remain nameless), so redesigns are now the norm. This book is the first to address the Web site redesign process.

The book codifies the workflow work co-author Kelly Goto lectured extensively on at Thunder Lizard conferences since 1997. After one of her sold-out lectures on Web design workflow one of her loyal fans would invariably ask, "When are you going to write a book?" This book, and its accompanying Web site, is the answer.

Anyone can design (or redesign) a Web site. But to do it on time and on budget requires a disciplined approach. This book logically lays out that process. The authors concentrate on the "Core Process" common to all Web site design and redesign projects. By following their methodology, you can raise your chance of success for your next design project.

"The idea is to put everybody - the client and team alike - in the same frame of reference, using the same terminology, following the same path," says Emily Cotler, co-author of the book. "The Core Process that we developed can apply to any sized web team, with any sized budget, whether an initial design or a redesign."

Primarily aimed at project managers, this book is designed to streamline the redesign process for everyone involved. Whether your budget is $10K or $1M, the Core Process still applies. What is the Core Process you ask? It's a five phase roadmap of the workflow required for redesigning a Web site. The phases are:

* Defining the Project
* Developing Site Structure
* Visual Design & Testing
* Production & QA
* Launch & Beyond

The book follows this outline, expanding on each topic with detailed action items for each phase (discovery, clarification, planning for phase 1). The wonderful thing about this book is the synergistic effect it has with its companion Web site, which offers free on-line worksheets you can use in your own redesign projects. Client questionnaires, meta tag builders, and budget spreadsheets are all included and discussed extensively in the book. You save money by not buying an out of date CD-ROM, and everyone wins by having access to these battle-tested workflow worksheets.

Although only 253 wide pages, the book is packed with useful information. The authors liberally sprinkle the text with site redesign examples, illustrations, flowcharts, and checklists. Plus they feature full-page in context contributions from Web experts like Nielsen, Siegel, Veen, Lynda, and Zeldman (who all happen to be New Riders authors).

The advice is good, though marred by some minor technical errors. Gather are much data as you can beforehand, get client signoff on key documents, perform a competitive analysis and usability testing. However, I found one common misconception, the latest Flash plug-in is not supported by 96% of current browsers, as stated on page 124. It's Flash 3 that has a 96% penetration rate. Flash 5 has less than 80% penetration worldwide, and less than 70% in the US, according to a survey by NPD research for Macromedia.

To their credit the authors are collecting these types of errors and listing them on the accompanying Web site.

I wish I had this book when I was working at a Web design firm in the '90s. It would have saved us all a lot of headaches.

This book is a great tool to use. I am using it through my first redesign, and it is wonderful!

I almost didn't buy this book because of the title. I thought this book was about redesigning websites to look "web 2.0", but in fact, its purely about the process involved in redesigning websites, bringing them their 2.0 status. Unbelievably useful information. I have already started using the client questionnaires recommended in the book. The core process outlined in the book is brilliant. I'm really impressed by this book. Do not buy this if you are expecting a "how-to design websites" book. This book is intended for sharing a workflow that works for redesigning websites. Its made me rethink my own work processes... and adapt new strategies for working with new clients, and even existing ones.

I bought this book so that it would help me understand the process of Information Architecture workflow and how it relates to the overall webdesign project.

I was dissapointed by the format of the book which makes it hard to read and it seems to be overly indulgent.

The writers are just some kids who think they know it all.

For me whose a little time to read, this book is useless. Too crowded and too many theories.

This book is great for guiding people through the process of designing and launching a web site. I recommend it to designers, project managers and business people about to spend a lot of money on a web site.

I bought this book looking for precise workflow I could use to schedule a web site redesign. The presented 5-step process works, but is completely mired in page after page of unqualified observances and quips on the history of web design -a series of blandishments to widen the spine of the book. If you stripped 50% of the text from this book, it would be 200% more effective.

After reading half the book, I was not able to construct a mind's eye view of the author's project plan for site design. There was simply too much text between the important points, and no graphics to weld it together. I was unable to summarize the book for executives, and am relying heavily on my highligher for key concepts, as this book cannot be used as a desk reference without extensive modifications.

The authors tried too hard to cover the complete experience of being a web design firm. Clearly derived from the experiences of artists, this book lacks the conciseness an engineer would have brought to the table. Don't read it at night.

The collective experience and wisdom contained in this book will save even the most seasoned web developer many hours of downstream pain.

It is a very concise and well-organized resource that is the ideal companion also to any web development curriculum. Thank you both Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler for their quality work in compiling this most excellent textbook and guide.

The online material that accompanies this book is of a similar high calibre.

A great book for any web professional. It goes into detail about managing projects. Myself being a web freelancer, I found the book very helpful. It also gives you sample forms in which you can use with you own clients. The people that wrote this book must be amazing organized. They add a sense of flair to the book that others cannot convey as easily as they do it.

A warning to all:
This book DOES NOT actually go into detail about the web design process itself, except for a couple small examples. It talks more about the process than the design.

This was one of the most enjoyable and beneficial web books I have ever read. The book is well written, nicely laid out visually and technically, includes great case studies, full of helpful sidebars, lists, diagrams and graphics, has very good chapter summaries, contains few errors and has all of the documents mentioned available for download on its companion website. Can't ask for more than that in my opinion.

I have been a professional web designer for several years now, and this book has helped me tremendously with workflow, client relations and project management. This book is not a technical book, but if you pair this book up with some of the more technical books (recommend Lynda Weinman's HOT series of books) you're good to go.