Review of literature read in two years
Hi Habra! When I first started doing web development, I couldn’t even imagine how much literature I needed to read and how much knowledge I needed to become a normal specialist. In addition, the sphere is constantly changing, and knowledge becomes obsolete.
For me, the problem was that I do not like reading and reading to be regarded solely as an inevitable work that must be done in order to extract material from the printed form. But it so happened that to improve their skills have to read. I set the standard for myself - one book per month. On the one hand, it is not enough, on the other - a lot (if you really stick to the plan). Well, since I have to read under compulsion, it should give some benefit. Each book is a torment, and I see no reason to spend time on literature, which will not give me anything after. Therefore, every time I get into the book shop and holding another book in my hands, I ask myself the question: “Why ?! What is the use of these pieces of paper ?! What am I doing here? ” So that you do not waste time on books that seem useless to me, I decided to write a short review of two years of reading literature and other sources of knowledge found. All the material below is somehow related to web development and its various aspects. Below are only those books that I read. Those books that "did not master" / did not finish reading (for example, about NodeJS and a couple of frameworks) I do not cite.
Let's start with the main representatives of the genre.
')
Total: 982 pages / average design
Very thick book that describes what, how and why it works. Reading it may not make sense. An alternative from Ilya Kantor appeared.
Actually, an alternative to David Flanagan. Everything is written about everything. It reads in two / three stages - the first time you understand the basics of JavaScript, and the second time you realize all its subtleties. Honestly, I often refer to reference information on this site that I don’t even imagine the Internet before it.
Next is a series of books that all JavaScript developers have read. Books should be read, not because they contain specific thoughts, but because they teach how to write in JavaScript. They examine design patterns and explain the essence of various libraries. These are the books that teach how to think like a web developer. I cannot say that these are excellent books, mostly they are rather good, but all of them are obligatory for reading.
Main thoughts:
Total: 1000 rubles. / 300 pages / average design / normal book
The word MVC is written throughout the content, although the book is more about modules and a modular approach. Much has been written about events, but rather reference information. There are a lot of references to jQuery, and indeed the author superficially runs through different libraries, explaining how they came about and why they were needed. At the end of the book is an application in which, for example, there is a reference for CSS3. One gets the feeling that the author was trying to finish the book with the text to the desired volume.
Total: 900 rubles. / 200 pages / average design / normal book
The book is entirely about OOP in JavaScript ʻe. And of course there are topics such as currying, facade, proxy object, strategy, decorator, iterator, etc. The book is unlikely to ever become obsolete, because based on algorithms, but they do not change. Of the minuses - this is the experience of readers. Many of the techniques described in the book, in practice, appear only in complex projects. In order to make a business card for Horns and Hoofs, such knowledge is of course not needed.
Well, just a list of what looked more or less good against the general background of books, on the bookshelf in the store.
Main thoughts:
Total: 500 rubles. / 200 pages / average design / was satisfied
Well, here many will say that the book is completely for those who are just starting to program. I do not agree. Of course, Java lovers will choose “Clean Code. Creation, analysis and refactoring ”(Martin R.), but web developers often do not even follow basic principles. For example, btn shortcuts instead of buttons and the like. Yes, and articles in the style of Armin Ronaher "Stop being cute and smart" (Stop Being Cute and Clever, http://habrahabr.ru/post/205616/ ) would not appear. One of the most memorable examples for me from the book was an example of reducing nesting:
Very often jQuery lovers have a lot of nesting. And the fact of the appearance of the Q library for NodeJS ( https://github.com/kriskowal/q ) is rather a negative indicator for me. Why? If you have one function performs one task, the fact of the appearance of multiple nesting is unlikely.
Total: 250 rubles. / 250 pages / average design / excellent reference
Many are kept in the title of the book "strengths", although in the book itself these strengths are not.
In fact, this is a kind of reference book, in which most of JavaScript's objects are described more or less briefly.
Such a guide is good to scroll through before an interview or to recall rarely used methods. And so, Ilya Kantor to help you.
Total: 500 rubles. / 170 pages / average design / normal reference
The book was given at the conference. At first I thought - the next selection of copyright, but as it turned out, this is quite a normal reference. All examples are illustrated, the author writes briefly and in the case, there is no water. Very similar to the book "JavaScript strengths", only in terms of CSS3.
Main thoughts:
Total: 170 rubles. / 200 pages / cheap design / great book
At first glance, the book did not inspire confidence, but I was very pleased. No water. For each advice on three or four good and bad examples. All examples with screenshots and a short description. The main idea is “safe design”. It teaches to prevent user errors. Can be used as a checklist before submitting the site. Even though all the tips are pretty beaten, nevertheless, most programmers do not follow them. The book feels the view not from the programmer, but from the specialist in conflict resolution.
Total: I don’t know the price / 500 pages / average design / meaningless
On the one hand, the content of the book as a whole is no longer relevant, on the other - in the text mostly water. Perhaps completely green students should run through the sections. As in any "book about the web" intuitive things are painted:
Even in spite of the fact that it is Jacob Nielsen himself, I will not recommend.
At work, I was constantly making comments about the absence of a “sense of beauty”, so I decided to go through the design:
Main thoughts:
Total: 1 200 rubles. / 250 pages / great design / great book
At first I was embarrassed by the price, but after reading it I was ready to give three times more. There is no water in the book. Each principle is described very briefly, clearly and accurately. Always with examples and links to works of other authors in this field. Each tip ends with a reference to another book or series of books in which a particular topic is covered more broadly. Tips cover a variety of design directions - from interface design to typography rules.
Main thoughts:
The book, in fact, is a collection of copyrights on the topic "How to define a task" and "Where to get ideas from." Many words, pictures and banal stamps. It is interesting to browse through it, but it does not carry any residual knowledge. When I bought it, I was led to the section “Study of the place”. It dealt with the placement of billboards and information signs in various buildings. I was interested in this topic since I studied at PR, but I didn’t come across any books on the subject. However, even here it cannot be said that the author revealed this topic. Rather, slightly lifted the veil.
Total: 800 rubles. / 200 pages / great design / I do not advise buying
It seems that another interesting idea came up in this book - you need to be slightly interested in everything in various areas so that you can borrow ideas from someone else's field. That is, if the ideas are over, it is worthwhile to engage in a completely different activity and, perhaps, you will have new ideas.
Main thoughts:
Total: 750 rubles. / 200 pages / great design / medium, plenty of water
Pretty weird book. It seems that much has been written, but there is little residual knowledge again. It could be attributed to the next banal copyright, but the book draws a section on fonts and page layout methods, using the text itself as decoration. In any case, it is not worth the money. And about the fonts, it is better to read in Innocent Kleinikov in the book Design of the Book: From Words to Business.
The books “Universal Design Principles” and “Web Design Errors” help to understand how to design a system so that people make as few errors as possible in it, and also how to minimize the negative consequences of mistakes if they did occur.
Impressed by these books, I decided to cover the knowledge gained with courses on design. Normal courses cost at least 30,000 rubles. and stretched out in time for half a year. I decided to save (and regretted). I chose two training centers, costing an average of 9,000 rubles. for a course length of 1.5 months.
What is taught: Corel, Photoshop
What I learned:
What does the design have to do with it? I do not know. The instructors simply show how to push the buttons. Although there were positive moments. The course Corel dismantled colors and prepress. This is much wider articles on the Internet, which read before. There was a lot of things on the Photoshop course, but color decomposition in channels (RGBA) and color correction benefits remained in memory. They showed how to add "+ 20% heat and comfort" and "+ 17% to the volume and depth of the image." Overall, it was worth it. Yes, and at interviews often there are questions about PNG, which require knowledge a little more than “cut layout”.
What I learned:
Photoshop photoshop, and you have to learn to draw. Therefore, I considered that drawing courses would pump this skill. And in fact it was not worth it. Minus 9 000 rubles. and time. It seems to me that there was a problem with the teacher. Courses were very similar to school art. You come, draw a cube for two hours, and only one question remains in your head: “And why ?!”. No techniques and techniques, no explanation, only the constant drawing of squares, circles and still lifes. Residual knowledge zero. Therefore, if you go to a pencil drawing, ask about the curriculum and what residual knowledge you will have.
But back to programming.
When I started writing games on JavaScript, I asked my colleagues what they can advise. We advised the following book:
Total: 250 rubles. / 600 pages / poor design / one of the best books I've read
First, the phrase macromedia Flash MX in the title of the book scared away, but I was wrong. I can’t single out the main ideas because the book is built more like a textbook. The whole book is one continuous thought. The author tells about various game genres, explains why trigonometry is needed and how physics of collisions is calculated. Runs through optimization methods, shows how to use the "grid" to simplify physical calculations, lists types of AI, and talks about the path finding algorithm. The author also describes the stages of game design, graphics improvement, the principles of creating isometric worlds, blending and the role of sound in games. In general, the book expands the mind and makes you look at games differently. Unlike other authors (for example, Rafaelo Cecco), Job Makar practically does not write the code in the book. Sometimes, of course, he writes, but not enough. Job explains how and why, looks at the point, and how you implement it in code is beyond the scope of the book. The secrets of game development is one of those books that are more about algorithms and ideas than about code.
When I was looking for information about the book, I came across such an article http://www.8bitrocket.com/tag/electrotank/ . Therefore, before buying, check whether the following masterpieces are translated into Russian or not. Perhaps it is better to buy them, because the author himself writes that he had little time to work on the book "The secrets of developing games on macromedia Flash MX" and he is not very pleased with its quality.
After reading the masterpiece above, I began to look for information on developing games and accidentally stumbled upon a Russian guy named Andrei Korotkov. Andrei has a YouTube channel where he gradually gives a course of lectures on how to write games and create game engines http://www.youtube.com/user/megadrone86/videos . Yes, this is not JavaScript, this is C ++. But it does not matter, because the essence of the lecture - ideas and algorithms.
Main thoughts:
But, like Joba Makar, here the main thoughts are smeared. Lectures need to be taken completely, because In each lecture they talk about specific problems and how they should be solved.
Actually, after getting acquainted with these two authors, I began to write my game engine. When the engine was brought to some stage, when the result was already visible, an unexpected problem surfaced. All the levels that I tried to create were, to put it mildly, unplayable. He began to look for information about the architecture of levels on the Internet and came across another great Russian author.
Misha writes a series of articles that are gradually formed into a book. Everything is short, clear and well structured, each article is supported by a bunch of examples. You can get acquainted with the book here ( http://pro.level-design.ru/ ). I read avidly.
After the previous examples, trust and respect for Flash developers has dramatically increased. It became obvious that they know a lot, they have a lot of experience and it's time to adopt it. Yes, now many people are moaning here and there on the Internet that Flash is dying, Flash is crap, etc., but! The Flash community has a very extensive experience in casual games. You can not neglect this. With these thoughts, I bought the next book on Flash.
The main idea - hmm ... did not catch.
Total: 800 rubles. / 300 pages / great design / water, but beautiful
Pretty weird book. It seems that much has been written, but there is little residual knowledge. Everything, in principle, quite banal. Another collection of tips on how to make sites correctly and beautifully. Perhaps someone will be interested, but I was not.Most of the book easily overlaps with experience in an advertising agency that stamps disposable sites and promotes them. In defense of the author, I can only give the section "Advertising games and applications." The author tells how using the game to grind a brand of a company into the players' brains. So, if you need to convince Ivan Ivanitch from Horns and Hoofs LLC to buy a mini game development for the site, read this section of the book.
The first chapter describes the deployment of loops and graphs of the speed of work before and after in different browsers. Further, the author explains how to work with CSS sprites (writes a function that gradually changes the background-size). Describes the error timers. Well, after that begins work with tiles and water on the topic of writing a game. If working with tiles, in principle, can be mastered, because it seems that everything is correct, an example of a game (written in half a book) is a horror. After Joba Makar’s book and lectures, Andrei Korotkova just wants to shout: “Stop Raphael! Do not do that! It is unscalable! Rafik, I swear by my mom, you're wrong! ”
Total: 800 rub. / 250 pages / average design / water
This is another book in the “must read” series for web developers. Standard animal on the cover, standard narration. But against the background of previous authors, after reading the book, I would like to say: “And why ?! Rafaello, where are the algorithms? ”On the one hand, the book runs through the new HTML5 API, on the other hand, all cheap copyright books run over it. The trouble with residual knowledge and conclusions. The author cites canvases that are not needed, but inflate the thickness of the book, abundantly filling all with paste on the topic “there is such a library”. In defense of the author, one can cite the chapter "The use of vectors in games and computer models." For some reason, no one bothers to disassemble it in the style of "for dummies." But then again - where are the projections of the vectors?
This is an online resource, in contrast to the previous books about igrostroy, finally covered the topic of calculation of collisions (collisions). This is where http://noregret.org/tutor/n/collision/ authors (Raigan Burns, Mare Sheppard) wrote something that Raffaele Cecco did not master in their book. The bottom line: the side of the polygon is a vector. Do a projection of this and another vector on the plane of coordinates. If the projections intersect, we have a collision. If the vectors are at an angle, make their projections on the normals on each other.
Total: 710 rub. / 500 pages / bad design / I do not recommend buying.
This is a very thick HTML5 API reference. As a reference book - so-so, just a selection of water and copyright. The thickness of the book here is clearly not consistent with the quality. Find something thinner.
Total: 1000 rub. / 500 pages / bad design / great book
Book - fire! Perhaps not everyone read it, but it is definitely worth reading. The authors are gradually introduced to asynchronous work and tricks in older browsers. I can not highlight key thoughts, because the book must be taken whole. One of the examples discussed in the book is the principle of how prompts work when you type in a search string.
Main thoughts:
Total: 950 rubles. / 350 pages / average design / average quality, little information
A lot of water, constant hammering in of the same thoughts. Although, on the other hand, these thoughts now seem obvious, but at the time of writing the book they were not. The book may seem outdated, because now it seems like web 2.0 and all the tips described in the book are applied in practice anyway. But I do not agree. Every day on the Internet, I see a huge number of sites that do not follow these tips.
In general, there are a lot of interlacing in the text with the books “Web Design Errors” and “Universal Design Principles”.
As I wrote above, a web developer should know a lot and in different areas. Here are two more areas that will help make the site for people, not for programmers: typography and public relations.
What the book is about:
Main thoughts:
Total: 800 rubles. / 300 pages / great design / great book
I bought almost immediately, because When scrolling, I got the following text:
Spaces:
Do not beat off with a space:
It seemed to me perfect. Everything is short, clear, clear and point by point. After reading the book I was pleased with the result. Many interweaving with "Bodywork" Tyoma Lebedev. Another push to the purchase of this book was the previous work in an advertising agency. They constantly kicked for the shoals in the text on the sites, for “instead of”, for +79112223344 instead of +7 (911) 222-33-44, for N instead of №, for - instead of -.
After reading this book, the feeling and understanding of typography has become better .
Total: 2300 rubles. / 450 pages / great design / great book
Honestly, I didn’t buy it, but read it on the Internet. There is no water in the text. It is worth it, because there are thoughts, conclusions and author's opinion. All these things do not age. Even if Lebedev’s person himself annoys you, it doesn’t mean anything. Here is an example of an article about the photo http://www.artlebedev.ru/kovodstvo/sections/169/ , quite a logical conclusion. Every time I come across a design on Bootstrap, the brain gives out http://www.artlebedev.ru/kovodstvo/sections/147/ because Bootstrap sites are usually primitive.
Total: 300 rubles. / 350 pages / average design / great book
One of those books, having read that, you can understand the essence of the profession of PR. Probably, many will say now: “What kind of heresy do you advise the humanities ?!” In fact, the book clearly outlines the essence of the PR profession and is closely related to the book “Readable Code or Programming as Art” (Dustin Boswell, Trevor Foucher). The last one was advice: “the best code is the one that does not exist.” Just this tutorial helps to understand that very often your customers do not need a website at all. So, it makes no sense to do it. Moreover, you start to pay attention to the ways of entering the software product on the market and realize that it is very bad with PR promotion, which means it will not work and you will not get money for it, and therefore it makes no sense to write it.
Yandex lectures help to look at many things differently. But again, it all depends on the speakers. In any case, I learned a lot of new things. The most significant video for me at the moment is Misha Davydov about the mediator pattern ( http://tech.yandex.ru/events/yasubbotnik/chlb-feb-2012/talks/154/ ). Vadim Makeev’s speeches are also encouraging, perhaps the most anyone at the moment is about CSS frameworks ( http://pepelsbey.net/2008/04/css-frameworks/ ).
Why I do not cite as an example the western analogs of video lectures that were posted on a Habré before:
Digit or paper.
Whenever possible I buy all books in paper form. In the electronic for some reason I can not read. Yes, and when they are on the shelf and constantly catch the eye, you can simply take and scroll through them. And even when familiar developers come, you can get a book off the shelf and give it to them with the words: “This is a great deal!”
Why the books need to be re-read:
The amount of information is quite large. All principles and advice are gradually forgotten. From time to time you need to refresh your memories by simply flipping through books already read. Read and use the default - different things. Many read about Russian quotes ", but often continue to use standard ones." Many read about modularity, but continue to write "noodles", etc.
PS: I am waiting for Alan Cooper's book "On the interface" by UI specialists. I have not read it yet, so there is no description. And also stuffing the famous in narrow circles Ogilvy “About advertising” on the topic touched in the book “Flash advertising”
For me, the problem was that I do not like reading and reading to be regarded solely as an inevitable work that must be done in order to extract material from the printed form. But it so happened that to improve their skills have to read. I set the standard for myself - one book per month. On the one hand, it is not enough, on the other - a lot (if you really stick to the plan). Well, since I have to read under compulsion, it should give some benefit. Each book is a torment, and I see no reason to spend time on literature, which will not give me anything after. Therefore, every time I get into the book shop and holding another book in my hands, I ask myself the question: “Why ?! What is the use of these pieces of paper ?! What am I doing here? ” So that you do not waste time on books that seem useless to me, I decided to write a short review of two years of reading literature and other sources of knowledge found. All the material below is somehow related to web development and its various aspects. Below are only those books that I read. Those books that "did not master" / did not finish reading (for example, about NodeJS and a couple of frameworks) I do not cite.Book Evaluation Criteria:
- The amount of code. The more code in the book, the worse it is. This means that the author cites meaningless program listings instead of describing the algorithm of the words.
- Book thickness The thicker the book, the worse. Most likely, it will be difficult to read to the end. Why did she get fat?
- Because there is a lot of water.
- Because the author does not know how to express his thoughts briefly and clearly.
- Because the author works in any university, so it’s not serious to write a thin book: colleagues from the department will laugh, so he blows up with meaningless inserts.
- Illustrations. The fewer illustrations, the worse the book. The same information, presented in graphic and textual form, is easier to perceive in graphic form. The depth of processing information also plays a role. Text with an illustration is perceived better than text without an illustration. The presence of high-quality illustrations shows that the author worked on the book "with the soul."
- Design and layout. Good design speeds up reading and allows you to better assimilate information. This item includes compliance with the rules of typography, layout and structuring of information.
- A good book is easy to read: the eyes should not get tired, and the pages should be pleasant to the touch (in this regard, glossy publications for designers, of course, apart from the competition). High-quality design, again, shows that the book worked "with the soul."
- Ideas, not methods. A good book should teach that it will not become obsolete in the next few years, or even more. For everything else, articles in the relevant publications are suitable. Why pay 1000 rubles. for the book about the API of another fashionable framework, which everyone will forget about in six months? It is better to read about the ideas that the authors embodied in the framework, about what they wanted, how they achieved it, what they came to. How the architecture was designed and why.
Let's start with the main representatives of the genre.
JavaScript: Detailed Guide
(JavaScript: Definitive Guide. David Flanagan)')
Total: 982 pages / average design
Very thick book that describes what, how and why it works. Reading it may not make sense. An alternative from Ilya Kantor appeared.
Modern JavaScript Tutorial
Website: JavaScript.ruActually, an alternative to David Flanagan. Everything is written about everything. It reads in two / three stages - the first time you understand the basics of JavaScript, and the second time you realize all its subtleties. Honestly, I often refer to reference information on this site that I don’t even imagine the Internet before it.
Next is a series of books that all JavaScript developers have read. Books should be read, not because they contain specific thoughts, but because they teach how to write in JavaScript. They examine design patterns and explain the essence of various libraries. These are the books that teach how to think like a web developer. I cannot say that these are excellent books, mostly they are rather good, but all of them are obligatory for reading.
JavaScript Web Applications
(JavaScript Web Applications. Alex MacCaw)Main thoughts:
- Beat everything on the modules and encapsulate (function () {...}) ();
- To make a call chain, return the object you are working with.
- Use libraries
Total: 1000 rubles. / 300 pages / average design / normal book
The word MVC is written throughout the content, although the book is more about modules and a modular approach. Much has been written about events, but rather reference information. There are a lot of references to jQuery, and indeed the author superficially runs through different libraries, explaining how they came about and why they were needed. At the end of the book is an application in which, for example, there is a reference for CSS3. One gets the feeling that the author was trying to finish the book with the text to the desired volume.
Javascript Templates
(JavaScript Patterns. Stoyan Stefanov)Total: 900 rubles. / 200 pages / average design / normal book
The book is entirely about OOP in JavaScript ʻe. And of course there are topics such as currying, facade, proxy object, strategy, decorator, iterator, etc. The book is unlikely to ever become obsolete, because based on algorithms, but they do not change. Of the minuses - this is the experience of readers. Many of the techniques described in the book, in practice, appear only in complex projects. In order to make a business card for Horns and Hoofs, such knowledge is of course not needed.
Well, just a list of what looked more or less good against the general background of books, on the bookshelf in the store.
Readable code or programming as art
(The Art of Readable Code (Theory in Practice). Dustin Boswell, Trevor Foucher)Main thoughts:
- One function - one task
- Full variable names
- Break long expressions into short
- Select code blocks
Total: 500 rubles. / 200 pages / average design / was satisfied
Well, here many will say that the book is completely for those who are just starting to program. I do not agree. Of course, Java lovers will choose “Clean Code. Creation, analysis and refactoring ”(Martin R.), but web developers often do not even follow basic principles. For example, btn shortcuts instead of buttons and the like. Yes, and articles in the style of Armin Ronaher "Stop being cute and smart" (Stop Being Cute and Clever, http://habrahabr.ru/post/205616/ ) would not appear. One of the most memorable examples for me from the book was an example of reducing nesting:
function(name, age) { if(!name || !age) return false; ... } function(name, age) { if(name && age) { ... } } Very often jQuery lovers have a lot of nesting. And the fact of the appearance of the Q library for NodeJS ( https://github.com/kriskowal/q ) is rather a negative indicator for me. Why? If you have one function performs one task, the fact of the appearance of multiple nesting is unlikely.
JavaScript strengths
(JavaScript: The Good Parts. Douglas Crockford)Total: 250 rubles. / 250 pages / average design / excellent reference
Many are kept in the title of the book "strengths", although in the book itself these strengths are not.
In fact, this is a kind of reference book, in which most of JavaScript's objects are described more or less briefly.
Such a guide is good to scroll through before an interview or to recall rarely used methods. And so, Ilya Kantor to help you.
CSS3. Developer's Guide
(The Book of CSS3: A Developer's Guide to the Future of Web Design. Peter Gasston)Total: 500 rubles. / 170 pages / average design / normal reference
The book was given at the conference. At first I thought - the next selection of copyright, but as it turned out, this is quite a normal reference. All examples are illustrated, the author writes briefly and in the case, there is no water. Very similar to the book "JavaScript strengths", only in terms of CSS3.
Web design errors or how to fix them before you lose visitors
(Defensive Design for the Web. Matthew Linderman, Jason Fried).Main thoughts:
- The error message should be noticeable
- Use color, conditional icons and text to clearly identify the problem area.
- Always label errors in the same way.
- The error message should be clear
- Do not use a language that your customers do not understand.
- The text should be short and clear.
- Pardon tone
- Work with the form:
- Highlight required and optional fields.
- Accept input in all common formats.
- Let's give input examples, lists, tips
- Clearly set character limit
- If some options are not available to the client, do not offer them.
- Check input as quickly as possible.
- Remove the "Clear" button and make inaccessible after clicking the "Send" button
- Save information
- Work with page 404
- Redirect partially invalid URLs
- Offer alternative version information and update information for older browsers.
- Answer questions on the same page.
- Create a section "Help"
- Provide several support options.
- Reply to e-mail quickly and informatively.
- Remove unnecessary advertising
- Better fast than beautiful
- Do not force to register
- Remove excess navigation
- Help finding:
- Clearly explain why no results were found during the search or inaccurate matches were shown.
- Predict typical errors and show suitable results.
- Give the opportunity to filter the results
- Advise how to improve search results
- If the product will be available later, explain when
- Offer notification by e-mail
- Analyze server logs
- Study the treatment in those. support
- Analyze competitors
Total: 170 rubles. / 200 pages / cheap design / great book
At first glance, the book did not inspire confidence, but I was very pleased. No water. For each advice on three or four good and bad examples. All examples with screenshots and a short description. The main idea is “safe design”. It teaches to prevent user errors. Can be used as a checklist before submitting the site. Even though all the tips are pretty beaten, nevertheless, most programmers do not follow them. The book feels the view not from the programmer, but from the specialist in conflict resolution.
Web design
(Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. Jakob Nielsen)Total: I don’t know the price / 500 pages / average design / meaningless
On the one hand, the content of the book as a whole is no longer relevant, on the other - in the text mostly water. Perhaps completely green students should run through the sections. As in any "book about the web" intuitive things are painted:
- Top Sites - Fast
- Texts: brevity, literacy, clarity, etc.
- Make a normal menu
- Do normal URLs
- Test for errors
- Use alt for images
Even in spite of the fact that it is Jacob Nielsen himself, I will not recommend.
At work, I was constantly making comments about the absence of a “sense of beauty”, so I decided to go through the design:
Universal design principles.
(Universal Principles of Design. W. Lidwell, K. Holden and J. Butler)Main thoughts:
- A high percentage of results in any large system depends on a low percentage of variables.
- Objects and environments should be designed in such a way that the maximum number of people can use them without modification.
- Aesthetically pleasing designs seem easier to use than unattractive.
- The appearance of the object should suggest how to use it.
- People find more attractive forms that resemble a person or possess anthropomorphic characteristics.
- Align objects with center of mass
- The landscape-rich environment reduces stress, improves concentration and concentration.
- Using blocks of information
- Ittena color scheme
- Prevent unintentional actions by prior verification.
- The system is more convenient for use when the same elements are represented in the same way.
- Bounding method for operations that can be performed on a system
- The tendency to give preference to objects with smooth contours, rather than with sharp corners or sharp elements
- The level of control provided by the system must match the skills and skills of its user (expert / normal mode)
- Depth of processing information
- Consensus based design
- Traces of use or wear indicate the user’s preferred interaction with the object or environment.
- There should always be an entry point
- Accidents - a consequence of errors in the design. Action and inaction leading to an unintended result.
- The use of elements in more quantities than necessary, in order to compensate for the effect of unknown variables and prevent system failure
- The ratio of the figure / background
- The time required for pointing the pointer to the target is a function of the size of the target and the distance to it (Fitts law)
- As the flexibility of the system increases, its practicality decreases.
- The orderly sequence of people's reactions to acute stress.
- The quality of the system output depends on the quality of the input data.
- Gutenberg diagram (eye movement on the page)
- The time required for decision-making increases with the number of alternatives (Hick's law)
- Do not fill in the empty spaces because of the fear of emptiness. Minimalism in design.
- Use the icons in the interface for better recognition and recall.
- Effects of slowing down the processing of information due to the conflict of psychological processes.
- The method of presenting information in order of decreasing importance.
- The modular principle of control of a complex system.
- A means of predicting behavioral change without restricting options or significantly changing incentives.
- Pictures are remembered better than words.
- Signal noise. The ratio of relevant information to irrelevant, displayed on the display.
- Identical elements are perceived as more related.
- The system becomes more convenient to use when its purpose and methods of use are clearly distinguishable.
- Use a weak element that fails to protect other elements from a crash.
- etc.
Total: 1 200 rubles. / 250 pages / great design / great book
At first I was embarrassed by the price, but after reading it I was ready to give three times more. There is no water in the book. Each principle is described very briefly, clearly and accurately. Always with examples and links to works of other authors in this field. Each tip ends with a reference to another book or series of books in which a particular topic is covered more broadly. Tips cover a variety of design directions - from interface design to typography rules.
Graphic design from idea to realization
(Graphic Design Thinking (Design Briefs). Ellen Lupton, Jennifer Cole Phillips)Main thoughts:
- Draw associative maps of your ideas.
- Interview clients, they may need something else.
The book, in fact, is a collection of copyrights on the topic "How to define a task" and "Where to get ideas from." Many words, pictures and banal stamps. It is interesting to browse through it, but it does not carry any residual knowledge. When I bought it, I was led to the section “Study of the place”. It dealt with the placement of billboards and information signs in various buildings. I was interested in this topic since I studied at PR, but I didn’t come across any books on the subject. However, even here it cannot be said that the author revealed this topic. Rather, slightly lifted the veil.
Total: 800 rubles. / 200 pages / great design / I do not advise buying
It seems that another interesting idea came up in this book - you need to be slightly interested in everything in various areas so that you can borrow ideas from someone else's field. That is, if the ideas are over, it is worthwhile to engage in a completely different activity and, perhaps, you will have new ideas.
School of graphic design. Principles and practice of graphic design.
(Graphic Design School: The Principles and Practices of Graphic Design. David Dabner)Main thoughts:
- Fonts parsing
- Parsing colors and shades (the author missed the color scheme of Itten)
- A block of text can be given a different shape and use the text itself as a page decoration.
Total: 750 rubles. / 200 pages / great design / medium, plenty of water
Pretty weird book. It seems that much has been written, but there is little residual knowledge again. It could be attributed to the next banal copyright, but the book draws a section on fonts and page layout methods, using the text itself as decoration. In any case, it is not worth the money. And about the fonts, it is better to read in Innocent Kleinikov in the book Design of the Book: From Words to Business.
The books “Universal Design Principles” and “Web Design Errors” help to understand how to design a system so that people make as few errors as possible in it, and also how to minimize the negative consequences of mistakes if they did occur.
Impressed by these books, I decided to cover the knowledge gained with courses on design. Normal courses cost at least 30,000 rubles. and stretched out in time for half a year. I decided to save (and regretted). I chose two training centers, costing an average of 9,000 rubles. for a course length of 1.5 months.
Graphic design
What is taught: Corel, Photoshop
What I learned:
- RGBA, CMYK - what is the difference and how did it appear
- What problems may arise in printing
- How to create volume and glass effect with gradients
- How to create volume through blur and transparency
- How to cut a complex object
- How to "add comfort", etc.
What does the design have to do with it? I do not know. The instructors simply show how to push the buttons. Although there were positive moments. The course Corel dismantled colors and prepress. This is much wider articles on the Internet, which read before. There was a lot of things on the Photoshop course, but color decomposition in channels (RGBA) and color correction benefits remained in memory. They showed how to add "+ 20% heat and comfort" and "+ 17% to the volume and depth of the image." Overall, it was worth it. Yes, and at interviews often there are questions about PNG, which require knowledge a little more than “cut layout”.
The course of academic drawing and painting (drawing in pencil)
What I learned:
- The thickness of the line on one side of the picture should be less, it will give the illusion of light falling
Photoshop photoshop, and you have to learn to draw. Therefore, I considered that drawing courses would pump this skill. And in fact it was not worth it. Minus 9 000 rubles. and time. It seems to me that there was a problem with the teacher. Courses were very similar to school art. You come, draw a cube for two hours, and only one question remains in your head: “And why ?!”. No techniques and techniques, no explanation, only the constant drawing of squares, circles and still lifes. Residual knowledge zero. Therefore, if you go to a pencil drawing, ask about the curriculum and what residual knowledge you will have.
But back to programming.
When I started writing games on JavaScript, I asked my colleagues what they can advise. We advised the following book:
Secrets of game development on macromedia Flash MX
(Flash MX 2004 Game Design. Jobe Makar)Total: 250 rubles. / 600 pages / poor design / one of the best books I've read
First, the phrase macromedia Flash MX in the title of the book scared away, but I was wrong. I can’t single out the main ideas because the book is built more like a textbook. The whole book is one continuous thought. The author tells about various game genres, explains why trigonometry is needed and how physics of collisions is calculated. Runs through optimization methods, shows how to use the "grid" to simplify physical calculations, lists types of AI, and talks about the path finding algorithm. The author also describes the stages of game design, graphics improvement, the principles of creating isometric worlds, blending and the role of sound in games. In general, the book expands the mind and makes you look at games differently. Unlike other authors (for example, Rafaelo Cecco), Job Makar practically does not write the code in the book. Sometimes, of course, he writes, but not enough. Job explains how and why, looks at the point, and how you implement it in code is beyond the scope of the book. The secrets of game development is one of those books that are more about algorithms and ideas than about code.
When I was looking for information about the book, I came across such an article http://www.8bitrocket.com/tag/electrotank/ . Therefore, before buying, check whether the following masterpieces are translated into Russian or not. Perhaps it is better to buy them, because the author himself writes that he had little time to work on the book "The secrets of developing games on macromedia Flash MX" and he is not very pleased with its quality.
Lectures by Andrei Korotkov
After reading the masterpiece above, I began to look for information on developing games and accidentally stumbled upon a Russian guy named Andrei Korotkov. Andrei has a YouTube channel where he gradually gives a course of lectures on how to write games and create game engines http://www.youtube.com/user/megadrone86/videos . Yes, this is not JavaScript, this is C ++. But it does not matter, because the essence of the lecture - ideas and algorithms.
Main thoughts:
- Write diz. doc
- Think over the concept of the game as a whole.
- Engine should consist of modules
But, like Joba Makar, here the main thoughts are smeared. Lectures need to be taken completely, because In each lecture they talk about specific problems and how they should be solved.
Actually, after getting acquainted with these two authors, I began to write my game engine. When the engine was brought to some stage, when the result was already visible, an unexpected problem surfaced. All the levels that I tried to create were, to put it mildly, unplayable. He began to look for information about the architecture of levels on the Internet and came across another great Russian author.
Level design. Theory and practice
Mikhail KadikovMisha writes a series of articles that are gradually formed into a book. Everything is short, clear and well structured, each article is supported by a bunch of examples. You can get acquainted with the book here ( http://pro.level-design.ru/ ). I read avidly.
After the previous examples, trust and respect for Flash developers has dramatically increased. It became obvious that they know a lot, they have a lot of experience and it's time to adopt it. Yes, now many people are moaning here and there on the Internet that Flash is dying, Flash is crap, etc., but! The Flash community has a very extensive experience in casual games. You can not neglect this. With these thoughts, I bought the next book on Flash.
Flash advertising
(Flash Advertising: Flash Platform Development of Microsites, Advergames and Branded Applications. Jason Fincanon)The main idea - hmm ... did not catch.
Total: 800 rubles. / 300 pages / great design / water, but beautiful
Pretty weird book. It seems that much has been written, but there is little residual knowledge. Everything, in principle, quite banal. Another collection of tips on how to make sites correctly and beautifully. Perhaps someone will be interested, but I was not.Most of the book easily overlaps with experience in an advertising agency that stamps disposable sites and promotes them. In defense of the author, I can only give the section "Advertising games and applications." The author tells how using the game to grind a brand of a company into the players' brains. So, if you need to convince Ivan Ivanitch from Horns and Hoofs LLC to buy a mini game development for the site, read this section of the book.
JavaScript Graphics
(Supercharged JavaScript Graphics: with HTML5 canvas, jQuery, and More. Raffaele Cecco)The first chapter describes the deployment of loops and graphs of the speed of work before and after in different browsers. Further, the author explains how to work with CSS sprites (writes a function that gradually changes the background-size). Describes the error timers. Well, after that begins work with tiles and water on the topic of writing a game. If working with tiles, in principle, can be mastered, because it seems that everything is correct, an example of a game (written in half a book) is a horror. After Joba Makar’s book and lectures, Andrei Korotkova just wants to shout: “Stop Raphael! Do not do that! It is unscalable! Rafik, I swear by my mom, you're wrong! ”
Total: 800 rub. / 250 pages / average design / water
This is another book in the “must read” series for web developers. Standard animal on the cover, standard narration. But against the background of previous authors, after reading the book, I would like to say: “And why ?! Rafaello, where are the algorithms? ”On the one hand, the book runs through the new HTML5 API, on the other hand, all cheap copyright books run over it. The trouble with residual knowledge and conclusions. The author cites canvases that are not needed, but inflate the thickness of the book, abundantly filling all with paste on the topic “there is such a library”. In defense of the author, one can cite the chapter "The use of vectors in games and computer models." For some reason, no one bothers to disassemble it in the style of "for dummies." But then again - where are the projections of the vectors?
Flash Collected Works
This is an online resource, in contrast to the previous books about igrostroy, finally covered the topic of calculation of collisions (collisions). This is where http://noregret.org/tutor/n/collision/ authors (Raigan Burns, Mare Sheppard) wrote something that Raffaele Cecco did not master in their book. The bottom line: the side of the polygon is a vector. Do a projection of this and another vector on the plane of coordinates. If the projections intersect, we have a collision. If the vectors are at an angle, make their projections on the normals on each other.
HTML5
(HTML5 for Masterminds. JD Gauchat)Total: 710 rub. / 500 pages / bad design / I do not recommend buying.
This is a very thick HTML5 API reference. As a reference book - so-so, just a selection of water and copyright. The thickness of the book here is clearly not consistent with the quality. Find something thinner.
Ajax for professionals
(Professional Ajax. Nicholas C. Zakas, Jeremy McPeak, Joe Fawcett)Total: 1000 rub. / 500 pages / bad design / great book
Book - fire! Perhaps not everyone read it, but it is definitely worth reading. The authors are gradually introduced to asynchronous work and tricks in older browsers. I can not highlight key thoughts, because the book must be taken whole. One of the examples discussed in the book is the principle of how prompts work when you type in a search string.
Web Interface Design
(Designing Web Interfaces. Bill Scott, Theresa Neil)Main thoughts:
- Suggest editing an object near itself.
- Add the ability to drag and drop
- Prevent page transitions
- Add animated effects. This will make the interface more alive.
- Increase the response speed of the interface
Total: 950 rubles. / 350 pages / average design / average quality, little information
A lot of water, constant hammering in of the same thoughts. Although, on the other hand, these thoughts now seem obvious, but at the time of writing the book they were not. The book may seem outdated, because now it seems like web 2.0 and all the tips described in the book are applied in practice anyway. But I do not agree. Every day on the Internet, I see a huge number of sites that do not follow these tips.
- The section “Without leaving the page” is supported by the book “Web Design Errors” (Matthew Linderman, Jason Fried). Only this book describes the practical implementation: overlays, inlays, virtual pages.
- The “Light Touch” section is justified in the book “Universal Design Principles” (W. Lidwell, K. Holden and J. Butler)
In general, there are a lot of interlacing in the text with the books “Web Design Errors” and “Universal Design Principles”.
As I wrote above, a web developer should know a lot and in different areas. Here are two more areas that will help make the site for people, not for programmers: typography and public relations.
Book design: from words to deeds
Innokenty KelseinikWhat the book is about:
- Grid. Modular grid.
- Design of the text and analysis of fonts
Main thoughts:
- Everything on the grid looks better
- Background and font should be contrasted.
- The line is not more than 70 characters, the text is divided into paragraphs, the font is large
- Avoid frequent use of secretions.
- If you make columns, make sure that the rows in different columns match in height
- Divide the text into main, auxiliary, etc.
- The text should be such that you can quickly glance over it and grasp the essence of it.
Total: 800 rubles. / 300 pages / great design / great book
I bought almost immediately, because When scrolling, I got the following text:
Spaces:
Do not beat off with a space:
- dots and commas from the preceding text;
- ellipsis, as a pause sign, from the word preceding or following it
- a short dash between the numbers, indicating the limits of any value, for example: 20-30 people;
- hyphen between words and hyphen
- quotes from words enclosed in them
- ...
It seemed to me perfect. Everything is short, clear, clear and point by point. After reading the book I was pleased with the result. Many interweaving with "Bodywork" Tyoma Lebedev. Another push to the purchase of this book was the previous work in an advertising agency. They constantly kicked for the shoals in the text on the sites, for “instead of”, for +79112223344 instead of +7 (911) 222-33-44, for N instead of №, for - instead of -.
After reading this book, the feeling and understanding of typography has become better .
Kovodstvo
Artemy LebedevTotal: 2300 rubles. / 450 pages / great design / great book
Honestly, I didn’t buy it, but read it on the Internet. There is no water in the text. It is worth it, because there are thoughts, conclusions and author's opinion. All these things do not age. Even if Lebedev’s person himself annoys you, it doesn’t mean anything. Here is an example of an article about the photo http://www.artlebedev.ru/kovodstvo/sections/169/ , quite a logical conclusion. Every time I come across a design on Bootstrap, the brain gives out http://www.artlebedev.ru/kovodstvo/sections/147/ because Bootstrap sites are usually primitive.
Theory and practice of public relations. Textbook for universities
Kochetkova A.V., Filippov V.N., Skvortsov Ya.L., Tarasov A.S.Total: 300 rubles. / 350 pages / average design / great book
One of those books, having read that, you can understand the essence of the profession of PR. Probably, many will say now: “What kind of heresy do you advise the humanities ?!” In fact, the book clearly outlines the essence of the PR profession and is closely related to the book “Readable Code or Programming as Art” (Dustin Boswell, Trevor Foucher). The last one was advice: “the best code is the one that does not exist.” Just this tutorial helps to understand that very often your customers do not need a website at all. So, it makes no sense to do it. Moreover, you start to pay attention to the ways of entering the software product on the market and realize that it is very bad with PR promotion, which means it will not work and you will not get money for it, and therefore it makes no sense to write it.
What else is needed for complete happiness:
- Articles on Habré
- ( http://tech.yandex.ru/education/ )
- ( http://web-standards.ru/ )
- ( http://pepelsbey.net/ )
Yandex lectures help to look at many things differently. But again, it all depends on the speakers. In any case, I learned a lot of new things. The most significant video for me at the moment is Misha Davydov about the mediator pattern ( http://tech.yandex.ru/events/yasubbotnik/chlb-feb-2012/talks/154/ ). Vadim Makeev’s speeches are also encouraging, perhaps the most anyone at the moment is about CSS frameworks ( http://pepelsbey.net/2008/04/css-frameworks/ ).
Why I do not cite as an example the western analogs of video lectures that were posted on a Habré before:
- I do not know English, so I do not understand what they mean.
- Many of them are designed for the initial level, and this is no longer interesting.
- All the best, as a rule, is immediately translated into Russian.
Digit or paper.
Whenever possible I buy all books in paper form. In the electronic for some reason I can not read. Yes, and when they are on the shelf and constantly catch the eye, you can simply take and scroll through them. And even when familiar developers come, you can get a book off the shelf and give it to them with the words: “This is a great deal!”
Why the books need to be re-read:
The amount of information is quite large. All principles and advice are gradually forgotten. From time to time you need to refresh your memories by simply flipping through books already read. Read and use the default - different things. Many read about Russian quotes ", but often continue to use standard ones." Many read about modularity, but continue to write "noodles", etc.
PS: I am waiting for Alan Cooper's book "On the interface" by UI specialists. I have not read it yet, so there is no description. And also stuffing the famous in narrow circles Ogilvy “About advertising” on the topic touched in the book “Flash advertising”
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/206436/
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