Book review: Website Owners Manual
Written by Carson Pierce Sunday, 13 July 2008 00:00
As website developers, we often take for granted the knowledge that goes into our work. We then place unrealistic expectations on our clients and get frustrated when they don’t get it. This is especially obvious when dealing with clients who have never been involved in a website project before. As a result, we have to act as educators; explaining what’s what, why we do things the way we do and how they can also contribute to the process. Unfortunately, this can take a lot of time – time that is probably not in anyone’s budget. If only there was some sort of “website owner’s manual” that could be given to clients to help remedy this problem.
Well now there is... almost. The appropriately titled Website Owner’s Manual by designer/blogger/podcaster Paul Boag is in the works and should be done fairly soon. In the meantime, you can preview the first chapter for free or buy the “early access” edition which allows you to read unedited chapters as they’re completed. Five chapters been released so far:
- The secret to a successful website. An overview of the entire book, emphasizing the client’s perspective and roles along the way.
- Stress-free planning. How to get off on the right foot and create a blueprint to ensure the success of your project.
- Don’t forget the explosives expert. How to define your project and then find the right people to carry it out.
- Differences over design. Explains the realities of designing for the web and how to make working with a designer a pleasant experience.
- Creating killer content. How to write effectively for the web medium.
Upcoming topics include user centric design, ensuring best practice, choosing a CMS, website jargon explained, promoting your website, engaging your users, and planning for the future.
Each section is packed with invaluable information for clients of website projects: the knowledge they’ll need going into things, the pitfalls to avoid and – most importantly from a developer’s perspective – how they can work with us to make everything go as smoothly as possible. It’s written in a very easy to understand way, even if you have no prior knowledge of the topic. In short, it’s the manual that we wish all our clients would read before their project begins.
If there’s any problem with the book, it’s that most clients will find it overkill for their needs. Is it really worth reading a 250-page book if they’re only going to be involved with one or two website projects in their lifetime? (The answer is probably still yes, but the perception remains.) I guess it’s left to us developers to impress upon our clients the value of something like this, even if it means buying a bunch of copies ourselves and giving them away to them. Trust me, the $40 will pay itself back many, many times. Check it out at:
http://www.boagworld.com/websiteownersmanual/
Other semi-related resources:
http://www.will-harris.com/design/working-with-designers.html
http://www.id29.com/how/