Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:  
Summary: For people who work in large web teams
Comment: If you work in a large team in a big corporation, and use conventional rather than agile approaches to web development, you may find this book very useful. It has advice not just on what tools to employ, when, and why, but also how to interact with clients and specialists in various roles during every stage of website genesis/ontogeny, from strategy to execution (via usability tests, concept mapping, wireframes and much more).
As a one-person band with a very small budget, I found big chunks of it rather idealistic, somehow old-fashioned, and not very relevant to my own circumstances. The usability / market research specialist? The information architect? Those would be me. The programmer? The graphic designer? Oh, those would be me too. And the person making sure that the words and images are suitable for the web as a medium? Me again.
I wanted some advice on best practice for (a) documenting decisions made (and reasons for making them) and (b) highlighting consequences of those decisions (and reasons) for future work. I was quite surprised not to see much discussion about how to document (b), which in my experience is often a huge hole in documentation.
Also, the processes I use are much more agile than those described in the book, which doesn't cover how to document development using agile methods. This is a shame, because I think more and more developers are moving in this direction.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Desktop reference . . . wisdom, inspiration, guidance
Comment: Have read now twice. Sits on my desk as a reference, lots of dog-earred pages. Dense with experience, tips and nuances per the intangibles of the design process (Dan's already got the tangibles down cold). I've had a number of my clients (internal and external) read just the Introduction, and have made great progress. A unique volume, very practical. Kudos Dan! - Andrew Schechterman Ph.D. (www.linkedin.com/in/andrewschechterman)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good handbook for documentation
Comment: I found this to be a good handbook for the type of documentation I often create on projects. I think I wanted more focus on the information design aspect of diagrams / tables, etc. - sort of Dan's take on Tufte. This is more of a comprehensive review of what content a particular document could or should include, how to inflect the doc to different audiences/purposes, and when (or if) to use it in a project. That is important stuff, and Dan does a good job of it. Dan also provides some nice commentary on the future of documentation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Nice reference book to have on your shelf.
Comment: Dan M. Brown (no, not that Dan Brown) has written a very helpful and comprehensive guide to the family of documents that make up web design and planning. The book is divided into three sections: User Needs; Strategy; and, only then, Design. Brown's book is all about instilling a moderate, but never overbearing, amount of discipline into the process. It sees web design for what it is: requiring a fair amount of creativity and artistry, but also requiring a bit of tethering to ensure that core user needs are being served. It's a nice reference book to have on your shelf.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Stands alone, great tool.
Comment: Ever tried to design a website, ever tried to design a application. Makes sense in your head, clear concise design...for get about it, you are a design and usability master. Ah, every felt like no one else got it? Ever been in a brainstorming session that you lost control of to taking about the site URL for hours?
This book helps...a lot. Helps you communicate in the organization/discovery/planning stages of site and application design. That way your boss, clients and you can be on the same page.
Heavy read, hit it all, invaluable book. I am not really using as a reference.
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