PavingWays

I met Cameron after his first conference talk in Europe at the @media conference in London in June 2006. He was talking about the same thing there - Mobile Web Design - and I really liked his presentation. Since then we both kept on doing research in the mobile area and Cameron just released his first book and it’s a great one!

Early chapters entitled “Mobile Web Fundamentals” give a great amount of background information on the mobile web market and usage, the concept of being “mobile” (it’s not the device, but the user that’s mobile) and on the fundamental limitations in this area (screen size, input methods, carriers etc.).

I especially liked the focus on what I really feel is important about the mobile web, even though it is in contrast to the newest developments in the browser and handset market: it’s not about bringing the desktop web to mobile devices, people, it’s about creating mobile web applications that serve people’s needs while they’re on the go!

Browser differences are also thoroughly covered in Cameron’s book and even Microformats are mentioned as a possible way to solve context-related problems in browsers, i.e. adding contextual info to things like contacts and phone numbers in the markup, so the device knows what do do with this type of content (add it to the address book/call the number).

The main section is divided into four approaches how to implement mobile web sites and applications: do nothing, reduce images and styling, use handheld stylesheet, create mobile-optimized content. It also covers topics like testing and validation as well as advanced techniques, such as SVG and Ajax (I’m mentioned in a book, yeehaa!). The final chapters contain things like promoting your mobile content, dotmobi and semacodes.

Overall the book is an excellent summary of the current status in mobile web design and a great resource for anybody who thinks of creating a mobile version of his existing website or better yet, a new, web based, mobile service (that should actually be almost everybody in the web design/development community).

The book is a must-buy and it is available as a PDF at the book’s homepage: http://www.mobilewebbook.com.

I want to recommend a book by Jeremy Keith, called “Bulletproof Ajax“. I recommend it for several reasons. First of all, the book is an excellent introduction to Ajax programming in general and everybody starting to write JavaScript code to do Ajax should read it before touching any of the libraries out there.
Secondly the book is especially suited to anybody who is interested in writing Ajax powered apps on mobile devices and constrained browsers. After all the book is all about making JavaScript code bulletproof and that’s exactly what you need to do if you are facing browser constraints, flaky implementations of JavaScript engines and a hugely fragment environment overall.

Jeremy’s book is suited for the beginner, but also for the seasoned developer, since it makes it clear what it all comes down to: writing clean code that gracefully degrades (Jeremy calls his method to do this Hijax) if the application runs in a less-than-ideal environment. There are many best practices and useful code snippets contained and topics such as JSON, web services and accessibility.

The book is not entirely new but nevertheless a must-buy, it was published New Riders Press in February 2007 and I urge everybody interested in Ajax to grab a copy, e.g. at Amazon.

If you can’t hear words like “Facebook”, “social”, “networking”, “friends” or “community” anymore, then maybe you should have a look at the antisocial networking site Bugroff.

This “website” has launched by Gray Dring - the person behind the Clever Little Pod comedy podcast. No wonder why Bugroff is nothing more than a spoof service :)

Source: http://uk.blognation.com

Just a quick note to anybody who wants to reach our email addresses at PavingWays - they might be bouncing back due to a server crash earlier. We’re in the process of transferring the site to a new host and DNS and MX entries are still interfering with the old and new server settings.

So best way to reach us is by calling or sending a mail to my gmail address (if you have it ;) ).

Should be resolved during the next couple of hours though…

The last couple of days we spent some time at Borders, a great bookstore. You have a really broad selection of books there and a cozy coffee shop inside, where you can read or do your work. I also love Amazon. So, the following list contains books from both retailers :)

My list of great books that in my opinion really help starting your (web) business:

• Guy Kawasaki: The Art of the Start
• Guy Kawasaki: How to Drive Your Competition Crazy
• Malcolm Gladwell: The Tipping Point
• James Surowiecki: The Wisdom of Crowds
• Mark Hughes: Buzzmarketing
• Jessica Livingston: Founders at Work
• John L. Nesheim: High Tech Start Up
• Chris Anderson: The Long Tail
• Keith Sawyer: Group Genius
• Chris Murray: The Marketing Gurus

If you have read or know another must-read book, let me know!

A couple of days ago I went to Borders and while wandering through the shelves I came across the book “Entrepreneuship 101″ from the Trump University. I bought it and started reading it immediately at a cozy coffee shop inside Borders.

Although I have not finished the book yet, it is very interesting and helpful. I wished the professors at my university had teached business management so understandable. The book is a good guideline for startups with helpful practical examples.

On page 27 I stumbled across an interesting quotation of Shakti Gawain:

“Your Life Is Your Work of Art

I like to think of myself as an artist, and my life is my greatest work of art.
Every moment is a moment of creation, and each moment of creation contains infinite possibilities. I can do things the way I have always done them, or I can look at all the different alternatives, and try something new and different and potentially more rewarding. Every moment presents a new opportunity and a new decision.
What a wonderful game we are playing, and what a magnificent art form.”