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Moving to responsive web design : bring existing static sites into today’s multi-device world with responsive web design
de León I., Apress, New York, NY, 2016. 149 pp. Type: Book (978-1-484219-86-7)
Date Reviewed: Nov 21 2017

Responsive websites are the new norm in web design. Being responsive means that a website can adapt its layout and content so that its web pages can be displayed nicely on computers or mobile devices with varying screen sizes. There have been many books devoted to the topic of building responsive websites. Most of these books, however, focus on techniques and tools for doing so and assume that the website is built from scratch. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. In reality, many websites were built before mobile devices could be used to surf the Internet and before responsiveness became popular in web design. So the need is not uncommon to transform a traditional static site into a responsive one. This book addresses this very issue and provides guidance on how to get this job done smoothly and effectively.

Indeed, the task of transforming a static, fixed-width website into a responsive one is no different from a typical development project. This book tackles the problem by considering typical phases of such a project: planning, analysis, design, and implementation. The book’s four chapters are devoted to these four phases, respectively and in that order. In some sense, this book, especially the first chapter on planning, reads like a textbook on software engineering or one on systems analysis and design. Many concerns discussed in the book are managerial ones rather than technical ones. For instance, several issues are discussed throughout the book and the development process: how to prioritize tasks, how to bring people together, how to assign tasks to people, how to utilize small slices of time to move the project forward while fulfilling other duties, how to define tangible goals so as to move forward one step at a time, and so on. As you might have perceived, the intended readers of this book are project leaders who need to care about the successful completion of the project on time and on budget. This does not mean, however, that these people do not need to know anything technical. On the contrary, due to the nature of these projects, these project leaders are expected to have solid technical knowledge of web design to understand the tips and discussions in the book, perhaps with a background similar to that of the author. That said, a web developer or any technical staff member could also benefit from this book to have a better idea of the execution of the entire project and of the various issues that might be involved.

The author of this book has many years of experience in web design and has actually led projects of transforming prominent websites. The book is in some sense a collection of his different pieces of wisdom. Many of these pieces are quite actionable. For example, he recommended at multiple places in the book to extensively use sticky notes, 3M’s Post-it Notes specifically, to present and organize disjointed thoughts first and use them to produce plans and tasks at much higher levels later. A number of tools, services, and examples are mentioned or described in the book. These could be very valuable to people involved in responsive retrofit projects. In addition, quite a few books and articles cited in the book might be worth reading. Finally, the appendix includes pages of resources of all kinds for reference.

To conclude, this book was written by an expert in the field who has both technical and managerial experiences. It is an easy read and full of tips and wisdom. The book is very concise, only about 150 pages. One can quickly browse it within hours or read it thoroughly in days. Spending that time can help a project leader to foresee potential pitfalls and to avoid unnecessary delays or failure.

Reviewer:  Jinzhong Niu Review #: CR145666 (1802-0047)
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