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kayjummac's review
5.0
Great book to pair with Responsive Web Design. Seems like a very simple concept, design and code for mobile devices first then for the desktop. But it can completely turn your web design world on its head.
kirabug's review
5.0
I'll admit I probably should have read this book back when Luke Wroblewski wrote it, but I didn't think I needed to. I had attended one of the An Event Apart conferences where Luke presented the ideas the book is based on, and I followed him pretty closely on Twitter at the time, so most of what is in the book I'd learned through other means.
But it's been seven years, and I'm introducing a new company to mobile design for the first time, so it was time for me to take a refresher course. This book was perfect for that task.
The goal of this book is to teach you what it means to design a website or application first from the mindset of a mobile design. It came about because, before mobile, we designed everything for the computer desktop, and after mobile, that sucked pretty badly all things considered. If you don't remember the era of m-dot sites and dumbphone sites and total lack of iPhones, well, I envy you a little. (Also, go ask an old person about the Netscape browser wars.)
The book promises no code and to keep things short; it delivers on both promises. At the same time it delivers explanations of why mobile is important, how to think about mobile use cases beyond the idea that everyone is doing things "on the go" (they're not), and a light but effective introduction to how to think about design elements such as touch areas, hover states, form elements, and page layout in a mobile context.
I hope that A Book Apart commissions a second edition, because the first edition is pushing close to 10 years old, and a lot has changed in the last 10 years. I'm not honestly confident that it will make as much sense to someone who just joined the industry as it does those of us who were hand-coding our Geocities sites back in the late 1990s. But regardless of the slightly dated statistics (and screenshots) and the assumption that none of us know what this "mobile" thing is, the theories and mindsets introduced are sound. It's still a valuable read all these years later.
But it's been seven years, and I'm introducing a new company to mobile design for the first time, so it was time for me to take a refresher course. This book was perfect for that task.
The goal of this book is to teach you what it means to design a website or application first from the mindset of a mobile design. It came about because, before mobile, we designed everything for the computer desktop, and after mobile, that sucked pretty badly all things considered. If you don't remember the era of m-dot sites and dumbphone sites and total lack of iPhones, well, I envy you a little. (Also, go ask an old person about the Netscape browser wars.)
The book promises no code and to keep things short; it delivers on both promises. At the same time it delivers explanations of why mobile is important, how to think about mobile use cases beyond the idea that everyone is doing things "on the go" (they're not), and a light but effective introduction to how to think about design elements such as touch areas, hover states, form elements, and page layout in a mobile context.
I hope that A Book Apart commissions a second edition, because the first edition is pushing close to 10 years old, and a lot has changed in the last 10 years. I'm not honestly confident that it will make as much sense to someone who just joined the industry as it does those of us who were hand-coding our Geocities sites back in the late 1990s. But regardless of the slightly dated statistics (and screenshots) and the assumption that none of us know what this "mobile" thing is, the theories and mindsets introduced are sound. It's still a valuable read all these years later.
pedstrom's review
5.0
Part 2 (How to go Mobile), while not wildly technical, focused on the considerations on how to go mobile. Things like responsive design, big buttons, and organizing for action. This will probably be less interesting for most, however Part 1 (the first 3 chapters) I'd highly recommend.
In Part 1 (Why Mobile First?) Luke talks about the amazing growth of mobile, the user experience improvements you'll discover as you embrace the mobile constraints such as the screen size, and then he talks about the capabilities of mobile devices that enable innovations simply not available on any other platform.
If you read it and walk away thinking your next venture should *not* be mobile focused, I'll be very surprised.
In Part 1 (Why Mobile First?) Luke talks about the amazing growth of mobile, the user experience improvements you'll discover as you embrace the mobile constraints such as the screen size, and then he talks about the capabilities of mobile devices that enable innovations simply not available on any other platform.
If you read it and walk away thinking your next venture should *not* be mobile focused, I'll be very surprised.
e_z's review
3.0
Nothing shocking here, but it would be a good place to start if you've only coded desktop sites before. The two things I need to think about more are putting input labels above fields instead of inside them and making the content rather than the navigation the focus of the experience.
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