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Rating: 
Summary: New Traditionalists
Review: Bruisma's book *Deep Sites* is a fascinating cultural object, as it is in truth something like one of the better works of propaganda sprung upon the cosmopolitan set in recent years. Focusing on experiments in web design in Europe, the US and Asia featuring layout innovations which are none too enlightening but all-too-interesting, Bruisma's book raises the question of what exactly is to be done with all these new media technologies, and at what cost? Something exciting, rather than "integrative": none of these websites were designed to make work flow any better, and there is a moment of truth in their display of these technologies' *tensile strength*. That is to say, like the DTP revolution of the earlymid 90s these sites are "meaning less" and saying approximately as much -- and this book militates for a Web obssessed with such phenomena, that is to say an even playing field for the springing of ideological traps upon willing supporters. We were (rather recently) treated to a lot of similar material, and we might well ask at what price: although much of the "hype" around these sites is effectively out of your reach, reading this book will certainly not be the worst part of your week and you are under no obligation to contract the services of individuals involved in the production of these spectacles. We may not have any very good idea of what Tim Berners-Lee was thinking of with respect to his vision for the mature web, but I would bet this book is not wide of Vint Cerf's mark: a history and theory of the present featuring bells and whistles you can almost taste, available where better books are purveyed.
Rating:
Summary: Disco Dancer, Our Life Is Calling
Review: Bruisma's book *Deep Sites* is a fascinating cultural object, as it is in truth something like one of the better works of propaganda sprung upon the cosmopolitan set in recent years. Focusing on experiments in web design in Europe, the US and Asia featuring layout innovations which are none too enlightening but all-too-interesting, Bruisma's book raises the question of what exactly is to be done with all these new media technologies, and at what cost? Something exciting, rather than "integrative": none of these websites were designed to make work flow any better, and there is a moment of truth in their display of these technologies' *tensile strength*. That is to say, like the DTP revolution of the earlymid 90s these sites are "meaning less" and saying approximately as much -- and this book militates for a Web obssessed with such phenomena, that is to say an even playing field for the springing of ideological traps upon willing supporters. We were (rather recently) treated to a lot of similar material, and we might well ask at what price: although much of the "hype" around these sites is effectively out of your reach, reading this book will certainly not be the worst part of your week and you are under no obligation to contract the services of individuals involved in the production of these spectacles. We may not have any very good idea of what Tim Berners-Lee was thinking of with respect to his vision for the mature web, but I would bet this book is not wide of Vint Cerf's mark: a history and theory of the present featuring bells and whistles you can almost taste, available where better books are purveyed.
Rating: 
Summary: Really expensive screenshots
Review: I bought the book because it was recommended in a computer magazine. It was recommeded as a book detailing best practices for complex websites.
However it's just a collection of (smallish) screenshots of JavaScript and Flash Websites. Most of which are either already offline or not usable in current Browsers. The explanatory texts are very short (a handful of paragraphs for each site) and ususally detail the biography of the website author.
All in all a fairly useless book, maybe except you're looking for web designers to contract.
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