Rating: 
Summary: Well-written and coherent
Review: A well-written and coherent overview of the web design process and the specific requirements of web application design.Some of the useful features of this book are
- well-selected examples
- a description of the product development process
- an excellent description (with examples) of how to develop and use "personas"
- guidelines for when and how to use specific models of interaction in a product
- simple, bullet-pointed summary guidelines for solving interaction and display design problems
- case studies at the end which are evaluated using criteria the author has developed throughout the book I am a designer working in this field and this is the guide I would recommend for exploring and understanding the practice of web-application design.
Rating: 
Summary: Pompous, Hollow, Useless and NOT FOR CLASSROOMS
Review: An impeccably-organized encyclopedia of web design. If I had to base an entire web design class on a single book this would be the one. Bob Baxley's "Making the Web Work" is easily the most comprehensive manual for applying good design to create a great user experience on the web. This book has both breadth and depth-just look at the table of contents. Regardless of your level of web design proficiency you will find more than your money's worth of useful insight here (even if you have already read just about every other web design book!). One thing I especially like about this book is that Bob doesn't provide a single solution for a design challenge, but takes time to present and evaluate (pro/con and why) several alternatives. He doesn't just feed you the "right" answers the way Jakob Nielsen does in his "Designing Web Usability." Bob's approach will help you gain a thorough understanding of the options and make informed design decisions. The two case studies of Amazon and Ofoto included at the end of the book are the most comprehensive I have seen: they're about 30 pages each! About the only gripe I have is that Bob takes the liberty of using lesser known versions of some terms without providing their more known synonyms. For example, while Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville have all but established the terms "ambiguous" and "exact" for the two types of classification schemes, Bob prefers to call them "subjective" and "objective," respectively, without providing the alternative terms. Similarly, "organization scheme" is replaced by "classification scheme", and "organization structure" with "model of association." My IA students have enough difficulty keeping one set of terms straight! Overall, however, this one serious web design book. Highly recommended. Other books I liked: "Interface Design for Ecommerce Applications" by Paul Gokin (search for this one on the web), "Designing Web Site Interface Elements" by Eric Eaton, and "Submit Now: Designing Persuasive Websites" by Andrew Chak.
Rating:
Summary: An impeccably-organized encyclopedia of web design
Review: An impeccably-organized encyclopedia of web design. If I had to base an entire web design class on a single book this would be the one. Bob Baxley's "Making the Web Work" is easily the most comprehensive manual for applying good design to create a great user experience on the web. This book has both breadth and depth-just look at the table of contents. Regardless of your level of web design proficiency you will find more than your money's worth of useful insight here (even if you have already read just about every other web design book!). One thing I especially like about this book is that Bob doesn't provide a single solution for a design challenge, but takes time to present and evaluate (pro/con and why) several alternatives. He doesn't just feed you the "right" answers the way Jakob Nielsen does in his "Designing Web Usability." Bob's approach will help you gain a thorough understanding of the options and make informed design decisions. The two case studies of Amazon and Ofoto included at the end of the book are the most comprehensive I have seen: they're about 30 pages each! About the only gripe I have is that Bob takes the liberty of using lesser known versions of some terms without providing their more known synonyms. For example, while Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville have all but established the terms "ambiguous" and "exact" for the two types of classification schemes, Bob prefers to call them "subjective" and "objective," respectively, without providing the alternative terms. Similarly, "organization scheme" is replaced by "classification scheme", and "organization structure" with "model of association." My IA students have enough difficulty keeping one set of terms straight! Overall, however, this one serious web design book. Highly recommended. Other books I liked: "Interface Design for Ecommerce Applications" by Paul Gokin (search for this one on the web), "Designing Web Site Interface Elements" by Eric Eaton, and "Submit Now: Designing Persuasive Websites" by Andrew Chak.
Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive look at designing Web-based applications
Review: As a veteran user interface design practitioner and university instructor, I found Bob Baxley's book "Making the Web Work" a valuable addition to my personal reference library, and a practical resource tool for Web design courses. He organizes the book around the elements of user interface design, which is structure, behavior, and presentation. Simultaneously, Bob leads the reader from conceptually organizing a Web-based user interface to interactive and layout issues. The numerous real-world examples within the book effectively illustrate the described design approaches and techniques, and many are applicable beyond the scope of Web-based user interfaces. Overall the book is a very readable and comprehensive look at how to design better Web-based applications.
Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive look at designing Web-based applications
Review: As a veteran user interface design practitioner and university instructor, I found Bob Baxley's book "Making the Web Work" a valuable addition to my personal reference library, and a practical resource tool for Web design courses. He organizes the book around the elements of user interface design, which is structure, behavior, and presentation. Simultaneously, Bob leads the reader from conceptually organizing a Web-based user interface to interactive and layout issues. The numerous real-world examples within the book effectively illustrate the described design approaches and techniques, and many are applicable beyond the scope of Web-based user interfaces. Overall the book is a very readable and comprehensive look at how to design better Web-based applications.
Rating:
Summary: Great design resource
Review: Bob Baxley's book is the best resource I've found about designing web-based applications. He packs in a lot of information, but the book is so well written and organized that it's easy to digest. And, unlike a lot of design books that sound like they were written from a soapbox, there's no preaching or sleight of hand here. Baxley explains things clearly, and then provides real-world examples that crystallize his thinking and seal the deal. If you're looking for detailed advice, you'll definitely find it here -- from where to place controls on a table to how to write clear labels and explanatory text for the web. But I found the book's core strength to be the higher-level stuff -- it presents a way to think about UI design of complex, large-scale projects, and weaves in a range of topics including product vision, conceptual models, information architecture, and navigation. It's a great blend of high-level process and detailed strategies. The advice in Baxley's book is on target for anyone charged with designing or creating web applications, but could also apply to complex websites that aren't applications, and to applications that aren't on the web.
Rating:
Summary: Useful and thorough
Review: Despite the ubiquity of the internet, the art and craft of designing web applications - defined by the author as a web site that stores and manipulates data unique to each of its users (for example online stores and sites offering financial or other on-line services) - is an evolving field. MAKING THE WEB WORK offers a thorough methodology for anybody tackling such a task, be that the actual designer of a web application, or the product managers and engineers working with (and sometimes without) the designer. Even experienced web application designers will find food for thought.
Rating:
Summary: with this kind of guide you will never be lost !
Review: Excellent resource for Web professionals (both beginners and seasoned). The book takes you step by step on a very structured, methodical, consistent and yet very engaging exploration of what it takes to create a great user experience on the Web. Author strikes the right balance between outlining the general principles and providing concrete practical recipies. Each design idea is illustrated using examples of real web sites and applications. The book not only pinpoints common mistakes made by Web UI designers but suggests great ways of correcting them.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and understandable.
Review: Have you noticed how some web sites are warm, inviting, and easy to use, but using other sites can be a difficult and even frustrating experience? The difference lies in their design, the topic of Bob Baxley's seminal, well-researched book Making the Web Work: Designing Effective Web Applications. Good design is not a hit-or-miss issue. Mr. Baxley provides a comprehensive, in-depth framework for exploring the nine dimensions of web application design space: the Conceptual Model, the Structural Model, the Organizational Model, Viewing and Navigation, Editing and Manipulation, User Assistance, Layout, Style, and Text. Each layer is presented in an easy-to-understand manner, always from the point of view of what "works" for the user. Mr. Baxley uses examples taken directly from the web to illustrate his points: I found myself returning to some of my favorite sites to see how the designers handled issues ranging from their choice of conceptual model (magazine-style catalogs versus reference-style catalogs) to navigation choices to layout alignment. This book is much more than just a book on usability, layout, graphics or web page controls. It is rather a comprehensive approach to web application design, thoughtfully and humorously argued, and interspersed throughout with tips and techniques for the would-be designer. Although it would be a great text for a course on advanced web design, it will become a well-thumbed and indispensable addition to every web developer's library.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and understandable.
Review: Have you noticed how some web sites are warm, inviting, and easy to use, but using other sites can be a difficult and even frustrating experience? The difference lies in their design, the topic of Bob Baxley's seminal, well-researched book Making the Web Work: Designing Effective Web Applications. Good design is not a hit-or-miss issue. Mr. Baxley provides a comprehensive, in-depth framework for exploring the nine dimensions of web application design space: the Conceptual Model, the Structural Model, the Organizational Model, Viewing and Navigation, Editing and Manipulation, User Assistance, Layout, Style, and Text. Each layer is presented in an easy-to-understand manner, always from the point of view of what "works" for the user. Mr. Baxley uses examples taken directly from the web to illustrate his points: I found myself returning to some of my favorite sites to see how the designers handled issues ranging from their choice of conceptual model (magazine-style catalogs versus reference-style catalogs) to navigation choices to layout alignment. This book is much more than just a book on usability, layout, graphics or web page controls. It is rather a comprehensive approach to web application design, thoughtfully and humorously argued, and interspersed throughout with tips and techniques for the would-be designer. Although it would be a great text for a course on advanced web design, it will become a well-thumbed and indispensable addition to every web developer's library.
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