The Mobile Book: Packed With Know-How, While Easy To Read

Specialist books are necessary, if you want to keep up with today’s knowledge in whatever field your profession lies. I have to force myself into reading these publications though, as these books tend to be written in such a dry and uninteresting way that it leaves me looking for the next distraction. Very rarely though, reading a specialist book can be fun. One of the most notable exceptions I found this year is The Mobile Book by Smashing Media. I spent this weekend with relaxed reading and got filled up with knowledge on responsive web design without even having the impression of strenuousness. What more could I have wanted?

The Mobile Book: beautifully and carefully crafted

The Mobile Book is one of these beautifully and carefully manufactured gems, that Smashing Media has become a guarantee for. Even more elegant than the already very elegant Smashing Books, The Mobile Book establishes a new standard for the presentation of know-how in the modern age. The hardvovers and the fully colored pages lets you think of venerable titles in the history of bookmaking. Handling this book is pure joy. The look and feel of The Mobile Book and its 320 pages has you wanting more. This positive first impressions strengthen further when you start reading one of the diverse chapters. You can start reading whereever you want, by the way, as the chapters do not depend on one another. I read crisscross through the book, following my own list of priorities. I ended up reading every chapter though, as the book drew me in so tightly, I could not resist. This was not my plan, initially. I cannot remenber any specialist book before, that had me want to read on and on and on and…

The Mobile Book: Responsive Webdesign State Of The Art

Even though The Mobile Book goes deep, technically, it is not one of the recipe-kind of books, at least not in its printed edition. What it does, is show the current design trends, provide examples and discuss them in context. This is true for coming developments as well. This is what you can read:

• Jeremy Keith provides you with the Foreword
• Peter-Paul Koch explains What’s Going on in Mobile?
• Stephanie Rieger looks into The Future of Mobile
• Trent Walton humorously looks into Responsive Design Strategies
• Brad Frost develops Responsive Design Patterns
• Dave Olsen covers performance aspects in Optimization For Mobile
• Dennis Kardys puts his Hands On Design for Mobile (UX Perspective)
• Josh Clark tells you how to proceed in Designing With Gestures and Touch

The additional ebook digs into more detail and provides specialized close-ups to the most common mobile platforms of today. I have to admit that I did not manage to read the additional topics by now. This will have to wait until next weekend:

• Mobile UX Design Patterns by Greg Nudelman and Rian van der Merwe
• Developing And Designing For iOS by Nathan Barry
• Developing And Debugging HTML5 Apps by Remy Sharp
• Understanding The Android Platform by Sebastiaan de With
• Designing For The Windows Phone by Arturo Toledo

The Mobile Book: How To Get And What To Pay

The Mobile Book is available in several flavors. The printed edition which contains the additional ebook sets you back €39,90 plus €3,90 shipping. If you think you could relinquish the printed book, which I really cannot recommend, you will be able to buy all the same knowledge for a lean €16,90. In the end I would like to introduce you to the newest invention of Smashing Media, the Smashing Library. The Smashing Library is an offering, that lets you read all available ebooks at a flatrate of €89,- per year. This is true for already available ebooks as well as future writings. To date the offering comprises 38 ebooks. The Mobile Book is available immediately!

Related Links:

• Book’s Website - The Mobile Book
• Information On The Reading Flatrate - The Smashing Library
• The New Mobile Book Is Finally Here! - Smashing Magazine