I have recently had the chance to read through the new Mobile Book by Smashing Magazine. It was thoroughly enjoyable, not only because of the different authors contributing, but also for the diverse topics discussed.
The book is broken down into three categories: the mobile landscape, responsive web design and user experience design. While there are plenty of valuable technical concepts, they are reinforced with a good overview of the mobile ecosystem we find ourselves in.
Being in the midst of a happytables iteration, I found the technical section most interesting, striking an excellent balance between the practices of efficient responsive web design. Trent Walton and Brad Frost do a great job of explaining fluid grids, responsive patterns and so forth, while Dave Olson provides great insight on how to optimize content for mobile devices. What I really appreciated is that it’s all very practical advice.
Overall, it’s a great refresher to intermediate users such as myself, but also a great resource for beginners. Since many of us are self-taught, having authors of this calibre provide a glimpse at their workflows is vital in filling educational gaps, especially those lessons that go beyond theory. It would have been great to see more case studies; that said, I very much enjoy how to the point Smashing books are.
If you’re interested in getting this book and supporting a great publisher, go get the book here (Note: I haven’t had the chance to read the Extras).