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Recipes with Backbone.js

recipeswithbackbone.com

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Re: Recipes with Backbone.js

#31

Post by eee_c »

danso wrote: post #28

I'm probably going to buy this but the site needs a few revisions. For example, in the TOC (errors underscored): http://recipeswithbackbone.com/toc.html > Here is our _planned_ table of contents. Since this book has _not yet been released_ the order and topics may _changed_ in the future. Not being nitpicky here. If I hadn't read the HN thread I wouldn't have understood what the state of the book that I'm being asked…

Dang. Fixed the TOC. Thanks for pointing that out. Nick and I will discuss making the intro available.

We are targeting intermediate / advanced Backbone.js developers. That is, you should read this after you've read the tutorials and after your first Backbone app.

The recipes are real life lessons learned from a highly traffic'd Backbone site. These recipes comprise what we have learned as we made the leap to the next level of Backbone coding. We hope they will help others do the same.

Re: Recipes with Backbone.js

#32

Post by eee_c »

boundlessdreamz wrote: post #27
ngauthier wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey korny, I totally agree with you that we're outside the impulse-buy price range and we'd sell more copies if we charged less money. However, our goal from the start was not to make a tutorial for people interested in backbone. Our goal was to make a more in-depth collection of great patterns for intermediate to advanced backbone developers. Hackers are smart, they can read the docs and figure out the basics. We wa…

I looked at the excerpt. The typesetting is terrible for a book priced at $24. See the side by shot of rails recipes and your book. Also in your book the code is not syntax highlighted making it quite difficult to read. The code is also formatted such a way that the codeblock splits into two pages for just a closing brace (page 44 - collection view) For $24 I expect better typesetting. Right now it looks like a pirat…

I agree that the PDF formatting leaves something to be desired. We are using the OSS git-scribe (https://github.com/schacon/git-scribe) toolchain for producing PDF, Mobi, and ePub. I have already put a ton of work into the toolchain to make it better (http://japhr.blogspot.com/search/label/git-scribe). Most of that work, however, was to help get the Mobi and ePub versions up to snuff.

I plan to take a week or so in the very near future to again focus on improving the toolchain. Hopefully some, if not all, of your valid criticisms will get addressed.

Re: Recipes with Backbone.js

#33

Post by eee_c »

boyter wrote: post #23

Since we are discussing it here, is there anything in the book or elsewhere that discusses how you handle drag and drop events with Backbone? Specifically ones using jQuery UI? I was playing with it the other day and unable to find this. If its in the book consider another copy sold.

Keep your money then, we do not discuss drag and drop in the book :)

Have you already seen this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7328265/jquery-draggable-... ?

Re: Recipes with Backbone.js

#34

Post by amstrad464 »

jayunit wrote: post #21

I'm one of the authors of another Backbone ebook (more Rails integration focus), and I heartily recommend Nick & Chris's book. Great content, well-written, and applicable. One of my personal principles is that I value educational content and training very highly. It's a worthwhile investment - worth the money at over twice the price. These guys have been thinking hard about these problems for some time. You can see a…

If it isn't the Thoughtbot one, could you please provide a link to your book?

Re: Recipes with Backbone.js

#35

Post by eee_c »

amstrad464 wrote: post #34
jayunit wrote: post #21

I'm one of the authors of another Backbone ebook (more Rails integration focus), and I heartily recommend Nick & Chris's book. Great content, well-written, and applicable. One of my personal principles is that I value educational content and training very highly. It's a worthwhile investment - worth the money at over twice the price. These guys have been thinking hard about these problems for some time. You can see a…

If it isn't the Thoughtbot one, could you please provide a link to your book?

The thoughbot book is available here: https://workshops.thoughtbot.com/backbone-js-on-rails. Great stuff going on there -- heartily recommend it.

Re: Recipes with Backbone.js

#36

Post by joshuacc »

possibilistic wrote: post #18
primecoder wrote: post #11

My eyes are still seeing lime green when I blink...

It's not that bad! (Django's site has lots of lime green, for instance.)

It isn't the color that is the problem. It's the relationship of the lime green to the other colors on the page that makes it jarring. The Django site uses a harmonious color scheme with the lime green as a highlight.

Re: Recipes with Backbone.js

#37

Post by kermitthehermit »

ngauthier wrote: post #9
korny wrote: post #7

I'm not sure they have the right price point. Many people will impulse buy something of interest for under $10 - psychologically, that's a small amount of money. I bought Louis C.K.'s comedy show for $5, as it's an amount of money I don't mind wasting - it's a small risk. However at $24, you'll get a number of keen backbone fans - but you won't get all the folks who are interested in backbone, and spine, and ember, a…

Hey korny, I totally agree with you that we're outside the impulse-buy price range and we'd sell more copies if we charged less money. However, our goal from the start was not to make a tutorial for people interested in backbone. Our goal was to make a more in-depth collection of great patterns for intermediate to advanced backbone developers. Hackers are smart, they can read the docs and figure out the basics. We wa…

You're saying this isn't for beginners and you set a price of 24$ for it?

I bet a lot of advanced backbone devs will also not buy it because of the price.

While the content may be of good to high quality, the pricing is a bit off.

Re: Recipes with Backbone.js

#38

Post by phzbOx »

I'm a bit scared and skeptical. The page looks extremely amateurish (Even in the source code, div class="one", div class="two", class="three", wtf?!)

Also, nothing about Jashkenas. Did the authors thought about asking Jash what he thought about it?

From the chapter excerpt, it shows how to include view into views.. which is already clearly explained in the todo example from the main backbone page. I mean, I've used backbone a few time, but don't consider myself an advanced or expert with backbone.js, and I've learned nothing from these excerpt chapters.

It seems more like an amateurish marketing splash page looking to test interested readers.

But then.. maybe the authors are really backbone.js experts and just not designers, and didn't one to spend money or ask a friend to design it for them (but why doing that if you're trying to sell something?!). And maybe I've just read an excerpt that I knew all about. And maybe Jash said something in the intro of the book?

Re: Recipes with Backbone.js

#39

Post by ngauthier »

eee_c wrote: post #35
amstrad464 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it isn't the Thoughtbot one, could you please provide a link to your book?

The thoughbot book is available here: https://workshops.thoughtbot.com/backbone-js-on-rails . Great stuff going on there -- heartily recommend it.

We wrote our book from the start to be complimentary to the thoughtbot book. They are creating a great introduction through intermediate content and lots of info on rails integration.

My recommendation: buy both, read theirs, then ours :-)

thanks @jayunit

xoxo ngauthier

Re: Recipes with Backbone.js

#40

Post by ngauthier »

bbased wrote: post #22

$2 dollars more expensive, 200+ pages and 50+ recipes lighter than my last Pragmatic Programmer ebook purchase of this type; Rails Recipes. Also, a few of those recipes I wouldn't consider "after the tutorial" material judging off chapter title alone. Like namespacing and view templates which are covered and covered again across material from the likes of the PeepCode or BackboneScreencast tutorials. But again, that'…

We included a few intro chapters so that people would be able to fully comprehend our examples. Think of them as pre-requisites.

Keep in mind Rails Recipes was written by the incomparable Chad Fowler and probably had five figures worth of editing over a much longer period of time.

Our focus from the start was to provide incredibly helpful and relevant code. If we had gone through pragprog the release would have been a few months later with less rough edges.

xoxo ngauthier

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