What resources will help a non-tech person understand web development?

July 19, 2005 7:36 AM

Just recently I started collaborating on projects with the web developers at the ad agency I work for - and quickly realized that I am out of my depth.

I need to learn their language, and develop an independent understanding of web site development and marketing (I don't want to rely on my own guys' opinions). What are the best resources (books, sites, mags, whatever) to help a non-tech person understand these subjects?

posted by theinsectsarewaiting to computers & internet (9 comments total)

When you say "learn their language," do you mean the programming language? If so, which one? If not, what terminology are you running up against?
posted by odinsdream at 7:40 AM on July 19, 2005

Odinsdream,

Sorry - I should have been clear about that - I'm after lingo not programming languages.
posted by theinsectsarewaiting at 7:46 AM on July 19, 2005

that's an unfortunate turn of phrase, "lingo" being one of the programming languages they probably know.

joel on software might be worth skimming through, although it's more general than "web programming" it will give you some basic backgroud.
posted by andrew cooke at 8:17 AM on July 19, 2005

Web redesign will give you a better grasp on the entire development & project management process.
posted by Sangre Azul at 8:29 AM on July 19, 2005

Tangential - just curious why you say "I don't want to rely on my own guys' opinions", is it because you want your own independent take on things, or because you don't trust them to give a good "non-techie" view of things (or other)?

Asked in the spirit of "I am often in this situation on the other side of the coin".
posted by kokogiak at 8:59 AM on July 19, 2005

The Unusually Useful Web Book (Amazon) might be exactly what you need. It's a beginner's guide to planning, designing, building and maintaining a web site. However, it's targeted more at the people who will be working with web techies for the first time, rather than being a book that teaches you how to be a web techie.
posted by chrismear at 10:20 AM on July 19, 2005

There are enough aspects of development that you have to experience to realize, I'm not sure that a book would help you with that. chismear might have a good solution... learn how to work with them, then once you're sort of in, concentrate on picking up what they know. It's a hell of a lot more than what's in any book, if they're worth the money they're paid.
posted by devilsbrigade at 10:26 AM on July 19, 2005

There are a lot of great weblogs written by web designers. Add them to your news aggregator and read them daily for a quick immersion in the world of web development. Find a couple of good sites to start with, and you'll soon follow links to other sites with similar content.

One good starting point is Dave Shea's Mezzoblue and his list of related sites. Or you could ask your developers for a list of tech-related weblogs they read.
posted by mbrubeck at 3:21 PM on July 19, 2005

Though it's five years old, Jeffrey Veen's "Art and Science of Web Design" is a good start, as is his partner Jesse James Garrett's "The Elements of User Experience". Good news is, Jeff's book is available as a free download on his site.
posted by anildash at 2:09 AM on July 21, 2005