Lousy design/layout impairs usability

I purchased this book primarily as a reference when I need a little more detail on a tag or function. The author has done what seems to be an entirely thorough job documenting each tag and function in a consistent and useful manner. Once I find it, the content is all I need. I have yet to read through the other chapters; I have a feeling they will provide useful insights.

Unfortunately, it is all but impossible to thumb through the book to find a specific tag. Because the tags and function names are all lowercase, they appear almost identical to the next-level headings which are mixed case. A rule under the paragraph or something would have helped a lot (I have been marking each with a highlighter). I'm not sure why they didn't maintain the boldface from the TOC (see below); that would have helped.

The headers and footers display nothing more than the chapter name/number and page number-- contrast this with a typical O'Reilly design (JavaScript 5th Edition) where the page headers in the Core JS Reference chapter show the first and last entries on the spread just like a (good) dictionary.

So, you can expect to have to refer to the Table of Contents often. Unfortunately, there is typically 4"+ (10-12cm) of blank space between an entry and its page number in the table of contents. This would be another usability disaster except that they at least boldface the tag and function names along with their page numbers. (Hint to designer: dot leaders have been around for a while now...)

I will avoid purchasing reference works from Wrox/Wiley in the future.

Other Reviews

• Lousy design/layout impairs usability
• For serious developers only -- but perfect for the right audience
• Not a stand-alone book, terrible format for reference