While browsing for good books, I came across two that looked particularly interesting: Object-Oriented PHP and the recently updated Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Third Edition (AKA “the Polar Bear Book”).
Little did we know that while Jerry was mindlessly thumbing through Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld’s Information Architecture he would find the Gustavus homepage opening chapter 4, followed by Yahoo’s del.icio.us, Epicurious.com, and the BBC. Moments like these make you realize just how necessary and appropriate the word “flabbergasted” suddenly seems.
Also featured in the book are Digg, IBM, Microsoft, Stanford, Amazon, Google, Yahoo, Dell, E*TRADE, WebMD, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Audi, Intel, and Yahoo’s Flickr, among others.
O’Reilly Really Rocks
While we obviously couldn’t be in better company, we were especially excited about the source. O’Reilly is the name in technology publishing, and the authors have attained near-legendary status. Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville have been at the forefront of information architecture for the web since its inception, and their very popular book (currently breaking the top 3,000 on Amazon.com) is widely recognized as the subject’s definitive text. From the back of the book:
In this post-Ajaxian Web 2.0 world of wikis, folksonomies, and mashups, well-planned information architecture has never been more essential. This classic primer shows information architects, designers, and web site developers how to build large-scale and maintainable web sites that are easy to navigate and appealing to users.
Our very prominent inclusion in this tome lends credence to our work—validation that is extremely appreciated—and raises the profile of our venerable institution.
And it Gets Better
Finally, the icing on this delicious cake is that the chapter that features our website is being used as a sample chapter on O’Reilly’s website. So now we can brag to our family and friends without forcing them to buy the book.
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