Acknowledgments

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I’ve been blessed by the support of so many colleagues and friends over the course of my career, but never more so than during the writing of this book.No one would be holding this book in their hands right now if it weren’t for these people.

To Jeffrey Zeldman, Eric Meyer, Toby Malina, Marci Eversole, and the entire team at An Event Apart, thank you for inviting me to speak at so many of your events—and for encouraging me to expand one of my talks into this book. I’m a better speaker and writer because I’ve held myself to the high standards you set.

To Mandy Brown, Max Fenton, Casson Rosenblatt, Jason Santa Maria, Krista Stevens, and Rob Weychert—all the wonderful people at A Book Apart who make these great books happen—thank you for making this process go so smoothly, and for making my ideas look and sound better than I ever could on my own. You make a hard job look so easy.

To Paul Ford, thank you for writing the foreword to this book. It would be an honor just to have my name alongside yours on some scrap of paper, like a receipt or a Post-It note. Seeing your name on the cover of this book is an endless source of delight.

To Travis Harwood and Diana Turner, thank you for your enthusiasm and commitment to helping to research what we thought was going to be a whitepaper or report. If it weren’t for your focus and attention to this project, this book would have never happened. And to everyone I’ve worked with over the years at Bond Art + Science, especially Jenny Ng, Michael Dekker, and Jon Greacen, thank you for making me so much smarter about how the web works.

To David Balcom, Gerard Gober, Marko Hurst, Jeffrey Gladchun, Noz Urbina, and Rich Ziade, thank you for agreeing to be interviewed in support of my research for this book, and for being patient with my many questions. It’s because of your thoughtful and innovative approach to your work that our field is evolving so quickly, and for the better.

To Jeff Eaton, Rachel Lovinger, Stephen Turbek, and Luke Wroblewski, thank you for taking the time to read a draft of this book and provide your feedback. I knew I could count on you to push me to tighten my arguments and perfect my examples. I’m not sure whether I’m more proud to consider you all esteemed colleagues or trusted friends.

To my mother Gerry, my father Mike, and my step-father John, thank you for teaching me a sense of humor and the ability towriteandcommunicate well. It’s really been the whole foundation of my success in life, and the best heirloom I could have received.

And especially to Randy Bender, Bill DeRouchey, Joe Fusco, Kristina Halvorson, Amanda Neville, Victor Preuninger, Paula Riley, Steve Schneider, Jai Sen, Alex Snell, Samantha Soma, and Carolyn Wood, thank you for your kindness, generosity, loyalty, and compassion during the parts of writing and editing this book that were the most painful for me. In small ways and large, each of you showed me what it means to be a true friend.