I’ve been itching to talk about this for a good six months. But now I have official permission from my editor, so I’m going to town.

In March 2010, there’s going to be a new book on store shelves everywhere. It’ll have my name on it, and it’s called Web Development with the Mac.

The book is part of a new series by Wiley, targeting Macintosh developers. The series includes books on Objective-C, Java, Cocoa Touch, iPhone Game Development and Snow Leopard Server. I, for one, am holding out hope that the group of us gets a copy of each others’ books!

The Big Deal About This Book, Other Than The Fact That I Wrote It

I actually had a somewhat hard time selling this book to the publisher. If you look at the technology bookshelves at your bookstore, you’ll notice the trend of increasing specialization: we’ve gone from “Building Web Sites” to “Using CSS Selectors for Java Netbeans” with nary a step in between.

But the fact is, a freelance web developer needs a whole shelf of books like that if they want to get their jobs done. I looked out in the market and I couldn’t find a book that covers everything that someone like me needs to get their job done. That’s even more true when you consider the so-called “inviolable divide” between design and programming! Yes, the same person can be both.

Web Development with the Mac is out to solve that problem of having to buy a pile of books. Instead, you get one book that gets you started on every discipline that matters. Personally, I find it very exciting to be able to contribute something this broad to the market, and I hope there are people out there who appreciate that it’s there.

Current Status

As of now, I’ve written all the chapters of the main book, and I just finished the Appendix last night. All that remains is the Glossary, References and the so-called “Front Matter” — the Foreward, Acknowledgements, Introduction. My deadline is November 13, but I think I’ll have it done beforehand.

Over time, I’ll update this blog on the progress of the book. I’m looking forward to addressing any of your comments, and I’m both anxious and eager to hear your feedback.