Building Websites with the ASP.NET Community Starter Kit: A comprehensive guide to understanding, implementing, and extending the powerful and freely available application from Microsoft.

I previously discovered Packt Publishing Company after a random search for ASP.NET books. I was very happy I did, having now found a source of great, no-nonsense, quick-read compendiums of rock-solid technical information. "Building Websites with the ASP.NET Community Starter Kit" is chock-full of practical, easy-to-use samples that go beyond just "Hello world!", each accompanied by a helpful screen shot and poignant code. The book's 11 chapters together make 211 pages, which is a good size, and won't have you reading more and stressing less. In my experience, the CSK, while intended to aide developers and streamline work, can be confusing if not approached properly. This is a book that makes sure you get the most out of the CSK. As far as writing style, the authors are quick and to the point. K. Scott Allen and Cristian Darie don't bore you with exhaustive explanations of the core technical concepts of ASP.NET or the CSK - they talk a little about the foundations and then get right into making it work for you. In my experience, this is the voice with which most developers prefer their tech books by written. It therefore requires a bit of experience with ASP.NET programming already, but can be tackled by even novice devs. All the major topics dealing with CSK programming are dealt with - administration, themes, skinning, core architecture, configuration, databases, modules, custom controls, and much more. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on publishing RSS 2.0 feeds and deployment; especially the latter's considerations for the differences between the Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 servers. I also appreciate the book's physical properties. Packt's design is for the serious developer, using heavy paper that should be able to withstand a developer's stressful punishment - repeated opens, spine-breaking stretches, constant page-turning. This book is made to last. Now in criticism, I will say that the book's arrangement of the chapters isn't exactly intuitive. I would have preferred that the chapters on configuration come first, then aesthetics with skinning and themes, then the database, and lastly coding the modules. I would guess that many ASP.NET developers would feel the same. Also, I enjoy when books use a chapter-independent approach to writing, not forcing the reader to have to refer to previous sections for reference. I found myself skipping around somewhat and not able to use each chapter as a standalone guide if I needed insight on a particular topic. But the good far outweighs the bad. It's a very helpful, very educational, very entertaining look at using the optional set of controls, modules and pre-fabricated tools from Microsoft to build great, quick, secure, community-centric web applications.