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Title: Learning Web Design, 2nd Edition by Jennifer Niederst ISBN: 0-596-00484-2 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: 27 June, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.45 (20 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Great intro for fledgling Web designers
Comment: What does it take to become a Web designer? Find out from Jennifer Niederst, one of the most experienced Web designers around. She's been designing commercial sites since 1993! Aimed squarely at beginners, the book assumes no previous knowledge of the Internet and guides you through each of the key components of conventional Web design.
The book is the cornerstone of O'Reilly's Web Studio Series of books created for newcomers to the world of the Web design. One upcoming book in the series is "Designing with JavaScript" by Nick Heinle (our former JavaScript columnist). Jennifer calls this a "prequel" to her Web Design in a Nutshell book of the same publisher. Jennifer says:
"I wrote Web Design in a Nutshell because it was the book I needed as a professional Web designer. Learning Web Design is the book I wished I had to give out as a coursebook to my classes on beginning Web design."
Part I takes you through what Web design skills you need (information architecture, interface design, graphics, HTML, JavaScript etc.), how the Web works, FTP, Web vs. print design, and the design process. Part II teaches you basic HTML and color, and III covers creating and optimizing common Web graphics formats (GIF, JPEG, & GIF89a). Part IV "Form and Function" fuses these fundamentals together to create more "advanced" techniques like fancy bulleted lists, vertical rules, sliced images, and pop-up windows.
My favorite parts of the book were the later chapters. Part IV continues with a short usability chapter that has some good advise for first-timers (site structure, metaphors, navigation design [breadcrumbs, toolbars, etc.]). Chapter 19 has some Web design dos and don'ts like keeping file sizes small, above the fold advice, chunking, fluid design, etc. The final chapter "How'd They Do That: An Introduction to Advanced Techniques" briefly covers forms, audio/video, CSS, JavaScript/DHTML, and Flash.
There's nothing here experience developers haven't seen before, but this is one of the few books that you can hand to beginning Web designers and be confident they'll be on the right track.
I have two minor quibbles with the book. The author keeps referring to style sheets, but gives them little coverage in the last chapter. Jennifer says that based on her years of teaching beginners aren't ready for CSS yet, and can barely handle HTML:
"I've gotten similar comments about the lack of CSS in the book. It was a tough decision where to cut the line for "beginners," especially since I am so pro-standards (style separate from content and all that) myself.
But in the end, it came down to audience. I based the decision on my experience teaching beginning web design courses. The people who sign up for my classes (the same people who might buy this beginners book) are NOT ready to handle style sheets. They think that Netscape owns the Internet. Even simple HTML tagging is fairly overwhelming to them. And frankly, for the types of sites they are trying to learn to make (personal sites, small organization sites, etc.), creating standard-compliant code with style information in CSS is overkill. They just want an overview of how to make sites. I teach them practical techniques that work today but make reference to style sheets as a more robust and "proper" way to go. I also provide pointers on where they can learn more about CSS on their own.
Keep in mind that the book is intended as an introduction (albeit a darn thorough one) to Web design for absolute beginners. The professional set will get a lot more out of Web Design in a Nutshell which covers CSS more thoroughly."
So I can see now why she emphasizes tables. My other quibble is in a minor technical error in the GIF compression/optimization section. The author says "GIF compression works by condensing rows of identical pixel colors." This is not technically correct, LZW works by condensing rows of identical pixel *patterns,* which would include identical colors. Jennifer says this is intended to be "a layman's description of LZW compression" as she's done in her past books.
Other than these two minor quibbles the book is a great introduction for fledgling Web designers. From WebReference.com.
Rating: 5
Summary: Want to learn web design? Start here!
Comment: Maybe just one more favorable review about this excellent web design book. This is the book you need if you want a very good foundation for your web site/page building experience. Starting with the basics such as beginning HTML coding (even if you never coded before) to pop-ups, the author carefully walks the reader through many of the complexities of good web design. Examples using Dreamweaver, GoLive, and Frontpage are helpful (although Adobe's GoLive 6 which is now available is quite a bit different than the GoLive 4 in the book) if you're interested in using an advanced design program. After completion of this book you will realize you learned something and didn't get ripped off.
Rating: 4
Summary: Begin your web design career here!
Comment: This book starts with the premise that you have no web development experience and you do not want to program. The book is divided into four parts that cover an overview of web development, an html tutorial, graphics for the web, and web site design. Within each section, a different subject is addressed in every chapter. While each chapter starts at a very basic level, enough material is taught to give the reader a good start in each of the subjects. I particularly liked the way style sheets and links were covered. The book is replete with tips, illustrations, and code examples to assist the reader. There are exercises to reinforce the information for most of the topics covered.
The format of the book is different than most of the O'Reilly books that I have read in the past. The larger format of the book with the better paper and more graphics add to the learning experience especially with this subject. This was a fun book to read, even though I was familiar with most of the material. I was mainly interested in the graphics section and web design. Apparently, my interests coincided with those of the author's because I feel that those sections are the strongest in the book.
My only slight criticism of this book might be that while the reader is probably a beginner, most of the graphics examples are done with Photoshop or Fireworks. These tools may be a bit out of budget for the fledgling web designer. This book is a good starting point, but the reader probably will need to follow it with something more substantial.
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Title: Web Design in a Nutshell by Jennifer Niederst ISBN: 0596001967 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: 15 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide, Fifth Edition by Elizabeth Castro ISBN: 0321130073 Publisher: Peachpit Press Pub. Date: 17 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $21.99 |
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Title: How the Internet Works (6th Edition) by Preston Gralla ISBN: 0789725827 Publisher: Que Pub. Date: 07 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
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Title: HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, Fifth Edition by Chuck Musciano, Bill Kennedy ISBN: 059600382X Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: August, 2002 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Global Brand Strategy: Unlocking Brand Potential Across Countries, Cultures and Markets by Sicco Van Gelder ISBN: 0749440236 Publisher: Kogan Page Ltd Pub. Date: 06 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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