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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Any artist can tell you that you have to know how a medium works to get the most impact working in it. A basic understanding of how the Web works enables the good designer to create sites with the most effect. This book thoroughly discusses the different kinds of graphics used on the Web, when to use one over another, how to make the most of text styles, and how to design navigation systems.
The comparisons are the best stuff here--good design vs. bad design, why designing Web pages and printed pages is different, and why a site looks terrific on one monitor but terrible on another one. Two chapters on properly preparing graphics and setting typography for Web site use describe how to avoid obvious mistakes that would make your work look amateurish.
Not limited to design, Non-Designer shows you how to get a site up and running, register the domain name, and add it to search engines. After the design is finished and implemented, the site has to be uploaded and updated, and that's explained too.
If there is one fault with this book, it's the lack of information on specific authoring tools. The barest overview of the current crop of tools appears in chapter 3, "Just What Are Web Pages, Anyway?" but a discussion of why you should choose one package over another is absent.
Don't let that stop you from buying this book, though. Plenty of magazines regularly have Web authoring tool "shootouts." What the magazines don't tell you, and what Non-Designer excels at, is how to make well-designed pages. If you're going to build Web sites, for either personal or professional use, but you have no clue where to begin, start with this book. It's easy to read, it's devoid of confusing jargon, and it's full of do's and don'ts to help you avoid common snags. --Mike Caputo --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
If you think web design is beyond your reach, or if you want your existing web site to look more professional, this thoroughly updated classic is the place to turn! In these pages, best-selling authors Robin Williams and John Tollett share the creative ideas, useful techniques, and basic design principles that are essential to great Web design-all in the context of the most current technology, software, and standards. Throughout, the authors' aim is to inspire you and spark your creativity rather than sedate you with pages and pages of code. To that end, you'll find loads of real-world examples, interesting illustrations, and the simple instructions you need to implement the techniques and concepts described in these pages.
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Customer Reviews
The book is full-color. Much of it assumes you know little about computers, HTML, and the Internet. It also assumes you are using one of the popular HTML editors and graphics programs like Frontpage and Photoshop. Even with these liabilities, there are wonderful principles, tips and techniques provided by the authors that should benefit even experienced designers.
For me, the meat of the book was the middle where it describes the basics of design, color, layout, and typography. The advanced tips and tricks chapter also offered some tidbits I hadn't thought of before. However, I breezed through the beginning and ending chapters (on the Internet, web pages, site organization, uploading your site, and testing it) because they had little to offer I didn't already know. But for a beginner this may be valuable information.
One reason I wanted this book was all of its beautiful and creative design examples. If I am stumped on how to design something, I will pick up this book and see if it may inspire me. The authors didn't provide "cutting edge" type graphics, but examples that are simple, colorful and effective.
I think there are two problems:
- the main problem is that it feels terribly dated. The internet is fast moving, and it has left a lot of the material in the book behind. People don't want basic web sites like this any more: there are read-made blogs, content management systems and online site builders for the simple stuff, which is about as far as this book goes; interactivity, AJAX, server applications, in short "Web 2.0", is beyond its scope. Two paragraphs about cross-browser design issues simply isn't enough, especially as it isn't (easily) possible to install multiple versions of Internet Explorer on the same computer. Four pages on CSS is nowhere near enough for someone new to the subject; we still seem to be living in the land of tables and image slicing to do layout. Though published in 2005, it feels more like 2000.
- it can't cover the technology in enough detail to be helpful to someone new, but on the other hand doesn't add enough to the aspects of design, appearance and interactivity that web pages throw up over paper design.
I think someone who wants a simple web site might do better to read William's "Non Designer's Design Book" for the more detailed design principles, Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability" for web-specific presentation, and something else appropriate for what you're working with for the technical aspects of web design - there's vast amounts of stuff online to help, and chances are you'll be starting with something off the shelf for a basic web site.
I came onto Amazon to buy this book for one of my new designers. I am buying it for him because although I can train him to use Dreamweaver, Flash and Photoshop, it is almost impossible to teach someone what actually LOOKS good.
There are basic rules in this book that must be adhered to when creating a website and if my designer only learns 1 or 2 things from this book, then I am happy - it will have served it's purpose.
Please do not overlook this book as a real "beginners" book, I think every single web designer could do with a reminder of the basics every now and again. If you don't beleive me, just look at some of the appalling sites on the internet at the moment - and yes there are quite a few cr@p ones out there!
A MUST FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO BE A REALLY GREAT DESIGNER.
This is not a good book. The tone is condescending and the garbage-to-information ratio is very high. Read more
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