- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Peachpit Press; 2 edition (8 Sep 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0201710382
- ISBN-13: 979-0201710389
- Product Dimensions: 27.4 x 18 x 1.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 628,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
While The Non-Designer's Web Book won't answer all your technical questions about the inner workings of the Web, it explains most of what a beginning designer needs to know: what the Web is, how it gets to your computer, how to use it, and most of all how to design for it.
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
Product Description
For courses in Web Graphics and Design, Internet and the World Wide Web, Graphics Applications, and Practical and Computer Arts.
Robin and John have updated their bestselling book on Web design by adding more creative ideas, useful techniques, and current technology. From the “Non-Designer” series, which has helped thousands of students learn the basic principles of design, Robin Williams and John Tollet present the principles of professional-looking Websites and demonstrate the differences between design for print and the Web. This book includes tips on using typography, where to get graphics, and how to post your students' well-designed site for all to admire. Includes a quiz after every chapter.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Just like the title says, if you have little or no design experience/training, this is a great book to have. But even if you have been designing web sites for a while like me (3 years), there are plenty of things you might find useful.
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.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Robin Williams' design and type books inspired me to change my life and I can't recommend them too highly. Likewise, her new book on presentations, though inevitably recycling some of the same material, adds the new dimensions of time and theatre as well. So I was looking forward to reading the Non Designer's Web Book with a view to passing it on to people who know a lot less about web design than I already do. But no, sadly I can't recommend this one of the otherwise excellent family of books.
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 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.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Read the title - "The Non-designer's Web Book". This is who it is for. I am a web designer and I read this book a couple of years ago. Yes it can be a little patronising and yes it can be a little too basic at times but it outlines the basics of design (not specifically web design) that sadly alot of designers don't seem to be interested in these days.
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good humour will make your mind receptive to comprehensive technical...
Lost two nights sleep because I could'nt put this book down. None the less I am full of gratitude to both Robin and John. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Soo Bee
Outdated and technically vapid
Don't buy this book. It's way out of date and the author doesn't know how to code a webpage. Seriously. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Macuser
How to put the Art back into a Nerd's website, and much more
Bought it after reading the amazon reviews and am delighted with the book. Not only does it deal with the whole range of important factors in making web site information accesible... Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2009 by Rich
Fantastic and illuminating
I've just finished reading this and just had to come onto the site and review it. I even had to contact the authors and congratulate them! Read more
Published on 26 July 2009 by Mrs. Tamsin Slatter
Patronizing and information-poor
This is not a good book. The tone is condescending and the garbage-to-information ratio is very high. Read more
Published on 10 May 2002 by C. C. Williams
This book seems to assume that the reader is an idiot
I may be a "non-designer" but this does not mean that I'm a moron. Yet this book assumes just that: it is patronising, condescending, verbose and unnecessarily elementary. Read more
Published on 7 May 2002 by C. C. Williams
the best web design book I've seen.
Instead of taking you through the intricacies of HTML, this book concentrates on what makes a site appealing to visitors. Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2002
Absolutely first class guide to webpage design
This book is a 'must read' for anyone who may be new to design in general and webpages in particular. Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2001
A good all-round guide of web designing,easy to understand.
The language is plain and simple to understand. The chapters are fun and have a lot of useful information for beginners designing their web site. Read more
Published on 19 Mar 2000 by sean.missin@virgin.net
A Real Gem for Know-Nothing Design Neophytes
If you haven't the first clue how to go about designing a web page that is visually appealing and easy to navigate, this book is the one to buy. Read more
Published on 18 Aug 1999
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