Note: Review is based on 1st edition. The second edition of the book is available.
Web sites have come a long way since the first graphical browsers came out in the early ’90s. We’re seeing fancy pages made with XML, Java, PHP, CSS, Javascript, XHTML, and more. No doubt this has left web page designer wannabes feeling left behind and lamenting it’s too late to learn how to design web pages.
Web sites have come a long way since the first graphical browsers came out in the early ’90s. We’re seeing fancy pages made with XML, Java, PHP, CSS, Javascript, XHTML, and more. No doubt this has left web page designer wannabes feeling left behind and lamenting it’s too late to learn how to design web pages.
Jennifer Niederst reaffirms that it is not too late. Her previous and best-selling book, Web Design in a Nutshell has helped many including me take their web design skills to the next level plus it’s excellent as a reference book. However, her students were clamoring for a book that is more basic and introductory than the Nutshell. She calls Learning Web Design: A Beginner’s Guide to HTML, Graphics and Beyond her “prequel” and correctly so.
This is the book I wish I had when I first learned HTML. Even for someone who knows HTML and understands graphics, this book is still useful. Beginners learn about GIF, JPG and when to use which format. It reminds intermediates of the difference between adaptive, selective, and perceptual color palettes.
Niederst includes steps and screenshots for performing different activities in the more popular web design, animation, and graphic software products. I experience an annoyance in my early days of web design – the halo effect on graphics in which I added transparency. Again, this book saves time in trial and error of correcting problems by providing the workarounds and tips.
Of course, the nuts and bolts of creating web pages are covered, but the book doesn’t stop there. The last section shows you how to bring it all together and create pages similar to the professional ones out there using HTML and graphics. Finally, learn the secrets of making rounded edges on boxes, 1-pixel square graphics, non-repeating background tiles, and pop-up windows.
Every designer has to deal with browser bugs and the tips will help you work through the buggers. Another bonus is the chapter on Building Usable Web Sites, an often-neglected step in many web sites. Here, you’re introduced to key principles for designing the user experience and ensuring you have a navigable web site.
It’s impossible to cover everything web design in one book. However, if you come across a web page and wonder “How did they do that?” then go to the last chapter with the same name and find your answers.
Stop telling yourself it’s too late and get started with this resource. Intermediate designers use this one as a reference and memory jolter of how to do specific web design tasks.
VITAL STATISTICS:
TITLE: Learning Web Design: A Beginner’s Guide to HTML, Graphics, and Beyond
AUTHOR: Jennifer Niederst
PUBLISHER: O’Reilly & Associates
PUBLICATION DATE: July 2003
ISBN: 0596004842
FORMAT: Paperback
PAGES: 454
PRICE: US$39.95