Rating: 
Summary: Recommended resource for those new to Web design
Review: 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 someone, who has known HTML and understands graphics, this book is still useful. Beginners learn about GIF, JPG and when to use which format. Intermediates are reminded the difference between adaptive, selective, and perceptual color palettes. Niederst includes steps and screen shots 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome
Review: What a great book! Being very new to website design was a little scary, but this book eases the stress - user friendly. Thoroughly recommended. Get out and buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Great intro for fledgling Web designers
Review: 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:
Summary: Excellent "Beginners' Web Design Manual"
Review: What I love about this book is the author's gentle approach to teaching the readers about designing your own web site, whether it's a personal or for business use. The book's first part deals with "how to get started," how the World Wide Web and the Internet works, uploading your web site pages, and the steps involved in designing a page.
There's also several chapters about HTML, from creating a simple page, Cascading Style Sheets (very well explained), and also creating tables and frames, which to the uninitiated can seem like a daunting task. There's even a chapter about "web colors," and you can spend a lot of time playing around with and deciding on colors you want for your web site. There's also a lot of discussion about web graphics, and the differences between JPG's and GIF's and their ideal uses.
Clearly the author covers a lot of material in this book and leaves the reader with an excellent overall idea of constructing web pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Good start, but leaves out some important information
Review: While I am not a beginner, I am a teacher and reviewed this book to help me decide whether to recommend it to students. To be honest, I actually prefer Ms. Niederst's first book (Web Design in a Nutshell) to this one. The reason is this book leaves students with some very big questions. While Web Design in a Nutshell may be a bit out-dated, it at least answers some of the questions this book does not. For example, the book does not talk about how to create Web forms! In addition, the HTML that is taught does not match up to the latest standards set forth by the W3C (the organization that creates the HTML standards for the Web). As another reviewer mentioned, it also doesn't talk about PNG, which is certainly a graphics format all new Web designers should know about. It also gives only passing notice to Cascading Style Sheets and JavaScript - two things I'd expect more mention of in a book like this. Why teach readers how to make text bold with HTML, but not with CSS? (CSS is not difficult, in fact many find it easier than HTML...) With that said, I gave it three stars because the book does have its advantages. The illustrations are quite good and very explanatory, and the comparisons of popular Web software programs are also very useful. So if you're looking for a very, very introductory book, that's what this one is. However, keep in mind it will not answer all your questions (or even a few of the most basic ones) and you'll need to buy another book. I wouldn't call this a "beginner's guide", but rather an "introduction".
Rating:
Summary: The undisputable starting point in Web Design!
Review: Your background is Publishing or Information Technologies and you need more knowledge on Web Design, then this book is most certainly among the best starting point. You will gain an understanding of how the Web works, including a working knowledge of markup languages and more specifically HTML, the importance of graphic design, the functions of the server and the major role of the browser. This book does an outstanding job at addressing these topics. The text is well structured, simple and easy to read. It will not bring the reader to an expert level but will allow the creation of a basic Web site. By performing the practical exercises used by the author, you will discover that the learning process is easier than you thought.
Jean C. Ducharme, PMP
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