Rating: 
Summary: "How to use Photoshop to control Web Page Layout"
Review: Very good on details of implementing the layout you already designed, but NOT the book you want on site design principles. For navigation principles, see the Polar Bear Book (O'Reilly's Web Navigation). Some good visual design principles are in Lynch and Horton's Web Style Guide. I'm still looking for the perfect ergonomic UI book for application design.
Rating: 
Summary: A good piece of the puzzle
Review: The Web isn't just about graphics or just about information - it's about both. Yes, if I'm looking for information while writing a paper, I want it be be quick and easy to find. But I can't count the number of times I've bemoaned the pure ugliness of a site at the same time I was leaching data off it. I'll come back for the content - but I won't enjoy it.If you base your entire concept of site design off this book, you'll probably end up driving a lot of visitors away. But, on the flip side, if you just pick up a book on HTML and another on information architecture, you'll end up with one of the countless sites are that are just plain painful to look at. Great Web sites combine interesting design with useful content and easy navigation. Leave out any of the three, and you'll get lost in the pack. It's up to a good Web designer to learn from from as many different sources as possible, and I thought this book had some really interesting things to say about building original and appealing pages. It doesn't tell you everything you need to know, but who expects to learn everything from a single book? Simply reading Strunk and White doesn't make you a great writer, but it will make you better. And so will reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Still an Enlightening Guide
Review: This is by far the best book on good site design. The three parts of the book deal with design basics (images, types, layout, etc.), actual page building (personal, e-commerce, ...), and CSS. Written in a lucid style, the book is a pleasure to read and follow. I'm graphically deprived, but even I found the book very helpful and enlightening. I'd still hire a good professional (such as Mr Siegel himself) to do the job right, but the book has shown me how to put together a better personal homepage. All this book needs to get 5 stars is an updated edition. This 2nd edition was published way back in 1997! A bit too old, but again, still useful.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful insight into the web design process
Review: Some of the reviews for this book are way too harsh! I found the book extremely helpful for learning about color pallettes, manipulating file size, overcoming browser incompatibility, and the graphic design process in general. Even if you don't agree with the author's design ideas, his expertise in typography and use of color is enough to warrant reading the book. Some of the info is a little outdated (PhotoShop 4), but I would still recommend the book to beginning and intermediate designers. If you are looking for a technical book on setting up an e-commerce site, this is not it, but there are plenty of those books out there too.
Rating:
Summary: A good book to build a base in web design
Review: Some of the reviews of this book are just plain stupid. Yes, information exchange is the most important thing, but a site also needs to look good. If it weren't for people like Siegel (the Author), web pages would still have grey backgrounds, rainbow horizontal rules, bulleted lists, and lots of those ugly animated "email me" gifs. This book had a huge impact on web development, and while it's now kind of outdated, it's still definately good for the beginner to read. A lot of the information is great for building a base. I've read both editions, and have all my developers read it, too.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay, people, last time I'm gonna say this.
Review: This is the worst book on Web design. Ever. Period. It teaches you everything you should not do when designing a Web site. It teaches you how to make pretty sites. Yippee. Your site won't even get half downloaded before the user moves on to some site that delivers the data with speed and clarity, rather than obfuscates it with excessive graphics. Siegel is a print designer. He is NOT a Web designer. Despite his attempt to convince you of the latter in this book, he is NOT. He moved from print to Web, but apparently forgot to switch paradigms. His dream of a Web in print form has consistently been proven to not work. His mouth froths with this dogma about "third-generation Web design", complete with a big-worded description apparently intended to convince the PHBs of his intellectual superiority, as any good consultant does, but he fails to mention that no one who really uses the Web to hunt for information cares about or even wants this dreck. Installing this methodology almost surely costs you more than it gives you, unless your site is wholly visual (like an art site) and has no real information to offer, only aesthetic pleasure. This does not describe the typical business Web site. Yet somehow, this book continues to get high ratings. Some people even go as far as to proclaim him as some form of demigod who created Web design as we know it today. I have two theories on this. 1. It's the Dilbert effect, and all these high rating people are PHBs who like the book because it features "pretty" sites and don't have a clue about how the Web really functions (I already covered this point, really). 2. Siegel performs Satanic rituals to spiritually manipulate people into submitting gleaming reviews, in order to continue propagating his idiocy. I prefer to give the people here the benefit of the doubt, so I've hired some white wicca girl and drawn my protective pentagram on the floor, and once again, I'm here proclaiming the absolute depravity of this book. I'll continue to do so until it finally goes out of print and we can all proclaim in unison, "There is a God". And his second edition is not only as worthless as the first, but it's also a way to con money out of people who bought the first edition, actually had the gall to keep it on their bookshelf next to actual informative books, and are now purchasing this expecting something new. He claims it's 50% new information, but apparently rewording sentences to say the same thing qualifies as "new information". The only really new thing is his chapter on style sheets, which barely qualifies as a primer. But hey, at least you've made him and his publisher happy. You never knew getting shafted could feel so good, did you? And your site will never be less functional when it's all said and done. At least you'll know what not to do next time. Yeah, this is a Bible for Web designers, all right...a Satanic bible. Get your cross and holy water. Stay far, far away from the concepts in this book.
Rating:
Summary: This book teaches terrible design practices.
Review: This book teaches terrible design practices, and is a perfect example of a bad trend in web design. David Siegel's sites are visually appealing, and very eye catching, but this type of design creates sites that are difficult to navigate, present a lot of style and no substance, and create browser specific web pages. Anyone trying to navigate one of these sites with Lynx on a shell account would find the task nearly impossible, if not totally impossible. The web is what most people think of when they think of "the information super-highway". As such, people want sites where they can find the information they are looking for efficiantly, and quickly, and that are easy to navigate. Many people, including me, simply click the stop button on sites like David Siegel designs, and go on to something else that is easier to navigate, and presents information in a quick and easy to find format. Stay away from this book. There are far better ones out there that will teach you proper design practices, and teach you how to design quality web sites that are efficiant, cross-browser compatible, and easy to navigate. I recommend Laura Lemay's "Teach Yourself Web Publishing" books.
Rating: 
Summary: Best book on Web design ever!
Review: This is without a doubt the best book on Web design I've ever read! David Siegel is amazing. The book is filled with wonderful tips and tricks which I've now applied to my own sites. I'm new to web design and found this book helped me to "think outside the box." This book is the best!
Rating:
Summary: ...yuk!
Review: Everyone else's comments aside, this is surely the most obnoxiously titled book on web-design.
Rating: 
Summary: Form over function
Review: I know it's a trite title for a review, but that cliche sums up what Siegel has to say about web pages. I'm the first to admit that Siegel definitely knows how to create visually stunning webpages. Unfortunately, the web is more about information than aesthetics, and in this respect the book fails: Read any book on website usability, or information architecture in general, and you'll see that Siegel's techniques will hurt rather than improve your website. Siegel's obsession with white space is particularly unhealthy. Certainly, white space will beautify your site - your form - but your site will become more difficult to use and harder to navigate. If you're an website artist, this book is for you. But for the rest of the world in the business of creating practical, functional websites, read with caution.
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