Non-Designer's Web Book, The, 3rd Edition

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... Read more

Forget this book! There's a better solution. I bought this book based on my experience reading the author's Non-Designer's Design Book. I would strongly recommend buying that. The Web book though, is trying to give you overall information on a variety of software that really benefits no one particular user. A lot of the generic tips are good, but included is a lot of information on specific products, such as Photoshop, that are promoted as the ultimate for Web design. Photoshop is very expensive, and I already have Corel Draw and PhotoDraw. Most beginners would not run out and buy Photoshop anyway.

Aside from the scattered info about various software, there are also too many mistakes. As is pointed out in many other reviews here, Netscape is not preferred, and has not been the leading browser for a long time. Page 208 has a serious mistake recommending loading an entire page size graphic in order to get a horizontal block across a page. A color filled table is the correct... Read more

Too many web design books approach the subject with a jargon-laden, heavy-handed approach--not so with THE NON-DESIGNERS WEB BOOK. Williams and Tollett explain the Web, as well as design concepts, with a touch of dry humor and a unique, ultimately readable style. Reading this book is a joy due to its simple, accessible style and conversational language. It's probably one of the few web design books you'll ever read from cover-to-cover.

Who is this book for? It's mostly for the design novice. If you have any amount of experience working with the Web and creating websites, some of this stuff is going to be a little simplistic. Even so, read this book for the design concepts it presents. Too many so-called web designers know the technical aspects of creating a website, but fall far short when it comes to design skills. The basic principles put forward in this book will make you a better designer. They certainly worked for me!

If you're designing a website and you know nothing about... Read more