Product Description

In Learning Web Design, author Jennifer Niederst shares the knowledge she's gained from years of web design experience, both as a designer and a teacher. This book starts from the beginning-- defining the Internet, the Web, browsers, and URLs -- so you don't need to have any previous knowledge about how the Web works. After reading this book, you'll have a solid foundation in HTML, graphics, and design principles that you can immediately put to use in creating effective web pages.

In the second edition, Jennifer has updated the book to cover style sheets and reflect current web standards. She has also added exercises that help you to learn various techniques and short quizzes that make sure you're up to speed with key concepts. The companion CD-ROM contains material for all the exercises in the book, as well as trial versions of Fireworks® MX, and HomeSite™ 5; Adobe ® Photoshop® 7, ImageReady® 7, and BBEdit 7.*

Learning Web Design, 2nd Edition:

• Covers the nuts and bolts of basic HTML and style sheets, with detailed examples of formatting text, adding graphic elements, making links, creating tables and frames, and using color on the Web.
• Explains whether to use GIFs or JPEGs for different types of images, and includes important tips on optimizing graphics for web delivery.
• Provides dozens of web design do and don'ts, to help you make good web design decisions and avoid common beginner traps.
• Contains hands-on exercises throughout the book that allow you to try out new techniques along the way.

Unlike other beginner books, Learning Web Design leaves no holes in your education. It gives you everything you need to create basic web sites and will prepare you for more advanced web work. If you are interested in web design, this book is the place to start. After finishing it, you'll be ready for the author's bestselling companion reference, Web Design in a Nutshell.

* Fireworks and HomeSite are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Adobe, ImageReady, and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207940 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 488 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In Learning Web Design, the author of a top-rated web authoring guide (Web Design in a Nutshell) now turns her hand to a beginner's tutorial. The result is a foundation course in HTML, and an ideal starting point for learning how to build web pages.

The book does not attempt to cover every aspect of web authoring, and you should look elsewhere for coverage of technologies like Flash multimedia, Javascript or XML. Instead, Learning Web Design offers sound and thorough coverage of the fundamentals, presented in a friendly and informal style, and underpinned by the author's in-depth knowledge and professionalism.

Some Web authors use design tools, while others prefer to work directly with HTML code. This title takes a balanced view, with how-to explanations for Dreamweaver, GoLive and FrontPage, along with the equivalent HTML. For graphics, Photoshop, Fireworks and Paint Shop Pro are specifically covered.

The book is structured as four parts. The first is an overview, explaining the Web design process. Next comes an HTML tutorial, tackling page formatting, how to include graphics, tables, frames and colours. The third part is a detailed guide to Web graphics, showing how to optimise both appearance and performance. The final section is about usability and design, showing how to create pages to professional standards. There is also a peek at more advanced techniques, showing where to go for more information. The wide-margin layout gives plenty of space for illustrations, some in colour, and there are plentiful tips and references in side-panels. --Tim Anderson

Review
"I do like this book. I liked the first edition, and I liked the author's other books. They are models of what textbooks should be: clear, concise, nice to look at, useful and correct. ... If you know someone who wants to get started with designing websites and wants to progress quickly and reasonable far, this title is definitely for them. Get people who design bad websites to read it to, we can hope." - Lindsay Marshall, news@UK, December 2003

Internet Advisor, March 2002
By working through this book, you'll develop an impressive and varied skill set...

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Customer Reviews

Easy to read with a good layout
I recently bought this book because I wanted to learn the basics of website design. It is very clear and makes for easy reading. I would recommend it to anyone who would like to start web deigning. For those of you who do not like reading pages and pages confusing text this book is great, it has an excellent layout and explains thing with decent examples in simple language.

Good book to start up your own place in cyberspace!
Do you find yourself wanting to create your own website but not sure where to start or even how to do it? This book is then a good way for beginner's and shows you how simple it really is!

By reading this book the boundaries of making your own footprint on the web are broken down into clear and concise sections. From the very beginnings of the web and how it actually works, through to the steps to take in planning, designing and publishing a site.

Basic HTML is explained clearly tag by tag, together with use of popular web authoring tools such as MicroSoft FrontPage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive to create the same steps.

Discussions on site navigation, graphical creation and general advise and tips on what makes a good site work, all give you confidence to give it a go yourself!

Now that I have read this beginner's guide I will be looking to read her more advance book 'Web Design in a Nutshell'.

A perfect beginner's guide
Having recently decided that my personal web page really wasn't up to much, heavily reliant on the functionality of an online authoring tool, I opted to take the plunge and do the job properly.

Jennifer Nierderst's book is a revelation. I've read other beginner's guides before. Some treat the reader like a moron, others like an expert. This book strikes the perfect balance and is helping me to achieve a better looking personal website.

Added to that balance is a wonderful smattering of humour and personal insight and I would recommend this to anyone looking to get into web design - be it for professional reasons or just for pleasure.