Web Design in a Nutshell: Amazon.ca: Jennifer Niederst Robbins: Books

Product Description

From Amazon

Web Design in a Nutshell is the welcome second edition of a classic Web authoring guide. It is aimed at professionals, with the focus sharply on page layout rather than scripting or programming. Two things are outstanding. First, the book is a handy reference for core Web standards like HTML tags, character entities, MIME types and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Second, and most important, the author offers concise, meticulous explanations and comments on key topics including the various different approaches to text formatting, choosing and optimising image types, and getting good results from tables. She highlights the importance of Web standards, and is careful to include Macintosh as well as Windows issues when discussing design tools or compatibility matters. Reference information is up-to-date as of Internet Explorer 5.5 and Netscape 6.0.

The early chapters offer general introduction to the Web environment, laying down basic design principles and covering tricky issues like printing and internationalisation. The next part covers formatting and layout with HTML, hyperlinks, tables, frames, forms and CSS. Part three is an in-depth look at images, particularly JPEG, GIG, PNG, and colour usage. Multimedia comes next, featuring video and audio formats as well as Flash movies, while the final part introduces other technologies such as Javascript and Dynamic HTML, XML, XHTML and WAP. These overviews are useful, but the best chapters are those that cover the nitty-gritty of setting out a page. It is ideal for print designers who need to understand Web design, or as a reliable general-purpose handbook for Web authors. --Tim Anderson

Review

A concise compendium of just about everything that a web designer needs to know. -- Major Keary, Book News Feb 2002

Contains all the info you need to know to design effective web pages. It is an indispensable tool for web designers and authors at al levels of experience. -- Ed Laskowski, The Vista PC Journal, Feb 2001

If you are looking for a quick reference on web design, this book is for you. -- Sam Gardner,PC News, Polk Computer Users Group, March 2002

If you were only going to buy one book on web
design, this would have to be it. -- Daf Tregear , news@ukuug

The updated 2nd Ed, like others in O’Reilly’s “Nutshell” line, does a splendid job of presenting something clear and cogent on almost any web design subject. -- Michael Dominowski, Staten Island Advance, Jan 2002

Unless you have a photographic memory and can keep endless facts, figures, & programming languages in your head, you will find this book to be a goldmine. -- Lorraine Petrie, South jersey Apple Users Group, Jan 2002

Web Design in a Nutshell could easily have been titled 'The Web Designer's Companion'--it's mighty handy to have around. -- Angelynn Grant, Compbookreview.com, March 2002

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
Most web authors agree that the biggest challenge (and headache!) in web design is dealing with the variety of browsers and platforms. Read the first page

Explore More
Concordance

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

24 Reviews

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (24 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Beginner's Reference, Jun 28 2004

By

David Stapleton (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Web Design in a Nutshell (Paperback)

Whether First of Second edition, this book is definitely dated material, and in need of regular update. So, there a certainly parts that no longer apply to the current state of Web Design.

However, there are still portions that are pertinent and valuable for web designers, especially those just getting into the art. The author offers guidance from broad design principles to specifics of forms, frames and graphics. The basics have not really changed, just the tools. The layout of the book by topic makes it very useful for reference and the samples provide a basis for the budding web developer and designer (WDaD) to build on. Couple this book with any of a number of good HTML and Scripting books and the new WDaD will be well on their way toward designing usable and appealing web sites.

Bottom line - not worth list price at the time of this review; if you can get it at a steep discount it is still worth getting. P-)

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Material (slightly outdated by now though), May 6 2004

By

"saijen" (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Web Design in a Nutshell (Paperback)

Let me get this out of the way first: The information in this book is somewhat outdated by now. I wish there was a more current edition available.

With that being said; I found the information in this book to be most helpful. For the topic that it covers, it is the most efficiently comprehensive reference I have found. it provided me with a great understanding of things to consider when developing for the internet and also provided many examples/tips for tackling common webpage design problems. I felt the book was laid out very well and as a reference, I have had no trouble finding information when I have needed it. I found this book to be very easy to read and understand. My hat's off to Jennifer! Very nicely done!

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

4.0 out of 5 stars Great reference, Feb 12 2004

By

Terry Smith "http://terrysmith.net -- http:/... (Little Rock, AR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Web Design in a Nutshell (Paperback)

I've used this book more than any other technical book I've ever owned. It's always by my side when I'm doing a large amount of HTML and CSS development. It's extraordinarily organized, and I refer to it constantly. The only reason I can't give this title five stars is that by my rating system it's not absolutely essential reading for technical leaders. There are other books that have the same reference material as this one; however, none of them do as good a job conveying it.

I own the first edition, and it's since been updated. (I need to by the new edition myself.) You should strongly consider getting The Web Design CD Bookshelf CD-ROM which includes a paper and electronic edition of the second edition plus electronic editions of five more great O'Reilly titles. Having this as an eBook on your laptop would be an incredibly useful resource.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 24 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Want to see more reviews on this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 26 reviews 4.5 out of 5 stars

Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Great reference
I've used this book more than any other technical book I've ever owned. It's always by my side when I'm doing a large amount of HTML and CSS development. Read more

Published on Feb 12 2004 by Terry Smith

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
I bought this book because I haven't updated my HTML reference for several years and usually I trust the O'Reily authors. Read more

Published on Nov 20 2003 by David M. Roberts