Customer Reviews

Robin Williams Web Design Workshop

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

One big flaw in the book, and one that alot of web design books make, is the recommendation of Matt's Script Archives for CGI scripts. DON'T use Matt's scripts, and beware of any CGI scripts you find on the web. If you do want the functionality (or would like to replace the MSA scripts you have), look for the NMS scripts (google for "matt" and "nms"). Matt's scripts are not maintained, and many security and other problems have been fixed in the NMS scripts (e.g. use the old formmail script, and anyone can use your server to send spam).

The Non-Designer's Web Book is a better choice. For starters, this book is a bit Mac and PhotoShop-centric, so some of the specifics may not be helpful. (Why people still shell out hundreds for PhotoShop when Jasc's Paint Shop Pro does the same thing for 1/6 the price, I'll never understand.)

The design examples are good but a bit limited in creativity, variety, and possibilities. She covers all the basics about proximity, contrast, and alignment, for example, but you can get that in her other books. The designs here are fairly static and rely mainly on tables for layout. There's a little slicing-and-dicing, but no mortized sites or style-sheet driven sites like you see in 3rd-generation web design. Instead, this is something of a repeat of 2nd-generation design that came along a bit too late to be "new."

Instead, I'd recommend her "Non-Designer's Web Book" and her "Design Workshop." The latter covers all the concepts of THIS book in a single chapter! And then includes chapters on business cards, letterhead, brochures, and other projects, so you get all this and more in a similar book by the same author.

Spends more time promoteing the authors instead of teaching you how to actually design.

If you want to design simple web pages that are functional but also look incredible, this is the book for you. I'm not a graphic designer. I used to make web pages that were functional but ugly until I got this book. It is a great mix of technical instruction and beautiful samples with layout designs, color schemes, font selections, techniques, etc. I also appreciated that it was comprehensive but short enough that you can work through the entire book without too much time/effort. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed this book very much. In my opinion, it provides a great overview to things that you should be incorporating into your web design. It does not, however, give you everything you need to start pumping out great looking web sites. You will still need to learn how to use Dreamweaver, Photoshop and other tools for this book to be very useful. I think the web design books by Linda Weinman provide a much more in-depth learning experience. Still, a good book...

If your going to Fairleigh Dickinson University you will need this book if your taking Digital Multimedia and Web Price is GOOD

There is no better web design book out there than Robin Williams, Web Design Workshop. A huge collection of images, sample design works, ideas, and how to's. She begins by explaining the importance of planning, working with your client and the first phases of the web development process. The major breakthrough for me (and why I love this book so much) was the chapter on "Slicing & Dicing". Before this book, I would create all my work in the "HTML Box" layout. Now, I design everything in Photoshop first, slice it, optimize and build the HTML from the Photoshop framework. So much easier for me and the client and now my websites are more eye appealing. Great book! Buy it immediately.

This book walks you through the nuts-and-bolts aspects of Web Design. It is geared to all levels, with lots of sidebars explaining various terms and concepts. It won't tell you how to code a website, but it will tell you how to tell a good site design from a bad one, and it is chock-full of ideas which you can implement on your own.

As a designer who is getting into web design, I have found this book to be a gem. It will not serve as a replacement for any software "how-to" books. What it will do is give you a solid overview of the web design process. It leads new web designers away from the all too frequently used effects which will make their sites amateurish and slow to load. Although it is a general overview, the authors give some very specific and useful techniques to use in Photoshop, ImageReady, GoLive, Dreamweaver, and other programs. I found it to be very clearly written and well illustrated. The spare layout should not be mistaken for lack of content.

It was a pleasure to read this book from cover to cover and that in itself is rare for a web book!

I bought this web design book 2 weeks ago based on the reviews ... . It was actually a disappointment. Upon completion of the book I had seen a lot of nice web designs by Robin Williams' design firm but I still didn't know how to even begin my own design except that I needed to shell out [money] for Dreamweaver or GoLive. The attitude of the authors appeared to be "good web design takes years to learn so why don't you just hire us to do it for you" instead of actually teaching the reader. If you're a beginner like me, try "Learning Web Design" by Jennifer Niederst instead. I learned more in the first 25 pages of it than in the whole Williams book.