WebDesignBookReview Archives - Page 8 of 21

Review: Build Your Own Web Site the Right Way Using HTML and CSS

A review of Build Your Own Web Site the Right Way Using HTML and CSS by Ian Lloyd is from Sitepoint (2008). More . . .

by Web Teacher

Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way Using HTML & CSS (Amazon affiliate link)

★★★★★ Build Your Own Web Site the Right Way Using HTML and CSS by Ian Lloyd is from Sitepoint (2008). This is the 2nd edition. The first edition was on my recommended list for a very long time, and I don’t see any reason to remove the second edition from that recommended list.

The book covers the basics of getting started, tools you need, and gives plenty of examples of code for both the HTML and CSS it suggests. You build a single site to completion by the end of the book with a customized Blogger blog added. The book is a foundational experience that emphasizes best practices and would get anyone off to a solid start. The last chapter deals with where to go next, what else to learn, and where to find more references.

When tools are involved, such as FTP tools, the book includes examples for both Windows and Mac. It’s well written and illustrated. In short, a very good book

Summary: Clear explanation of the basics using best practices.

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Useful Links: Neuro web design, Web design update, HTML 5 differences

Links to a review of Neuro Web Design, the latest issue of the Web Design Update newsletter, the difference between HTML 4 and HTML 5.
More . . .

dotEdGuru, a blog I just discovered and which is now in my feed reader, wrote sex…Sex…SEX! Now I have your attention about a book called Neuro Web Design.

Neuro Web Design takes Neuromarketing one step further by discussing psychological concepts, which can then be applied to your website. It’s a fascinating (and quick!) read that I recommend for anyone working on the web in any capacity.

In case you missed the Feb. 20, 2009 issue of the University of Minnesota at Duluth’s Laura Carlson Web Design Update newsletter, it’s bursting at the seams stuffed with so many great links I’m going to point to the archived copy of the newsletter. A lot has happened in the past week in accessbility, HTML 5, WCAG, CSS 3, web standards, and more. Sometimes I cherry pick a few links from this weekly email to emphasize here, but this issue is so full of things you need to know that I thought I’d provide a link to the whole thing. You can subscribe to the listserv and get these valuable newsletters yourself.

HTML 5 differences from HTML 4 at the W3C not only details the differences in typical W3C-speak, but also explains the reasoning behind some of the changes. If you’re teaching HTML, this could be a great resource for you. Keep in mind that HTML 5 is still in the draft stage and not yet a recommendation.

Review: Head First Web Design

A review of Head First Web Design from O’Reilly. More . . .

by Web Teacher

Buy Head First Web Design from Amazon.com

Head First Web Design (A Brain Friendly Guide) (Amazon affiliate link)

★★★★ Head First Web Design by Ethan Watrall and Jeff Siarto is from O’Reilly (2008). This book is not a basic HTML/CSS book, but is rather a look at all the processes and procedures that are involved in building a web site. The book starts with sketching designs on paper and works through wireframing, finding a visual metaphor, clear organization and navigation, design concepts like the Golden Ratio and the rule of thirds, color palettes, scannable writing techniques, accessibility, usability, jQuery libraries, blogs, business tools, and even advice on how to create a bid on a job and license your work.

It’s the everything but HTML/CSS/scripting part of the job of web design.

In general, the book is sound and delivers good information based on best practices. I was disappointed with the accessibility section. The book only discussed alt text, tabindex and longdesc. The usability suggestions were a little on the usability-lite side, too. That said, for someone new to web design, there’s a lot of good information in this book that could help you launch yourself into the field.

With any Head First book, readers need to be warned that a Head First book is not your standard technical book. It uses an approach based on educational theory and brain research that results in a barrage of visual images, surprising ways of presenting information and unique Head First style exercises designed to help you learn and retain the information. Some people react to Head First books with enthusiasm and say it’s exactly what they needed. Others regard the approach as a bit silly. Only you can judge how you will feel about the way the books are written, so take a look inside before you buy.

Summary: A good examination of the process and work flow needed in designing sites.

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Decoding Design

Design, logo design, and how universal shapes and the meaning of numbers relate to logo design. More . . .

The other night I attended a talk at a local bookstore by Maggie Macnab, an artist, designer, and teacher from the Albuquerque area. Her topic was decoding design and was advertised to be about universal design principles. Sounded good to me, and it was definitely something I could stand to learn more about. Her book is called Decoding Design.

I bought her book before the talk and was ready to be enlightened. She talked about logo design for 30 minutes or so. Macnab uses universal shapes and numbers to explain the power of logos. She explained why the Obama logo is so powerful, which I found very interesting.

Here’s a video I found on her web site that explains some of the principles she talked about at the bookstore.

Being design-disabled myself, I knew this information would help me. Even before I’d read the book, I was glad I bought it.

Fast forward to the next morning. I wake up and check on another event I want to attend, the kick off meeting of the Webuquerque group, a subset of the Albuquerque Adobe User Group. I take one look at the Webuquerque logo and realized how perfect it is. (It was created by Jason Nakai.)

It should be known that I’ve never had a design insight into a logo before, so this was a big ah-ha for me.

The Webuquerque logo uses what Macnab called “branching” design, based on the number 5. The branching design implies movement of information, knowledge, communication, people, events, or other types of energetic transference. Which is exactly what the Webuquerque group is all about: moving information from one person to another.

Now I’m off to read the book and see what other design insights I can find. Would it be too much to expect for me to develop a sense of design from reading the book? We can hope.

Review: Universal Design for Web Applications

by Web Teacher

Universal Design for Web Applications: Web Applications That Reach Everyone (Amazon affiliate link)

★★★★★ Universal Design for Web Applications by Wendy Chisholm and Matt May is from O’Reilly (2008). This is a great little book. It manages to take a new approach to accessibility that includes HTML, CSS, scripting, AJAX, RIAs and does it briefly in a clear and simple way. A perfectly accessible book.

Anyone teaching HTML, CSS, scripting, AJAX, RIA or topics such as creating iPhone apps should have this book on hand. The thing I like most about this book is that it does so much with so little space. I didn’t really learn anything new about accessibility—I’m fairly well informed on the topic. But someone who was not already knowledgeable could get the essentials with ease from this book. Although the authors stress that the book is not a WCAG 2.0 tutorial, they also make it clear that the information in the book can be used to achieve Level A success with WCAG 2.0.

If every student coming out of a class on HTML, CSS, scripting, AJAX, or some RIA had the background in this small book, the web would be well on the way to universally accessible.

Here’s a look at the table of contents:

Introduction to Universal Design
Selling it
Metadata
Structure and Design
Forms
Tabular Data
Video and Audio
Scripting
Ajax and WAI-ARIA
Rich Internet Applications
The process

There’s also an appendix with a cross-reference to universal design for web applications that uses 20 questions based on Level A Success Criteria on WCAG 2.0 specs.

Summary: Easy, practical, and comprehensive. Good for reference or a course in accessibility.

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Review: Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One

by Web Teacher

Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One (Amazon affiliate link)

★★★★★ Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One by Deke McClelland is from Deke Press | O’Reilly (2008). This is a full-color book with excellent illustrations for every step of instruction. In addition, there are 4 hours of video lessons from lynda.com with Deke McClelland. Deke McClelland is one of the better known authors about Photoshop for good reason. He’s earned a reputation for being good by, well, being good. Whether you’re an old hand at Photoshop who wants to keep up with the changes for CS4, or you’re a beginning who wants to understand what Photoshop is capable of doing, this book can help you.

There are 12 chapters, or lessons. Here’s a summary (in my terms, not the book’s):

basic software orientation and use
highlights, midtones, shadows
color balance
selections
cropping and straightening
painting and editing
masks
filters
layers
text and shapes
styles
printing and output

Material not covered here, ostensibly because McClelland covers it so thoroughly elsewhere, are actions and Save for Web, among others. Elsewhere is lynda.com. The book gives you a URL for a seven day free trial at lynda.com if you want to check out some of those other resources.

You work through the book by reading, watching the videos, and doing the hands-on exercises. Three ways to learn and absorb every technique in the book can only be helpful to learners. Teachers will be happy to know that each lesson ends with a multiple choice quiz.

Summary: Clear and effective learning materials for new CS4 features and general Photoshop techniques.

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Review: Web Development & Design Foundations with XHTML

by Web Teacher

Web Development and Design Foundations with XHTML (Amazon affiliate link)

★★★★ Web Development & Design Foundations with XHTML (4th Edition) by Terry Felke-Morris is from Addison Wesley (2008). This book is 100% courseware, a complete curriculum with project files, test and discussion questions, careful planning of objectives and learning activities, and resources for students at the Addison Wesley site for the book.

I haven’t seen a book specifically written as a text book for several years, and I was eager to see this one. It’s big (8 1/2 X 11 inches), and heavy. And complete. Very complete. It deals with code, design, ethics, accessibility, best practices and every aspect of design and development. A student who mastered everything in this book would have a good grasp of both past and present web development knowledge.

The “past and present” part of it bothered me at first. I normally don’t see much point in asking students to learn deprecated tags/attributes before they are exposed to current standards. But the way it’s done here works. The approach in this book is that students may have to deal with legacy sites and need to know what they will find there. Once the “legacy” information is explained, current standards follow immediately after. Any exercises and hands-on work at the conclusion of each chapter is done according to modern methods and best practices. Several small web sites are created by the completion of the book.

The book is completey Windows-centric. All instructions are for Windows. Some of the materials provided use .asp and .net functions that would be problematic in Mac labs, although most of the exericses can be easily translated from Windows to Mac.

The book has 14 chapters and a “handbook” at the end that includes XHTML and CSS references, character codes, and a Section 508 reference. Chapters start with basics of XHTML and CSS and move through visual elements, design principles, page layout, tables, forms, e-commerce, JavaScript, multimedia, and basic information on site structure and promotion. There are bonus materials available online for frames and Dreamweaver users.

If you’re teaching in a situation where you are scrutinized for compliance regarding objectives, evaluation, and checkpoints, this book has everything you need. You could feel confident about meeting requirements from “on high” using it.

Summary: Well-planned and complete teaching materials.

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