[.ca] Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating ... (ISBN 0300096828)

From Amazon.com:
In 160 pages of expert instruction, authors Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton put the essence of the Yale University Center for Advanced Instructional Media's wonderful online site design guide into traditional print. The book begins the presentation of its helpful and forward-looking advice with a discussion of the overall process of defining the objectives and users of your Web site, as well as the goals you will use to measure your progress. The authors then use time-tested, traditional print concepts to clearly illustrate how to make your site interface welcoming and efficient. High-quality illustrations show how to design for overall style and professional appeal. The sections on typography and editorial style set this manual apart from many Web style guides with attention to the fine details that separate the good sites from the great. Multimedia elements and cascading style sheets (CSS) are covered, but within the overall context of building a fine site--not with the usual hype. Media compression and delivery are addressed at a high level with concrete suggestions on formats, frame rates, and image sizes for a well-balanced approach to multimedia. One of the great things about using this guide is that the actual site it is based on is available. You can read about a thoughtfully-written topic and then go online to see the concepts in action. Web Style Guide delivers some of the most holistic coverage of site design you'll find. --Stephen W. Plain

Thought provoking:
This book provides a concise introduction to principles of Website design. I found the first few chapters, about process, interface design, and site design extremely good. But towards the end of the chapter on page design, some of the advice started to get a little questionable. For example, they explain three ways of using tables to create gutters between parallel columns, but never note what a no-no parallel columns are for Web page design, since they require the reader to scroll down, then up, then down again. The graphics and multimedia chapters strayed a little from the concept of a Website design manual. Instead of presenting guidelines for effective use of graphics and other media, they presented detailed, somewhat technical information, about media formats and optimizing media for the Web (particularly in Photoshop). This was interesting information in its own right, but I would have liked to read more about using media effectively. One guideline they suggest is to use background images no bigger than 100 x 100 pixels, omitting advice about how to avoid the dreaded repeating border (use width = 1280). One aspect that makes this book very different from others on the market is that it draws on primarily academic or university-related Websites for examples rather than from commercial sites. The book includes a good list of references and an index.

The Bible of digital style:
I'm really amazed about this wonderful work. It's useful, it's complete, it's rational and it's thought and written with feeling. Serious planning and developing process are both covered with a great sense of design and functionality.

Great book for starters!:
I recommend this book to anyone who is a designer for the web or publishing industry. I bought this book to start as a class requirement. I didn't know what to expect at first, but as I was reading through the book I found this book to be very helpful. It really covers all areas of basic design and it's useful for all designers, especially for starters. The fundamentals of design is universal and in the book, it explains how design concepts have been around for a long time like in the publishing industry and how it's carried over to the web now. Learn the concepts so that you too can be a sophisticated designer.

Good coverage of design choices:
I would not have expected that a thin paperback would have such value inside. If you are thinking about putting a web site together this book and some page marks are all that are needed to communicate basic style to the person doing the site. It covers the important stuff and lots of things that I would not have thought of. For example which fonts are good for printing.

A huge amount of energy and knowledge in less than 200 pages:
This book is not only dealing with Design principles. It deals with everything, including the biggest problem of almost 30% of all the websites in the world - fading away. Successful Web site is what the book has been kicking to, to its fullest success I believe. The authors go around the problems reflecting several aspects and views, digging deep into the details in order to be clear to everyone. My boss reads it as a good source to understant things going around with our Web site :) Great book, well done dear authors.