Amazon.com Review
Elements of Web Design helps designers learn how the experts plan and design their Web sites. It's ideal for readers who haven't yet learned what the Web is all about, but who'd like to start applying their design and management skills to Web-site production. The book provides a history of the Web, examples of well-designed sites, and information on coding HTML and preparing Web graphics.

The authors start off by describing the Web and outlining its virtues: hypertext, interactivity, the nonlinear structure, and the variety of tools available. The authors discuss problems that designers will encounter, like bandwidth issues and HTML-related constraints on page layout. You review nine outstanding examples of Web sites that have solid designs and well-produced, well-targeted content. Next you learn the process of Web design: from managing a project and defining the site's goals, to structuring the site and creating content.

You learn the basics of HTML and get a crash course in laying out pages with HTML tags, and there's a helpful chapter on Web typography. Next you learn the aspects of preparing Web graphics, including information on file formats, image maps and backgrounds, and 3-D graphics and palettes. The chapter on interactivity offers an in-depth explanation of plug-ins, chat rooms, and video conferencing. Programming issues, lightly but clearly touched upon, include client-side and server-side processing as well as common programming languages.

All of the information is presented in a high-level, clear, approachable manner well suited to relative newcomers to the Web. There are lots of screen shots throughout this handsome, full-color book, as well as cross-references, Web resources, and definitions of new terms. The appendices are also helpful and include an HTML reference and a glossary of relevant Web terminology. --Kathleen Caster