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05-06-2010
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Active Member
Company name: Laserdog Productions
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Lafayette, CO
Posts: 856
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BOOK REVEIW - Head First Web Design
 Head First Web Design
by Ethan Watrall and Jeff Siarto
When talking about web design, the focus is often on the code used to develop the site and not on other essential elements, like design, color, user accessibility, and content. Head First Web Design covers all these topics. While some basic elements of XHTML and CSS are covered, this book does not offer full instruction on those two topics.
The format of the Head First series is considerably different from most technical books. It is very graphical in nature, with either pictures, graphics or 'hand printed' margin notes on almost every page. Since most of us are used to text focused technical books, with an occasional screen shot, the authors use the intro to explain why their book is so different and why they believe it is a better way to learn.
Chapter one provides an overview of how to build a beautiful web page. While many developer/designers are eager to delve right into XHTML and CSS, the authors state that designing a solid website is a lot like building a house, you need a blueprint if you want a cohesive finished product. This process is called Information Architecture, and is referred to throughout the book.
The next two chapters cover pre-production and organization, the process of putting designs on paper before coding. Themes and layout are covered in detail and story boards are introduced as an excellent tool for showing clients ideas without putting time into coding. Because navigation and layout are so closely linked to how web content is organized, the authors offer a tool called card sorting. This involves putting any and all ideas regarding content on 3x5 index cards, which can easily be rearranged in various ways to come up with a logical structure for presenting data.
Chapters four and five cover layout and design. The authors emphasis the importance of knowing the wants and needs of your users. They develop the concept of 'personas' to help identify the key characteristics of the audience and explore the use of color for emotional impact on a web site. A link to a digital color wheel is provided, along with instruction on hex values used to represent color in code.
Chapter six discusses navigation and it is here that the prep work recommended in earlier chapters really pays off. It is much easier to set up good navigation with well organized and categorized content. The focus is on vertical, horizontal and secondary menus and the basic rules of navigation in general.
The next two chapters discuss some of the special challenges of web design. Studies have shown that people read screen text about 15% slower than hardcopy and often do not scroll beyond the first screen. To counter that behavior, the authors introduce a tool called the Inverted Pyramid, which provides techniques to draw the readers attention to important points quickly and effectively. In addition, people with physical disabilities have special demands that many web designers overlook. Ways we can make our site more accessible to these users is covered.
One of the best ways to improve your website is to listen to feedback from your users. Chapter nine covers the most popular ways of doing this. We can listen to them in groups, using surveys, individually, using usability tests, or as a collective, using site metrics and statistics.
Since your website is your best PR tool, make sure it represents your best and most current work. Chapter 10 discusses the advantages of keeping your website fresh with new features and tweaking the design. The example in this chapter demonstrates perfectly, how keeping content (XHTML) separate from format (CSS) will save hours of work when you decide to re-vamp your site.
The book concludes with a variety of subjects called the business of web design. Topics covered include design piracy, how to develop and present a professional identity, how to bid on projects, and the importance of maintaining clear expectations between designer and client.
Overall, I thought the content of this book was very good. I've taken several suggestions and applied them to my own web design business, such as using story boards to provide clients with a visual of my design before coding. If you've mastered XHTML and CSS, but feel your web designs are still lacking, this is a great book for you!
Pros
1. One of the aspects that I really liked about this book was the assumption that the reader is building a website for a client. Much of the instruction is framed in terms of how to work with and deal with clients, which I found very valuable.
2. I really liked the 'Sharpen your pencil" sections, where the reader is encouraged to write in the book and put some serious thought into the topic at hand. Cons
1. Although I'm impressed with the content of the book, it took me some time to get used to the graphical format. At first I found it very distracting and some pages were so busy, my eye didn't know where to land. That became easier over time, but I still found some pages to be over the top with graphics. Laserdog gives this book three wags of the tail, the highest possible rating.
The first edition of this book was published in 2008 and has 496 pages. The price of the book is $31.49. Click here to buy the book..
Do you have any thoughts, queries, or feedback on Head First Web Design? Share your comments or questions by replying directly to this thread!
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05-26-2010
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Senior Member
Company name: Codehead, LLP
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 9,131
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Re: Head First Web Design
Great review Lezly  I really like the format of the Head First series, but I think it would be more or less appealing to someone based on their learning style. You're right that there are a ton of graphics and illustrations in their books. This one seemed particularly heavy with them.
All in all though the info in the book is excellent - graphics aside.
We also have Head First HTML and CSS and like that as well.
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