Rating: 
Summary: Worth a beginner's GLANCE - but not much of an investment
Review: As always with a Rockport book, this item is attractively designed and produced in full color on thick glossy pages - but only 160 of them. Most of the pages are dedicated to displaying alternate views of web pages which have had their markup changed slightly, shown in different browsers, etc. There is *elementary* guidance on such concepts as Frames, Tables, alignment principles, font styles... pretty basic stuff, as you can see. If you're a complete novice to web design (author suggests you have some HTML familiarity) you may find the book gives you *a few* new ideas about the potentials of design -- but you'll have a lot of further studying ahead of you. Worth spend thirty minutes browsing in a library or book store... but paying thirty greenbacks or so? "Eric Meyer on CSS" will give you a lot more thorough introduction to the process - and actually enable you to put together several different sites. And - FWIW - strangely, as of September 2003 the author's web site had only one graphic and her email link - not quite what I'd expect for somewhat committed to web design. Hmmm...
Rating:
Summary: Worth a beginner's GLANCE - but not much of an investment
Review: As always with a Rockport book, this item is attractively designed and produced in full color on thick glossy pages - but only 160 of them. Most of the pages are dedicated to displaying alternate views of web pages which have had their markup changed slightly, shown in different browsers, etc. There is *elementary* guidance on such concepts as Frames, Tables, alignment principles, font styles... pretty basic stuff, as you can see. If you're a complete novice to web design (author suggests you have some HTML familiarity) you may find the book gives you *a few* new ideas about the potentials of design -- but you'll have a lot of further studying ahead of you. Worth spend thirty minutes browsing in a library or book store... but paying thirty greenbacks or so? "Eric Meyer on CSS" will give you a lot more thorough introduction to the process - and actually enable you to put together several different sites. And - FWIW - strangely, as of September 2003 the author's web site had only one graphic and her email link - not quite what I'd expect for somewhat committed to web design. Hmmm...
Rating: 
Summary: learning how to look
Review: Finally! Someone who knows what makes a website work, and is willing to tell the rest of us. This book is very aptly titled: "Layout", as opposed to "Linux". It teaches me what to look for in a web site design that is effective in both marketing and aesthetic. It gives me all the options I need to design well with plenty of compelling examples. This is not an advanced programming book. In fact, it starts with very basic things. Like using legible fonts. Like pale colored backgrounds (instead of black backgrounds with red lettering). As a professional artist, I know how I want my images to come across on my website. If my site is poor then I lose business. I don't want to spend thousands for a site that looks poor, nor to learn a new career in order to market my current career. The structuring of the lessons, the online resources listed, the tips and commentary in Layout are all excellent.
Rating:
Summary: learning how to look
Review: Finally! Someone who knows what makes a website work, and is willing to tell the rest of us. This book is very aptly titled: "Layout", as opposed to "Linux". It teaches me what to look for in a web site design that is effective in both marketing and aesthetic. It gives me all the options I need to design well with plenty of compelling examples. This is not an advanced programming book. In fact, it starts with very basic things. Like using legible fonts. Like pale colored backgrounds (instead of black backgrounds with red lettering). As a professional artist, I know how I want my images to come across on my website. If my site is poor then I lose business. I don't want to spend thousands for a site that looks poor, nor to learn a new career in order to market my current career. The structuring of the lessons, the online resources listed, the tips and commentary in Layout are all excellent.
Rating: 
Summary: For the absolute beginner only
Review: If you read the editorial review, terms like "all experience levels", "latest technologies", and "latest effects" are used or implied throughout. The book, however, covers only what a beginner would have learned in the first month from his/her first HTML/Javascript book. Only the most minimal explanation is given for anything. Instead, you're constantly told to "take the tutorial at ..."- Note to author: if you write a book, include some content. Readers don't want to pay [$] for a printed list of online tutorials. In short, there are no 'top design experts' that had any input into this book in 2002 (the pub. date). Maybe frames and nested tables were 'cutting edge' in 1997, but they're old news in 2002, and are far from what design experts would be talking about today. If you're a beginner looking to get up to speed on a few basic design tricks, there are better, more explanatory books that you can find with a basic search. If you have any experience at all in the field, there will be nothing in here you didn't master long ago. I had to rate this at 1 star because even if the book was misrepresented against the author's wishes (maybe she didn't mean to have it portrayed as an advanced book), it doesn't even do a good job of explaining the basics (instead referring you online as mentioned above). Sorry to be so harsh, but this book is not worth the high quality stock it's printed on. Now excuse me- I have to go return this and get something helpful...
Rating:
Summary: For the absolute beginner only
Review: If you read the editorial review, terms like "all experience levels", "latest technologies", and "latest effects" are used or implied throughout. The book, however, covers only what a beginner would have learned in the first month from his/her first HTML/Javascript book. Only the most minimal explanation is given for anything. Instead, you're constantly told to "take the tutorial at ..."- Note to author: if you write a book, include some content. Readers don't want to pay [$] for a printed list of online tutorials. In short, there are no 'top design experts' that had any input into this book in 2002 (the pub. date). Maybe frames and nested tables were 'cutting edge' in 1997, but they're old news in 2002, and are far from what design experts would be talking about today. If you're a beginner looking to get up to speed on a few basic design tricks, there are better, more explanatory books that you can find with a basic search. If you have any experience at all in the field, there will be nothing in here you didn't master long ago. I had to rate this at 1 star because even if the book was misrepresented against the author's wishes (maybe she didn't mean to have it portrayed as an advanced book), it doesn't even do a good job of explaining the basics (instead referring you online as mentioned above). Sorry to be so harsh, but this book is not worth the high quality stock it's printed on. Now excuse me- I have to go return this and get something helpful...
Rating:
Summary: Helpful layout ideas
Review: Lots of great ideas for layouts. Online tutorials leave more room for full-color graphics. Following the referenced links provides you with a great resource of well-designed, practical layout ideas. A good book to have as a quick reference source for layout possibilities.
Rating:
Summary: helpful for the self-taught designer
Review: Much of what's in print on web design is really not helpful to the self-taught designer. This one gives examples of good, clean web designs and offers tips on the most direct approaches to achieving similar effects. An intermediate HTML and WYSIWIG user will find many stylish solutions and shortcuts. Referring the reader to the companion online tutorials permits the volume itself to remain a lean idea-book and not a cumbersome doorstop.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Pictures---Poor Content
Review: This book is full of wonderful pictures of several great web layouts, and as promised, it doesn't force the reader to learn HTML...or anything else, either.
I found it to be pretty much a large scale advertisement for NOT learning to do Layout design, rather than a book "filled with the latest tips and tricks". Instead, this book strongly recommends using a multitude of WYSIWYG programs such as Dreamweaver to name one, specifically, rather than teaching the beginning web designer, or any other level web designer how to integrate design layout into an actual HTML created web site.
I found this book to be extremely disappointing at any price.
Rating:
Summary: A great resource.
Review: This book offers a host of useful design suggestions that will help to avoid many of the most common mistakes. If you are a technical person like myself and you frequently wonder why some pages are so much more appealing than others you will find the answers in this great book.
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