Rating: 
Summary: Good Title, Disappointing Contents
Review: This book is a compilation of "real-world" techniques of a dozen "real-world" web designers. I think all the folks interviewed (that's right, the two "authors" are really just editors/interviewers) are very talented, but the information they give leaves one thinking whether they really divulged any trade secrets.The book describes a lot of web-layout and design techniques, but unfortunately many techniques do not go deep enough. For example, I bought the book to learn intricate table layouts, but the chapter on tables just rehashes what every non-beginner web designer already knows and does. How about information on how table elements interact as well as things like merging cells and spliting cells, which can be very, very tricky to handle? Overall this can be a useful reference.
Rating:
Summary: Good Title, Disappointing Contents
Review: This book is a compilation of "real-world" techniques of a dozen "real-world" web designers. I think all the folks interviewed (that's right, the two "authors" are really just editors/interviewers) are very talented, but the information they give leaves one thinking whether they really divulged any trade secrets. The book describes a lot of web-layout and design techniques, but unfortunately many techniques do not go deep enough. For example, I bought the book to learn intricate table layouts, but the chapter on tables just rehashes what every non-beginner web designer already knows and does. How about information on how table elements interact as well as things like merging cells and spliting cells, which can be very, very tricky to handle? Overall this can be a useful reference.
Rating: 
Summary: Get it!
Review: This book is worth the reading for anyone in the industry as it keeps you focused on what's important, the user. Books that give accounts by other designers are more desirable than those by a single author attempting to "spew" his or her view of "what is proper web design." Though I thought the accompanying CD was rather weak, I appreciated being able to see the visual aspects of how the designers put the sites together, as well as reading their thoughts on it. There's a good variety of topics covered, though some of the more technical ones may have been disserviced by the lack of space to adequately delve into the specifics. In all, it's worth it for any designer to have in his or her library.
Rating:
Summary: Required reading for Web designers
Review: This book presents analysis and how-did-they-do-that descriptions of numerous aspects of Web page design and production. The first two chapters covering general design issues and navigation are exceptionally good and should be read by anyone who makes Web pages. These chapters stress the overall need for usability and speed and discuss why sites that don't take their audience into consideration are unsuccessful. The remaining chapters are each geared to specific aspects of Web design that may be of interest to graphic artists designing for the Web; they cover such topics as Web graphics, fonts, animation, multimedia, and 3D worlds. In fact, some of the chapters are so specific that they may not be comprehensible to readers who don't work with Adobe Photoshop every day. The book includes a CD that has interactive examples and demo software for some of the design products mentioned in the book. While the overall quality of the book is quite good, the technical chapters on HTML and JavaScript are rather weak- -new users of either of these languages won't find these sections very illuminating, and experienced users won't find many new tips either (the example figures showing HTML code are barely legible). The chapter on Web type starts off by considering usability issues, but soon turns to snazzy ways to make an artistic point, seemingly forgetting the needs of users (as well as search engines, which read only real text, not animated gifs or Shockwave). The book is definitely geared towards graphic artists, almost assuming that the readers are working on high-end Macintosh computers. Certainly, any graphic artist designing for the Web will find tremendous value in this book, as well as general readers interested in Web design.
Rating:
Summary: Required reading for Web designers
Review: This book presents analysis and how-did-they-do-that descriptions of numerous aspects of Web page design and production. The first two chapters covering general design issues and navigation are exceptionally good and should be read by anyone who makes Web pages. These chapters stress the overall need for usability and speed and discuss why sites that don't take their audience into consideration are unsuccessful. The remaining chapters are each geared to specific aspects of Web design that may be of interest to graphic artists designing for the Web; they cover such topics as Web graphics, fonts, animation, multimedia, and 3D worlds. In fact, some of the chapters are so specific that they may not be comprehensible to readers who don't work with Adobe Photoshop every day. The book includes a CD that has interactive examples and demo software for some of the design products mentioned in the book. While the overall quality of the book is quite good, the technical chapters on HTML and JavaScript are rather weak- -new users of either of these languages won't find these sections very illuminating, and experienced users won't find many new tips either (the example figures showing HTML code are barely legible). The chapter on Web type starts off by considering usability issues, but soon turns to snazzy ways to make an artistic point, seemingly forgetting the needs of users (as well as search engines, which read only real text, not animated gifs or Shockwave). The book is definitely geared towards graphic artists, almost assuming that the readers are working on high-end Macintosh computers. Certainly, any graphic artist designing for the Web will find tremendous value in this book, as well as general readers interested in Web design.
Rating: 
Summary: Web Design Studio Secrets
Review: This is a good book for beginners to get some overall concepts formulated of what things are possible on the web and some good clues as to how to acheive that end. No real tutorials offered and you should have other texts or the web to glean that info...
Rating:
Summary: Web Design Studio Secrets
Review: This is a good book for beginners to get some overall concepts formulated of what things are possible on the web and some good clues as to how to acheive that end. No real tutorials offered and you should have other texts or the web to glean that info...
Rating: 
Summary: Web Design Studio Secrets detailed, useful and interesting
Review: Web Design Studio Secrets is an excellent addition to the resource library of anyone interested in web site development. The book covers a broad range of material with interesting real life examples and features drawn from the experiences of web designers who are in the trenches. The description are detailed and useful, both in explaining specific techniques and opening the door to a better understanding of the tools and skills of the creative web developer. The book also serves as a good bridge between the creation of the graphic and media content of a web site and the programmer techniques necessary to bring the content to the web browser. With copious screen shots and code examples, the book demonstrates vividly many of the concepts that are explored in the philosophy of the well-made web site. The explanations, although detailed and technical, are easy to follow and understand. Any web software user will find doors opening to new ideas and improved understanding about fonts, layout, tables, javascript, animation, management and other elements of web site construction. The book also looks at some of the more esoteric aspects of the web with chapters on VRML, online imaging and web channels. Someone in the day-to-day production of commercial web sites can easily lose sight of the breath-taking levels of creativity and ingenuity that can be aspired to as they struggle with browser incompatibilities and network bandwidth bottlenecks. This book reminds its readers of the idea that the web is not just a way of communicating but also contains the possiblities of a new and unique artistic medium. In the preface, web design is compared to the game of chess. For players, the study of the recorded games of the Grandmasters is an infinite source of ideas and inspiration that can be built upon in play. The study of the web design pioneers in this book can yield the same fruitful leaps of expression and imagination.
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