Web Sites that Work

Rating:
Summary: Lots of flash, mostly trash
Review: Although this book is very pretty with lots of ink, thick pages, and nice graphics, I thought that the information value was very low. All of the information that was worth anything could have fit in a magazine article. This book seems to be a "look how cool Roger Black is" book, and it even has a little section in the back all about Roger Black, in case you didn't catch it from the rest of the book. Roger Black's Web work is very nice, so he has a lot to brag about, but this book should not have been the way to go about it. Although his Web design may work for certain audiences, there's much more to it than this very opinionated (and limited) version. He should stick to magazine design. Don't waste your money. This book is not only over-priced because of the flashy presentation, but it's not even worth the content.

Rating:
Summary: A web site hobbyist gets schooled
Review: I run a website purely as hobby. Having never taken a single graphic design or html course, or read a single book on the subject, I picked up this book at a book wholesaler and got it out of curiosity. I found it to be a non-threatening and friendly introduction to basic rules of web design. Before I went simply on what I thought looked good and what loaded fast. Now I know just a little bit more that can really make a page work well. Particularly helpful is the chapter called "Web sites that DON'T work."

Rating:
Summary: First-year design principles + a lot of hot air
Review: I wanted to like this book, but just couldn't bring myself to. Yes, it's beautifully designed and printed, but somehow too beautifully, almost suspiciously so. Yes, its reads like one long ego-trip/advertisement for Mr Black, but that doesn't mean it might not have some useful content. But finally I had to decide that this is a very shallow piece of work. Mr Black, from the evidence presented here, seems to have propelled his web-design career by stating the obvious. Using classic fonts, bold imagery and elegant design to communicate ideas isn't exactly revelatory stuff. Managing your staff in such a way that they talk to each other isn't exactly MBA-worthy, either. Even if we can forgive the self-promotion, I'm not so sure about dressing up a book on simple design principles as some kind of web-design bible, especially as this book is woefully lacking in any technical detail. For what its worth, if you want a good beginners guide to designing for the web, you can do worse than Lynda Weinman and Jacob Neilson. After that, dissect the source code of any sites you particularly admire.

Rating:
Summary: Great web theory
Review: If you are looking to learn how to build a web site, and intuitive and well thought out web site that is user centric, then this book can offer a lot of good information for you. This book does not gie you HTML code lessons or how to make buttons. What it does do is cover some excellent web theory. As others have mentioned, this book is too full of Roger Black's ego and useless graphics and pictures. Sort through his self boasting and you'll get a good deal out of this book. Is it worth the price? I can honestly say that I did get a lot out of it, but what I got most out of this book was confirmation of my own usability theory of the web. So for me, yes it was worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Black knows what's what
Review: If you're passionate about Web design and want to do it right the first time out, then read Roger's book Web Sites That Work. This is the kind of advice that companies such as MSN and CondeNast pay big bucks for!

The book is well-designed itself and almost comes off as a photo essay in parts with plenty of pictures of our hero, Roger Black, studying the Web and transforming pages into online art forms.

In this book, you'll learn valuable tips about what to do and
NOT to do with your Web site. Roger also speaks extensively
on the principles of online navigation, personalization,
transaction, teamwork, and the future of the Net.

Aside from the stellar pointers, the book has plenty of candid
Roger action shots to make any fan jump for joy.

Rating:
Summary: Propellerheads need not apply.
Review: If your are looking for a technical reference on HTML, O'Reilly, Sams.net and Que all have good ones. If you want a beginner's guide, Laura LeMay has written a number of excellent volumes. If you want a manual expert tricks and tips, Lynda Weinman and, better still, David Siegal, have written excellent books. For a treatise on applying the fundamentals of good design to Web Pages, this is your book. This is as close to Tschichold's "Form of the Book" for the Web as I've seen (though Siegel's "Creating Killer Web Sites" is a close second). The book is truly beautiful, and it inspired me to no end. It got me excited about online design again. Considering I'm part of the I-wear-black-and-listen-to-Ministry-'cause-I-hate-stuff crowd, getting me excited about anything takes some doing. If you are a Web Developer who cares about aesthetically pleasing Web Sites that don't short-change on functionality, this book is a must-read

Rating:
Summary: It's ok, but if you want the best get....
Review: It's ok, Roger definetly has some knowledge. The best information comes from Jakob Nielsen, check out his site useit.com and his books to design successful, user-friendly, and attractive sites.

Rating:
Summary: I give credit to the title - It made me buy the book
Review: The title was deceiving at first, but it did what it had to do and lead me to reading it.(one of the books teachings) So the title served its purpose whether we took the time to review it before we bought is our problem. (I am guilty of that) The book is good. Yes at first he bombard you with print ads and non web material but then if you read deeper into the book and think about it web design, like any other media is about communication. He does something important and presents a history of printed visual communication methods. The examples that he presents have worked. He does a good job applying these principles to web design. It's a good start for those non-designers and non-artist who want to be web designers. Good design and a simplicity, its all about communication.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the Money
Review: Though a beautiful book, it's not worth the price tag. The book goes through Mr. Black's career as a designer, both for magazines and web pages. The "web sites that work" are only Mr. Black's. He does not go over other web pages outside his company except to show those that do not work. Some beautiful glossy pages and pictures give you a lot of ideas for your own pages, but that can probably be found elsewhere as well. There is almost no technical information here, just a lot of glossy pictures.