| Overview
Are you still designing web sites like it's 1999? If so, you're in
for a surprise. Since the last edition of this book appeared five
years ago, there has been a major climate change with regard to web
standards. Designers are no longer using (X)HTML as a design tool,
but as a means of defining the meaning and structure of content.
Cascading Style Sheets are no longer just something interesting to
tinker with, but rather a reliable method for handling all matters
of presentation, from fonts and colors to the layout of the entire
page. In fact, following the standards is now a mandate of
professional web design.
Our popular reference, Web Design in a Nutshell, is one
of the first books to capture this new web landscape with an
edition that's been completely rewritten and expanded to reflect
the state of the art. In addition to being an authoritative
reference for (X)HTML and Cascading Style Sheets, this book also
provides an overview of the unique requirements of designing for
the Web and gets to the nitty-gritty of JavaScript and DOM
Scripting, web graphics optimization, and multimedia production. It
is an indispensable tool for web designers and developers of all
levels. The third edition covers these contemporary web design
topics: Structural layer: HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 (9 chapters),
including an alphabetical reference of all elements, attributes and
character entities Presentation layer: Ten all-new chapters on Cascading Style
Sheets, Level 2.1, including an alphabetical reference of all
properties and values. Behavior layer: JavaScript and scripting with the Document
Object Model (DOM) Web environment: New web standards, browsers, display devices,
accessibility, and internationalization Web graphics optimization: Producing lean and mean GIF, JPEG,
PNG, and animated GIFs Multimedia: Web audio, video, Flash, and PDF
Organized so that readers can find answers quickly, Web
Design in a Nutshell, Third Edition helps experienced designers
come up to speed quickly on standards-based web design, and serves
as a quick reference for those already familiar with the new
standards and technology. There are many books for web designers, but none that address
such a wide variety of topics. Find out why nearly half a million
buyers have made this the most popular web design book
available.
Editorial ReviewsProduct DescriptionAre you still designing web sites like it's 1999? If so, you're in for a surprise. Since the last edition of this book appeared five years ago, there has been a major climate change with regard to web standards. Designers are no longer using (X)HTML as a design tool, but as a means of defining the meaning and structure of content. Cascading Style Sheets are no longer just something interesting to tinker with, but rather a reliable method for handling all matters of presentation, from fonts and colors to the layout of the entire page. In fact, following the standards is now a mandate of professional web design. Our popular reference, "Web Design in a Nutshell," is one of the first books to capture this new web landscape with an edition that's been completely rewritten and expanded to reflect the state of the art. In addition to being an authoritative reference for (X)HTML and Cascading Style Sheets, this book also provides an overview of the unique requirements of designing for the Web and gets to the nitty-gritty of JavaScript and DOM Scripting, web graphics optimization, and multimedia production. It is an indispensable tool for web designers and developers of all levels. The third edition covers these contemporary web design topics: Structural layer: HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 (9 chapters), including an alphabetical reference of all elements, attributes and character entities Presentation layer: Ten all-new chapters on Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2.1, including an alphabetical reference of all properties and values. Behavior layer: JavaScript and scripting with the Document Object Model (DOM) Web environment: New web standards, browsers, display devices, accessibility, and internationalization Web graphics optimization: Producing lean and mean GIF, JPEG, PNG, and animated GIFs Multimedia: Web audio, video, Flash, and PDF Organized so that readers can find answers quickly, "Web Design in a Nutshell," Third Edition helps experienced designers come up to speed quickly on standards-based web design, and serves as a quick reference for those already familiar with the new standards and technology. There are many books for web designers, but none that address such a wide variety of topics. Find out why nearly half a million buyers have made this the most popular web design book available. | Amazon.com ReviewIn 1998, Jennifer Niederst wrote the first edition of this very successful book after she found herself spending way too much time chasing down the solutions to HTML problems. From hexadecimal color specs to mouseover scripts, the answers are all out there, but finding the exact one you need can soak up a whole day. "I wrote Web Design in a Nutshell because it was the book I needed--one place to find quick answers to my questions." With all that's changed in the meantime, an overhaul is welcome. This is the rare book for designers that is almost completely nonvisual. It doesn't show what's hip in navigational bars or what the coolest colors are. Rather, it gives readers the kind of know-how that can make a difference between someone who just whips up pretty pages with WYSIWYG applications like Dreamweaver and someone who can make those pages cross-platform, cross-browser, fast loading, and accessible to all. The clear organization makes it easy to locate any specific topic. There are six sections. "The Web Environment" discusses the realities of browser compatibility, display-resolution problems, a useful bit of Unix, and tips for print designers looking to move into Web design. "Authoring" shows how to write accurate and up-to-date HTML, cascading style sheets, and Server Side Includes (like putting the current date and time on your homepage). "Graphics" brings together all you need to know to make effective use of images (GIFs, JPEGS, PNGs, and animated GIFs). "Multimedia and Interactivity" helps with adding audio, video, or Flash to your site (including some succinct tips on optimization and publish settings). And "Advanced Technologies" covers JavaScript, DHTML, XML, XHTML, and WAP and WML. And there are six useful look-up tables in the appendix, which include HTML 4.0 tags, deprecated tags, attributes, and CSS support across browsers. Web Design in a Nutshell could easily have been titled The Web Designer's Companion--it's mighty handy to have around. --Angelynn Grant |
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Reader Reviews From Amazon (Ranked by 'Helpfulness') Average Customer Rating: based on 128 reviews. one of the best books around, 2009-05-29 Reviewer rating: the author knows the subject well, and she writes well. i found myself reading the book for hours, and learning new things in a nice and organized way. if just all books are like that...
it is good for beginner and intermediate level. if you are at an advanced level or guru level, you may find that you know about it already. but since this book talks about so many aspect of web technologies, unless you advanced in most areas, you probably still find it useful or good to have as a reference. | Good Textbook, 2009-02-28 Reviewer rating: Reached me in time (Amazon Prime) in excellent condition. This book is perfect for all those who are beginners in Web Designing. Five stars. No Fault! | Useful and a pleasure to read., 2009-02-19 Reviewer rating: I've read this book like 6 times now. The writing style is plain and straightforward, and that is a pleasure to read. I have had never left this book be far from my computer since I am always reading it through. I has a lot, and I mean a lot of links for you to read beyond the book on a lot of topics that should not be fully covered on this particular book.
The design is easy to follow. Brilliantly written and organized. The reading train wont get you lost, and by that I mean you can easily read from chapter 1 to the end without skipping or reading this or that chapter before proceeding.
It has all the basics; all the goods. From servers 101, character encoding, design pros and cons (not bluntly put that way), and most importantly (up to this edition, that is) browser cross-compatibility. The main target in this book is XHTML/CSS, however. The appendixes have a list of all XHTML elements known to date. CSS was not left aside. Which by it self, its a huge reason to consider this book.
If you have been using html/css/js before, you already know it's a bit of a torment and an exhausting task to make a fully all-browsers compatible site. This will do indeed tell you why your site will look different on a Gecko or a Trident layout engine. I wasn't even aware that a layout engine was a very separate part of the browser at all. Info like that makes this book a must-have, not to mention it will make you a well rounded web developer.
CSS, Flash, DOM Scripting, ECMA-262, web graphics, HTTP headers and such are subjects you at least should be a bit familiar with. Weather you decide to go further in any technology in specific, this will give you a friendly jump start. I was always reluctant to learn/try DOM scripting. Not anymore.
One big thing if you are planning to get this book as of 2009, is that this 3rd edition was first published on '06. It's time for an update. Specially with CSS 3.0 and words on 'web 3.0' around the corner.
If you get this book, be sure to get the HTML & XHTML Pocket Reference (also by Jennifer Niederst). Both will become invaluable tools you should keep right next to your work place. | Wrong edition, years out of date, 2009-01-31 Reviewer rating: One star only because it was required. I searched for the 3rd edition of this book, was shown a list of new and used titles that didn't indicate the edition, selected one, and was sent the original edition, which is useless to me. Why don't the sellers display the edition? Why doesn't Amazon manage this better? I am extremely dissatisfied and will not use Amazon in the future when edition is important. | Wonderful Reference Book, 2008-12-22 Reviewer rating: I'm not sure I'd want to learn from scratch with this book but there is a HUGE amount of information here. It is very dense but well written.
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