Customer Reviews

Creating Killer Web Sites

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

If in about 5-10 years, someone chose to write a book about the development of web design, this book would rank at or near the top. This is probably the book that truly unleashed the so-called second-generation concept of web design on the world, for better or worse. Do you want to know about how to use tables for layouts, use transparent 1-pixel GIFs as spacers or "shims" to keep everything from getting wobbly, and how to use GIF-text images in conjunction with actual text to make your page look just the way you, the designer, want it to? All those techniques are explained here in great detail, with lots of examples, plus you can look at the companion website for source code.

Of course this second edition came out in 1997 - and now it's 2000, and many of the techniques he explains are outdated. Current-day standards advocates, usability experts and the like deplore the kinds of methods described here. Yet, probably most of the "designed" websites out there that are not using just the latest techniques or the the other extreme - just using plain-looking text layouts - are using at least a few of the techniques detailed here. So if you are new to HTML and web design, and you want to know how to make your pages look like much of what's on the web right now, this book is a must. "HTML Magic", which covers the much of the same material, is also recommended.

I know it's a trite title for a review, but that cliche sums up what Siegel has to say about web pages. I'm the first to admit that Siegel definitely knows how to create visually stunning webpages. Unfortunately, the web is more about information than aesthetics, and in this respect the book fails: Read any book on website usability, or information architecture in general, and you'll see that Siegel's techniques will hurt rather than improve your website. Siegel's obsession with white space is particularly unhealthy. Certainly, white space will beautify your site - your form - but your site will become more difficult to use and harder to navigate. If you're an website artist, this book is for you. But for the rest of the world in the business of creating practical, functional websites, read with caution.

This book teaches terrible design practices, and is a perfect example of a bad trend in web design. David Siegel's sites are visually appealing, and very eye catching, but this type of design creates sites that are difficult to navigate, present a lot of style and no substance, and create browser specific web pages. Anyone trying to navigate one of these sites with Lynx on a shell account would find the task nearly impossible, if not totally impossible.

The web is what most people think of when they think of "the information super-highway". As such, people want sites where they can find the information they are looking for efficiantly, and quickly, and that are easy to navigate. Many people, including me, simply click the stop button on sites like David Siegel designs, and go on to something else that is easier to navigate, and presents information in a quick and easy to find format.

Stay away from this book. There are far better ones out there that will teach you proper design practices, and teach you how to design quality web sites that are efficiant, cross-browser compatible, and easy to navigate. I recommend Laura Lemay's "Teach Yourself Web Publishing" books.

There is really only one criterion for judging a successful Web site: do visitors ever come back? Having taken one look at killersites.com, I found absolute zero interesting content and will never grace Mr. Siegel's server logs again. What more is there to see? You get your fancy graphics on your way down the "entry-tunnel", you think to yourself, "My, what a pretty picture, but I came here to learn about Web site design...where's the content?"

Problem is, Mr. Siegel prefers style over substance and before you find anything useful, you've become so frustrated waiting for the stupid flashing gifs and JavaScript to download and render that you bail out without even _THINKING_ about exiting through the "exit tunnel."

Obviously, David Siegel has no idea what the Web is all about. Allow me to quote from someone who DOES know what the Web can accomplish:

"Start by putting yourself in your users' shoes. Why are they coming to your site? If you look at some Web sites, you'd presume that the answer is "User is extremely bored and wishes to stare at a blank screen for several minutes while a flashing icon loads, then stare at the flashing icon for a few more minutes." Academic computer scientists refer to this process of fitting software systems to people as "user modeling."

-- Philip Greenspun, Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing. I have nothing against "pretty" or "fancy" sites, but think for a moment the sites that keep you coming back. amazon.com is a perfect example: slim on graphics, low-tech front-end, no "entry" or "exit" tunnels leading YOU around the nose as if you couldn't think without the help of the ever-so-knowledgeable graphic designer. Instead, it's filled with tons of dynamic content, a community of users sharing their thoughts and ideas. THIS is what the Web is all about, not animated gifs and framesets.

For anyone building REAL Web sites rather than "killer" Web sites, do yourself a favor and visit http://photo.net/wtr/ to learn what it takes (and trust me, it's much more than pretty pictures).

This book is a great book if you want to learn to design the greatest web sites. However, for professional web designers, this is not a reality, but only a dream, unless you live out in San Fransisco California. David Siegel will show you a lot of awe inspiring work, and tell you a lot of useful things, however his design ideas are unrealistic.

Most the time when designing sites for clients, you are dealing with people who hardly have the internet, and want this and that, and all sorts of web design "no-no's". They want the standard, buttons on the left with, banners/headers on top, and very little done with the bottom of the page. Most companies are on a budget and don't set much aside for us web designers. Oh yeah, this book also assumes you have at least several Adobe Products (which most web designers should)

I give this book a 3 for 3 reasons (positive). 1) It's very inspiring. 2) It's an easy read, and Siegel presents the information very well. 3) It talks about some important issues.

The two reasons I give this book a bad mark are 1) Most the book is not written by David Siegel, but rather, his employees. But, Siegel has some sorta ego problem, so go fig. 2) It's expensive for such a thin book which does not contain that much information. It's expensive because it's printed on what seems like photo realistic paper, and is kinda shiny, and a lot of typographic layout goes into the design of this book.

This book is a must for all newbie web-designers who probably live on geocities, angelfire, etc.

Its pretty amazing how highly this book scores. Personally I found it to be both annoying and less than helpful. The authors main message seem to be: 'Be creative and imaginative when making web-pages, but only within the boundaries I'm setting up for you.' Also it seems very clear that any other way of making a web-page than the one(s) approved by the author are bad or even a 'deadly sin'. After reading through as much of this book as I could bear, I went through some of the web-pages I visit frequently and found that most of them have designs which are bad according to this book. I guess there must be something horribly wrong with me then because I like them, and counting their number of hits, I'm not the only one. There is stuff in here which might inspire you and give you good hints, but my advice is to be very weary of anyone who claims to have all the answers as to how to design a web-page.

I bought this book and sat down to read it with great excitement, but that feeling has gradually dimmed as I get further into it. It does have the occasional handy tip, but mostly it's too outdated to be of any great use. Most of the sites he uses as examples of killer sites are not so great by the standards of today, and at least one that he uses as a major worked example in his gallery section as a site he created, has since been redesigned by other designers and is totally different. I'm just glad I picked it up cheap. It's definately a book that's well overdue for a revision.

I got the first edition of this book when I first started working on web sites. I learned a few tidbits from it, but mostly I was (un) impressed by the author's arrogant attitude about "artists." He rambled on about how what they wanted to do to be creative in their site design was more important than what the technology was doing, or how the user experienced the site. (A lot like Kai Krause's "creative" interfaces that he was proud to note that techies didn't get!) His attitude about developers vs. artists and designers was especially distasteful, even though in the end he proved he really was a techie inside all along.

I don't get the people who see this as a milestone. It's more like a millstone around the neck of web designers and developers. I think it did more to widen the gulf between designers and developers than help us work together. Leaf through this online or in a library, glean what you can from the few techie tips that are still worthwhile, then put it down. If you're a web developer or architect, you won't get much out of it, and if you're on the design or business side you will only get the wrong idea about what web site design is all about.

Some of the reviews of this book are just plain stupid. Yes, information exchange is the most important thing, but a site also needs to look good.

If it weren't for people like Siegel (the Author), web pages would still have grey backgrounds, rainbow horizontal rules, bulleted lists, and lots of those ugly animated "email me" gifs.

This book had a huge impact on web development, and while it's now kind of outdated, it's still definately good for the beginner to read. A lot of the information is great for building a base. I've read both editions, and have all my developers read it, too.

David Siegel is a master. Watch his web site. It is a perfect complement to the book. Because Siegel masters every aspect of web publishing you are sure to find whatever you are looking for. Technical explanations are scientifically correct, advise on layout is based on ergonomy fundamentals and illustrated with modern applications. Tricks on attractiveness might somehow look old-fashioned after some months but the web site is here to bring you the best (and latest)of the breed.How to take advantage of the two versions (book+web) of the same guide? Read explanations on principles of good design, appreciate applications in web-sites linked to Siegel book web-site, then copy the source code from these web-sites (with respect to copyright rules). Buy this book and watch the associated web-site, you will save time and money.