Customer Reviews

Robin Williams Web Design Workshop

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm an intermediate web designer. I have technical knowledge but not a lot of original design sense. This book, in conjunction with Robin Williams Design Workshop, has provided me with a lot of inspiration and insight. Now I KNOW how to make sophisticated, classy web pages. Some of the stuff I knew, a lot of it not in the depth covered in this book; but some of it was really new and eye-opening. I can't help but believe that most web designers, whatever their level, would benefit from this book.

I've conducted many web design seminars and workshops around the country since 1994. I've written dozens of articles on the topic for WebDesign-Review.com -- and when I recommend a book on web design, this is THE ONE!
. . . The important feature of this book is not the lavish graphics or the superb text on how to apply good design sense to creating web pages. The most important information here is found in the chapters where Robin addresses the pre-production steps and dealing with clients.
. . . All the flashy stuff -- the graphics, the dynamics and cosmetics don't amount to a hill of beans unless the designer has fulfilled the basic obligations of presenting the client's information so that the client is happy, and readers will embrace the message.
. . . Robin presents clear, concise and even entertaining techniques for developing a copy platform (a term little used in today's flashy web design circles) an outline, and a good client working relationship.
. . . Enjoy the lavish illustrations -- learn from the crafty techniques for everything from optimized images to slicing and dicing. But above all study the chapters on WHY you design the way you do rather than how.
. . . This is a rousing Editor's Choice in the Designers' Bookshelf for March 2002 and once you have it in your hands you'll see why.
Fred Showker

I bought this web design book 2 weeks ago based on the reviews ... . It was actually a disappointment. Upon completion of the book I had seen a lot of nice web designs by Robin Williams' design firm but I still didn't know how to even begin my own design except that I needed to shell out [money] for Dreamweaver or GoLive. The attitude of the authors appeared to be "good web design takes years to learn so why don't you just hire us to do it for you" instead of actually teaching the reader. If you're a beginner like me, try "Learning Web Design" by Jennifer Niederst instead. I learned more in the first 25 pages of it than in the whole Williams book.

Several years ago I met with the main designer at company that created the web pages for several pharmaceutical distributors in Canada. At the time, I was well versed in creating web pages using several of the professional programs including Dreamweaver, as well as writing code. The designer, however, said that they did all of their designing in Photoshop and then used a slicing technique in ImageReady before editing the site in Dreamweaver. I hate to admit it, but I had never heard of creating web pages that way, so I went home and began looking through all of my web designing books to see if I could find a description of the technique. Yes, I found it in this book.

I don't want to give the impression that this book is all about Photoshop, it clearly isn't. But, at least for me, the Photoshop information has been extremely useful! Though I do not design the majority of my sites using Photoshop, there are some that I could not have created as easily with out it. I have not used other applications that supposedly are similar to Photoshop/ImageReady, so I can't say if they can or can not do the things that Photoshop/ImageReady can.

Nevertheless, since the time I opened this book and took a real look, I have used this book more than any other web books on my shelf. Sometimes it is to simply look at the pictures to spark a new idea, sometimes it is to review a specific designing technique.

Honestly I do not think Robin can write a bad book.

As a designer who is getting into web design, I have found this book to be a gem. It will not serve as a replacement for any software "how-to" books. What it will do is give you a solid overview of the web design process. It leads new web designers away from the all too frequently used effects which will make their sites amateurish and slow to load. Although it is a general overview, the authors give some very specific and useful techniques to use in Photoshop, ImageReady, GoLive, Dreamweaver, and other programs. I found it to be very clearly written and well illustrated. The spare layout should not be mistaken for lack of content.

It was a pleasure to read this book from cover to cover and that in itself is rare for a web book!

I'm a data base developer inching towards deploying data to web pages. I make no pretence of design skills and all of Robin's books have been of enormous help to me. This book would be worth the price for the images alone, but the brief discussions of technique are also valuable. She uses example of pages prepared using several tools, including PhotoShop, DreamnWeaver, GoLive and ImageReady. None of the examples are particularly dependent of which software is used.

The good stuff just pours out of her...

The copy I have of this book has a very different cover (the ISBN number is the same)... a large multi-hued letter W. Perhaps it's a second edition, or a last minute design change. The copyright is 2002; the authors are the same.

Get it!

I really enjoyed this book very much. In my opinion, it provides a great overview to things that you should be incorporating into your web design. It does not, however, give you everything you need to start pumping out great looking web sites. You will still need to learn how to use Dreamweaver, Photoshop and other tools for this book to be very useful. I think the web design books by Linda Weinman provide a much more in-depth learning experience. Still, a good book...

There is no better web design book out there than Robin Williams, Web Design Workshop. A huge collection of images, sample design works, ideas, and how to's. She begins by explaining the importance of planning, working with your client and the first phases of the web development process. The major breakthrough for me (and why I love this book so much) was the chapter on "Slicing & Dicing". Before this book, I would create all my work in the "HTML Box" layout. Now, I design everything in Photoshop first, slice it, optimize and build the HTML from the Photoshop framework. So much easier for me and the client and now my websites are more eye appealing. Great book! Buy it immediately.

Normally, I'm a big fan of Robin Williams, and I own 4 of her other books. But not this one. It has some great ideas, but most of the techniques are heavily specific to particular software packages like Adobe's $700 PhotoShop (and at times, there's a definite bent towards the Mac, too).

I think it's worthwhile to page through for some ideas, and there are some good ones. But don't let the colorful, glossy pages fool you. I gave it 3 stars because the fact is that there are some equally-solid Web design books out there that present even more design ideas AND are not specific to any particular development tool or platform.

I'd recommend "Robin Williams' Design Workshop" instead. It includes things like brochures, business cards and letterhead, but it can't hurt to get ideas from a variety of resources, and to see how web pages are different from the various types of printed media.

One big flaw in the book, and one that alot of web design books make, is the recommendation of Matt's Script Archives for CGI scripts. DON'T use Matt's scripts, and beware of any CGI scripts you find on the web. If you do want the functionality (or would like to replace the MSA scripts you have), look for the NMS scripts (google for "matt" and "nms"). Matt's scripts are not maintained, and many security and other problems have been fixed in the NMS scripts (e.g. use the old formmail script, and anyone can use your server to send spam).