Son of Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design [Paperback]

Vincent Flanders (Author), Dean Peters (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2002

Inspired by the award-winning Web site "Web Pages That Suck", this text takes a humorous approach to teaching Web design techniques by critiquing bad sites and then applying common sense and practical, hands-on guidance to create site make-overs. This updated second edition features design problems (misuse of Flash content) and old standbys (poor navigation). The CD contains a database of daily newspapers and other places for readers to promote their sites, plus "Software that Doesn't Suck" for Windows and Macintosh users - shareware, graphics programs, and other tools that have earned the author's seal of approval.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A must read for anyone interested in web design." -- Midwest Book Review

"Reading this book cover to cover should be the first design decision of both the novice and the pro. 5/5 stars" -- August 2002, Computer Arts Magazine, http://www.computerarts.co.uk

"This book is a much easier and (more importantly) funnier read than any web design book you'll find out there." -- Adam Bell, DigitalMediaNet.com

From the Back Cover

Sequel to the best-seller Web Pages That Suck and based on the insanely popular, award-winning site WebPagesThatSuck.com

Web usability expert Vincent Flanders is back, with an irreverent new look at the Web's worst. If you design Web sites or hire people that do, you need to hear Flanders take on the many mistakes that undermine some of the best-known sites on the Web. Within these pages, you'll:

TREMBLE at the horror that is Mystery Meat Navigation RUN SCREAMING from splishy splashy Flashy pages CONQUER your Web nightmares by learning the four guiding principles of Web design MASTER the art of spotting a page's flaws in two minutes

Flanders skewers sucky pages from Britney Spears, Microsoft, Century 21, Jesse Ventura, and tons of others, all so that you can be sure you don't make the same mistakes they did. You'll learn crucial techniques for developing content that keeps people coming back, optimizing your graphics, choosing effective text colors and matching backgrounds, and plenty more.

Whether you're designing a site for your digital photos or are in charge of your Fortune 500 company's Web presence, Flanders' scathing commentary will have you laughing while his insights have you learning how to create a truly effective site for your audience.

CD Description Includes a CD with Software That Sucks Not! Get 16 excellent utilities to help you design, test, and manage your site, plus links for sites and Web-based resources discussed in the book.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Sybex Inc (April 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782140203
• ISBN-13: 978-0782140200
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,461,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A webmasters job is never complete, July 27, 2004

By 

Isabella Valentine - www.IsabellaValentine.com (Bloomington, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Son of Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design (Paperback)

Ok all I can say is wow. This man uses insults (accurately) to get the job done. I found myself wanting to redo things on my site and other sites I design just so he wouldn't find it and use it as a bad example. Good God. He is RIGHT ON on a lot of that stuff.

I disagreed him with him when it came to Flash. He thinks Flash is unnecessary, which it is in certain circumstances... but... he failed to mention adult sites which really use the art of visualization for the ultimate sale, which is what he discusses - that websites should be about bringing in money. Other than that and his not-so-secret hate for splash pages (although again, he failed to mention that some sites actually REQUIRE them by law)... I agreed with him on everything else in the book.

He gets into the Do's and Don'ts and really blasts the sites that use tacky animated Gifs on clashing backgrounds, unclean and unfocused sites, sites that don't use alt tags on images, and it really covers a whole lot of things that are just plain wrong. Way wrong.

He even got into a subject about never including text that says 'Click Here' and at first I scratched by head and thought - but why not?? And he showed some examples of it done right, and examples of how bad and tacky it can look when it is used wrong. I immediately got inspired and got rid of all of my 'Click here' text and sure enough, the results looked much more professional.

I have at least 20 high-maintenance business sites I constantly work on, and that being said - I am constantly feeling pretty positive about the work that I do. He doesn't care how good you think you are. He will be brutal. And it's about time someone steps forward to say it.

'A webmasters job is never complete' is an accurate statement.

He doesn't just give negative criticism... he offers good advice and solutions that are doable and just require effort and a sense of direction.

The bottom line: If you get aggravated with what he says, you can close the book and reopen it when you're ready for brutal honesty.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and informative, May 16, 2002

By 

Andrew B. King (Ann Arbor, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Son of Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design (Paperback)

Vincent Flanders' new "Son of Web Pages That Suck" is the sequel to his best-selling book "Web Pages That Suck." WPTS arose from the site he founded by the same name in 1996, WebPagesThatSuck.com. It seems that WYSIWYG editors have just made it easier for designers to create bad web sites faster, so Flanders felt a second book was needed.

Flanders takes a different approach to teaching usability than the likes of Nielsen and Norman. Through over the top humor and outrageous examples of bad web design he manages to teach good design while keeping us entertained. Flanders uses humor as a teaching aid because he's found that that people tend to learn better when they are entertained.

You'll find yourself laughing as you read this book. The book is peppered with full-color pictures of Flanders and friends in various getups: a devil, an angel, a mechanic, a flasher, and even in the tub ("Splish Splash Pages" chapter). It's all in good fun, as Flanders doesn't take himself too seriously. He makes his points without condescension. He even uses Johnny Cochran-like sayings to illustrate his points:

"If the Bits Don't Flow, People Will Go."
"The Top's Gotta Pop or They're Not Gonna Stop."

The author is a marketing showman, using carnival-like PR:

TREMBLE at the horror that is Mystery Meat Navigation
RUN SCREAMING from splishy splashy Flashy pages...

The book is a hybrid design and usability book aimed at beginning to intermediate designers. The book teaches good design practices through bad mistakes with scathing commentary on numerous really bad web sites. Through his web site's "Daily Sucker" and thousands of email suggestions Flanders has plenty of material to choose from.

The actual advice is common sense stuff that advanced users will already know like keeping text contrast high and file sizes low. However, even after years of preaching the gospel, usability experts are finding web designers repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Flanders shows what not to do, and offers suggestions on how to do it right.

Web design is about working within limitations. Unless you have what Flanders calls "heroin content," make your pages fast loading, easy to navigate, easy to read, and minimize extraneous features. He gives useful pointers throughout the book for graphics optimizers, validators, browser simulators, and includes a CD chock full of useful utilities to shrink and shape up your pages.

Flanders likes to say, somewhat tongue in cheek, that this book is for everybody. It is not quite in that category, but it will have a broader appeal than most web design books with its splashy graphics, non-technical approach, and Flanders' trademark humor. Some college professors have even adopted his book for their Web design courses because it doesn't put their students to sleep. Highly recommended.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A solid update of the original book, December 31, 2002

By 

"todd0607" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Son of Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design (Paperback)

Having thoroughly enjoyed the original "Web Pages That Suck", I was quick to buy this sequel. If you haven't read either book yet, just buy the "Son of" sequel, because it is mostly a needed update of the original. It covers the same concepts in the same hilarious style, but is more current with regard to the latest bad design techniques and the current browsers, plug-ins and so forth that are now in use. A very entertaining book, even if you never intend to author a web page.