Customer Reviews

Taschen's 1000 Favorite Websites

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Great Book! If you need any type of inspiration this is the book to have. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because the DVD got a little boring after a while.

This book is jam packed with website home page eye-candy. Most of the screen shots are of website home pages but there are a few pages that dive a bit deeper into some sites. This book isn't about the inner workings of websites but more like a visual reference book for design layout, color combinations, type treatment and image treatment. All sites in this book have their URL posted with their screen shot so you can dive in deeper if you wish. The bonus DVD contains 6 interviews from 6 different countries each talking about different topics. It is interesting but not terribly exciting.

If you are a visual communication designer this book would be an added bonus for your reference shelf.

The book has a nice coverage of websites in many languages. This is one of its main virtues. For English speakers, it is sometimes easy to forget that there is a lot of web designing going on elsewhere. Because English still dominates the web, and even keeping track of the English language websites is formidable.

Wiedemann picks from many sites, and you may be able to get inspiration. But not simply by merely looking at the screen shots in the book. While pretty, they should be regarded as jumping off points, for you to delve into those sites.

This book is excellent. Websites are in constant change of content and layout and OF COURSE webdesign-targeted books quickly tend to get outdated but for me this book is very useful since I am writing my essay on webdesign for my graduation.

And the book is also a good inspiration reference. Buy it, you won't regret it.

completely out of date. lacks the explanations as to why each website was chosen. many of the websites have been already replaced by new ones..
the dvd attached makes you watch the whole movie without being able to jump forward/backwards.

Very useful for getting new ideas to create a website, it has a big variety of well designed websites

"Taschen's 1000 Favorite Websites" can only be blamed to have one problem (and it's not something exclusive to it): like most other publications that showcase the best of the Web, it can (and does) get outdated eventually. Since Taschen focused on web sites that were fairly ahead of their time, even 3+ years after the book got published, it still feels fairly current, but those involved in the Web Design industry will notice the recurrence of the minimalist design trend prevailing circa 2001-2003 highlighted in its 600+ pages.

Still, at the end you are left with a pretty good visual compilation (only screenshots of 1-3 pages per web site are shown here) of the German publisher's choices for the categories of advertising, art, fashion and beauty, architecture, design, digital, movies and animation, photography and more. I am only giving it four stars because in time it may only turn into a historical document, one that will get outdated.

Some books aimed at webdesign try to dig deeper than the superficial exterior. Probably because they wish to place a design into the right context, because they understand that a pretty picture doesn't make a good design. One needs to know its goal, target audience and so on to pass judgement on that. Or because they understand the interest of professional designers to exchange ideas, processes and methods. This book (and also for example the below average "webdesign index series") simply wants to offer you graphic junkfood. Just screendumps lacking any consistancy in quality and selection, and unfortunately most already outdated. A cynic would call these books an attempt by the publisher to make a quick buck. Publishing other peoples work, they don't get a dime and getting a hefty price paid in return...