Customer Reviews

Universal Web Design

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The author does a good job of outlining several "problems" that should be considered when designing a web site. It assumes a basic understanding of HTML, but that is it. If you are preparing to create your first complete web site, this book will be very helpful. If you are a more accomplished web designer, this book will be a good reminder, at best, of what to do (and not do). The book offers a thorough list of items that are basic to all web sites -- hence the title "Universal Web Design." Among the items covered are making sure all the links work, testing the site on a variety of platforms and browsers, minimizing file sizes for graphics and other goodies, and keeping your audience in mind. The author lists numerous ways (and web sites) for you to use in checking your site. The CD is full of utilities, but I couldn't get mine to work correctly on Windows 95. There are also plenty of visual samples of what works and what doesn't work in designing your web site, which are very nice. However, the vast majority are black and white, which causes some problems when the author refers to the colors in the example. Several times throughout the book she reminds the reader to keep websurfers with visual disabilities in mind as they create pages. At times these constant reminders became annoying.

I found this book very helpful in raising my awareness of accessibility issues. Someone who has been online for years may not find the information new, but anyone who is fairly new to designing web pages will be glad that they read this book. Creating accessible web pages is becoming a necessity, not an afterthought, as disabled persons' organizations are moving toward approaching the issue from a legal standpoint.

Teaches you on how to design web pages for the world market. How to make you web page flexible and manageable.

Regarding accessibility, thinking in terms of versatility is a key. Pragmatic versatility is sort of an ergonomic approach for the mind and eye. I often find that once I have found a web site I must examine it carefully to attempt successful navigation and obtain the information that I seek. More than frequently this is accomplished via intuition. Many sites remind me of those puzzles you would find in the back of old comic books where you have to find the hidden picture within a picture. Someone told me that if I took my stubs from Yankee Stadium and entered their official web site, I have the ability to enter the seat number and a photograph of the field would pop up taken from the angle and perspective of the seat. It is not a high priority in my life, but after two months I still can not find this feature on the site. I am a persistent fellow and I do not intend to be outdone by a machine. Yet as I ponder that standpoint, machines are an extension of our own inventiveness and manifest the results of our own creative abilities. It is an interesting concept that if I purchase this book that purports that it will broaden my awareness and skew my perspective of universal web design by taking into account accessibility considerations I will simultaneously be admitting a lack of my own awareness and a lack of self creativity. I admit that by sporadically entering the New York Yankees' web site over the past two months just to locate a place where I can enter my seat number does appear to be rather a waste of time better well spent on more loftier things. However, this seemingly mundane exercise and defilement of one's purpose in life did accomplish two things. Firstly, its stands as a testament that the New York Yankees' web site is in dire need of analysis and overhaul. Secondly, I found out where to get their daily box scores. Honestly however, this book is good for those who are slowly beginning to acquaint themselves with the potential of good web page design. Captivating the user and directing them in such a way to utilize the full potential of the site by having addressed all factors and judiciously incorporating them into the site is prudent and necessary. Still, I regard a good portion of what this book offers to be common sense.