Amazon.com Review
Another in the Web Site Graphics series showcasing outstanding Web design,
Web Site Graphics: Color focuses on innovative use of the 216 colors in the Web-safe palette, and on color schemes that dare to go beyond to 8-bit.
Among the many eye-catching sites is the color-restrained Lekrummet Online (www.ot.se/lekrummet). However, since this book was researched, Lekrummet has transformed into the equally attractive Ultraboy (www.ultraboy.com). The happy colorblocks at Gurl (www.gurl.com) are not stereotypically "feminine" colors; the site looks young and active. Intensely green "futuristic" wireframe images make Gr8's Web site (www.gr8.com) recall '70s science fiction and Japanese animation, an attention-grabbing idea in a site for a design firm. And for those with 8-bit capability, the digital comic book site Zark (www.zark.com) offers richly smooth gradations within its images.
As with the other books in this series, Color is not a how-to. It is a gallery of today's best efforts in Web design. The authors have carefully chosen the sites and explain how each one excels in the use of color. If you need to find some new inspiration in a hurry, thumbing through Color will be a lot faster than clicking away through search engines. There's a lot to look at here. --Angelynn Grant
Topics covered: screen captures of many Web sites showing innovative uses of color in Web design, with captions explaining why each site was chosen and listing artistic credits; an index with the names and addresses of all design firms involved.
About the Author
Jeff Carlson spent several years doing desktop publishing before jumping into the Web publishing arena by founding and editing, eSCENE, the Internet's only yearly anthology of the best short fiction appearing on the Web. Jeff has published articles in HOW Magazine, Macworld, and Adobe Magazine, and was a contibuting editor and columnist for Adobe's online venture, adobe.mag. In addition to writing and editing, he's an accomplished Web designer and consultant through his company Never Enough Coffee creations. www.necoffee.com
For the past ten years, Toby Malina has worked for Thunder Lizard Productions and also independently as a graphic designer and Macintosh consultant. Her multi-faceted roles have included art director, production artist, MIS manager, software/systems trainer, and mental health professional. Her greatest triumph: wrenching a motherboard from the jaws of a client's basset hound and successfully reseating it.
Glenn Fleishman has written about technology and its use in several publications, including InfoWorld and NetGuide. He was a founding contributing editor and columnist for the print edition of Web Developer, and is a contributing editor and columnist for Adobe Magazine, where he writes the Web Watcher column. He works as a consultant, conference chair, writer, and itinerant perl programmer, and recently co-authored the second edition of Real World Scanning and Halftones. www.glenns.org