Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites [Hardcover]

Mr. Patrick J. Lynch (Author), Ms. Sarah Horton (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300076746 | ISBN-13: 978-0300076745 | Publication Date: February 8, 1999 | Edition: 1

This essential guide for Web site designers offers clear, concise advice on creating well-designed and effective Web sites and pages. Focusing on the interface and graphic design principles that underlie the best Web site design, the book provides anyone involved with Web site design -- in corporations, government, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions -- with expert guidance on issues ranging from planning and organizing goals to design strategies for a site to the elements of individual page design.

Shifting away from the emphasis of many authors on HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and glitzy, gimmicky graphics, Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton discuss classic principles of design, how these principles apply to Web design, and the issues and constraints of designing complex, multilayered sites. They address the practical concerns of bending and adapting HTML to the purposes of graphic page design.

This book grew out of the widely used and highly praised Web site on site design created by the Center for Advanced Instructional Media at Yale University (info.med.yale.ed/ cairn/manual/). At this site, readers will continue to find updated color illustrations and examples to complement and demonstrate points made in the book, as well as useful and current online references.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 160 pages of expert instruction, authors Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton put the essence of the Yale University Center for Advanced Instructional Media's wonderful online site design guide into traditional print.

The book begins the presentation of its helpful and forward-looking advice with a discussion of the overall process of defining the objectives and users of your Web site, as well as the goals you will use to measure your progress. The authors then use time-tested, traditional print concepts to clearly illustrate how to make your site interface welcoming and efficient. High-quality illustrations show how to design for overall style and professional appeal. The sections on typography and editorial style set this manual apart from many Web style guides with attention to the fine details that separate the good sites from the great.

Multimedia elements and cascading style sheets (CSS) are covered, but within the overall context of building a fine site--not with the usual hype. Media compression and delivery are addressed at a high level with concrete suggestions on formats, frame rates, and image sizes for a well-balanced approach to multimedia.

One of the great things about using this guide is that the actual site it is based on is available. You can read about a thoughtfully-written topic and then go online to see the concepts in action. Web Style Guide delivers some of the most holistic coverage of site design you'll find. --Stephen W. Plain --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Web Style Guide covers all the basic elements of creating a Web site. . . . Readers are first offered the notions of content and interface design before they are asked to contemplate the traditional eye-candy favorites of page layout, graphics and multimedia. . . . Authoritative factoids are sprinkled throughout . . . [and] serve to ground the book in logic while elevating it above some of the brightly colored hyperactive Web design manuals out there. . . . The book is sort of an Elements of Style for Webmasters, and the authors even invoke that classic handbook's injunction to 'prefer the specific to the general, the definite to the vague, the concrete to the abstract.' -- J. D. Biersdorfer, New York Times

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1 edition (February 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300076746
• ISBN-13: 978-0300076745
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,536,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

104 of 107 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What a Style Guide is. What a Style Guide is not., October 15, 2002

By 

Tim Jacoby - See all my reviews

This review is from: Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, Second Edition (Paperback)

It's disappointing to read all the negative reviews of what I think is a very good book. I think many reviewers lack the understanding of just what constitutes a style guide, so I am going to give my best definition of what a style guide is. Style guides, such as the Chicago Manual of Style, are more concerned with good journalistic practices than graphic design, covering such topics as how to treat page titles, the proper attributing of an author, how to construct footnotes, the importance of dating articles, consistent nomenclature, the consistent use of language, and other important but admittedly dry topics. In almost all cases these things will influence graphic design, and some *very* basic, but in my opinion very good, graphic design information is covered. Also covered, to a fairly high level of detail, is information on graphic format and web color, navigation, and basic usability issues. What this book does not cover, and what one should not expect from a style guide, are examples of cutting-edge design, or information on current design trends (or what many of us think of when we thing of "style"). I think all graphic designers would do well to head the advice in this book, and think that most good graphic designers already do, and are probably already familiar with the information presented here. Obviously designers that know the rules usually break them with better results than those that don't. I think most designers will appreciate this book. If you are looking for an example of really cool, award-winning Websites, try the magazine Communication Arts, especially their Interactive Annual. If you are looking for a great book to introduce you to the basics, I haven't found a better book than this.

To sum up:

"Style" means "cool" to most of us. Try Communication Arts Interactive Annual for exaples of current, award-winning "style".

A "Style Guide" is an explaination of common conventions for a given medium. For an example of a good "Style Guide", get this book.

106 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The First (and still best) style guide on web design, February 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites (Hardcover)

Let's get what this book is NOT out of the way: it is not a technical reference, nor is it a "killer graphic" how to. It is a style guide similar to The Chicago Manual of Style, and covers effective journalistic practices (the importance of dating material, article attributions, references, etc.)and sound layout and navigation strategies. Anyone with any experience in designing web sites will already have a working knowledge of most of what this book covers, but it is still an excellent reference for working professionals, and the best place to start for beginning designers I can think of.

Criticizing this book for hampering a designers "creativity" or use of technology seems silly to me. I've never met writers, editors or graphic designers that complained about The Chicago Manual of Style or Strunk and White. If you want to make sure your site has everything it might need to be useful to the user, buy this book. I also recommend "Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity " by Jakob Nielsen, as well as "Envisioning Information" and "Visual Explanations" by Edward Tufte.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Design Guide That Gives Classic Advice, March 9, 2000

By 

R. A. Miller (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites (Paperback)

In the last forty years, our fast-paced, future-shocked society has made it harder to comprehend the idea that certain concepts are timeless and enduring. Believe it or not, some things do not have to "improve" every year or be replaced by the latest thing in vogue. That is why enlightened people still read Plato or listen to Beethoven. That is why I am giving this book 5 stars. What it teaches you are classic design concepts, only applied to the Web. Keep it clean and useful, keep it consistent, plan it out completely before you construct a single page. And most important, design it for the intended users, not for your own entertainment. If you are new to Web design especially, this book will get you off to a great start and give you much to think about.