Creative HTML Design (Paperback)

~ (Author), William Weinman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This first-rate overview of Web design and creation brings together two bestselling and highly regarded members of the Weinman family--Web graphics guru Lynda and her CGI wizard brother William--and encompasses both technical and aesthetic issues. The Weinmans work from the idea that learning how to code your own HTML documents will give you better flexibility and results (not to mention self-gratification); they not only explain "how to," but also "how to do well." Creative HTML Design includes solid explanations on safe colors, how to reduce graphic sizes, and how to use tables, JavaScript, and cascading style sheets in ways that are accessible to most Web browsers. Given the breadth of information covered, this is one of the more comprehensive and digestible introductions to Web design available.

Throughout each chapter, Team Weinman demonstrate how to create a complete Web site, highlighting both state-of-the-art techniques and tasteful rules of thumb. They detail each step of creating the Ducks in a Row site and point you to the finished results, which can be viewed online. The authors explain a variety of popular utilities, including image-map editors and graphics packages, and also teach you how to best troubleshoot the less-than-optimal HTML created by the many WYSIWYG editors on the market.

The excellent appendix contains a complete HTML 4.0 reference and a glossary of terms. A browser-safe color chart is also included in the front cover. The enclosed CD-ROM contains all of the files used throughout each lesson. Creative HTML Design is more of an introductory guide, but there is advice in here that will benefit all levels.

From Library Journal

Lynda Weinman is the author of four other best-selling books that concentrate on web graphics and color for computer displays as opposed to the nitty-gritty coding. Here, she and her brother cover all the basics of HTML for design: formatting and placing images; browser-safe colors; use of tiles, buttons, and rules; typography; style sheets; forms; animation; and more. The CD includes all example files and JavaScript sample code. This is an excellent book for beginners and advanced web designers moving on to HTML 4.0.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 434 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Publishing (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1562057049
• ISBN-13: 978-1562057046
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,811,212 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book was excellent!, October 25, 1999

By A Customer

This book was very through and easy to understand. I didn't know anything about HTML before reading this book, and now I am working professionally as a web programmer.

After reading advanced HTML books, I still prefer to use this book for general reference.

Now that I have mastered HTML and have been learning other programming languages, I have not found another book that is as easy to understand as this one.

I highly recommend it!

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lacks Thoroughness, July 21, 1999

By A Customer

While useful in parts, I'm surprised at what this book lacks. After you buy this book, and do a little reading, you'll be shocked that it says nothing about tables--which is one of the most important html skills to learn. Quite simply, you just can't do any serious Web design without knowing tables quite well. The book does cover using tables for tiling graphics, but there's much more to tables than merely placing graphics on a page.

I'm rather surprised that three (3!) book editors let this glaring omission get by. Perhaps here's a case where the editors don't know much about the subject matter--an example for the buyer to beware. I liked Weinman's book "Designing Web Graphics"--It's a great intro to how art is used in the Web medium, but now I have doubts that she can teach html effectively. Sure, it's fun to learn a few tricks in html, but it's much more useful to know enough html to do what your Web project needs.

There's too many html books and tutorials that attempt to teach html in little bits and pieces. I feel that the best way to learn html is to do an actual web design project, test its effectiveness, and learn from your mistakes. Learning html is a very detail-oriented skill--and books that teach html need as much detail as a real Web design project warrants.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Riddled with errors--inexcusable lack of editing, September 20, 2000

By A Customer

I bought this book with high hopes of learning to hand-code html but found it to be a complete hindrance. The number of typographical errors is a crime. There are examples of design pitfalls to avoid followed by code examples that accomplish exactly what you're told not to do. The code examples have very inconsistent syntax and are very confusing for beginners. There are step by step procedures in Photoshop listing menu options in the wrong places and some that simply don't exist. If you already know the program you might be able to figure it out, but if not--you're lost. Though the companion website does list errata, the sloppiness of this book is inexcusable. On top of that, the faded colors of the text and graphics make for difficult legibility. All of this makes one wonder about the design skills of this self-professed web guru.