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Head First Web Design
 
 
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Head First Web Design [Paperback]

Ethan Watrall (Author), Jeff Siarto (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Want to know how to make your pages look beautiful, communicate your message effectively, guide visitors through your website with ease, and get everything approved by the accessibility and usability police at the same time? Head First Web Design is your ticket to mastering all of these complex topics, and understanding what's really going on in the world of web design.

Whether you're building a personal blog or a corporate website, there's a lot more to web design than div's and CSS selectors, but what do you really need to know? With this book, you'll learn the secrets of designing effective, user-friendly sites, from customer requirements to hand-drawn storyboards all the way to finished HTML and CSS creations that offer an unforgettable online presence.

Your time is way too valuable to waste struggling with new concepts. Using the latest research in cognitive science and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory learning experience, Head First Web Design uses a visually rich format specifically designed to take advantage of the way your brain really works.

About the Author

Ethan Watrall is a professor at Michigan State University where, among other things, he teaches user centered design, interactive design, interactive storytelling, game design, and game studies. He has also written several books on web and interactive design. His digital alter ego can be found at http://www.captainprimate.com

Jeff Siarto is a Web and User Experience designer living in Chicago. He is the founder of Siarto Labs, a small design company and co-founder of Loudpixel, a consultancy specializing in web development and online learning. Jeff was a student of the standards-based web design movement and writes articles and tutorials aimed at helping new web designers get started in the craft.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 496 pages
  • Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (December 23, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0596520301
  • ISBN-13: 978-0596520304
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #13,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #47 in  Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Graphics & Multimedia
    #81 in  Books > Computers & Internet > Web Development
    #29 in  Books > Computers & Internet > Home Computing > Internet

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent - but watch the typos, April 7, 2009
By M. Duffield (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Head First Web Design (Paperback)
As a member of its target audience, I found this to be a tremendous book. It's perfect for web developers who know (X)HTML and CSS but are clueless when it comes to the design process itself. The only thing to beware of is the large number of errors that should have been caught in the editing process.

I do a decent amount of PHP/MySQL and Javascript/AJAX work, so I have to already know how HTML & CSS operate. I don't need to be told what a div element is, or what a style declaration looks like. I am the least creative person on the planet, though, and this book feels like it was written specifically for me. I can't think of higher praise than that. It takes you through the process of building a site - not just what a good webpage looks like, but how a whole site is structured and fits together and ways to make that come alive through design. I never felt confused, but never felt like the authors were moving too slowly, either.

This is my third book by Head First (I also have the HTML and AJAX books), so I already knew that I liked the Head First writing style - perhaps a little light on technical side, but the lessons get driven home. The reader simply retains material from these books, and that is tough to find in most technical books on the market.

Again, the only thing to watch out for is the sloppy editing; there were a few too many editing errors for my taste. I still gave the book five stars, though, because it was just that good.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Finally A Web Design Book For The Entire Process, February 13, 2009
This review is from: Head First Web Design (Paperback)
Head First Web Design is a invaluable tool in planning and building web sites and follows the excellent pedagogical principles of other books
in the Head First series. It is also unique in teaching the entire life cycle of building a usable, information-rich, beautiful, navigable, and accessible web site, and not being confined to illustrating the graphical layout of beautiful web pages. It illustrates, the sketching, information design, navigation, and customer interaction issues involved in developing a sophisticated, content-filled web site and prepares the developer to perform a well-managed design and implementation process. The guide does assume that the prospective web designer have familiarity with HTML, XHTML, and CSS, but that is an entirely reasonable assumption for any web designer and is well served by the HTML/XHTML volume in the Head First Series. This is an excellent and most necessary book for the design of sophisticated information architectures, and usable beautiful web sites that serve both the user and the organization that commissioned them.
--Ira Laefsky
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A solid addition to an already strong series of books, April 20, 2009
By S. Wichmann (Saginaw, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Head First Web Design (Paperback)
Don't let the cover deter you... there's a wealth of knowledge beneath it. As a somewhat practiced web-developer, I found this book to be quite a fresh and at times rather humorous approach to a subject many of us tend to marginalize in our work: the design process. From devising color schemes to navigation and content hierarchies, the book covers a lot ground and contains some pretty good exercises (though none too technical) for both novice and experienced web designers/developers. Naturally, it does a great job of illustrating how implementing good design practices in your work will translate into (and improve) your coding. I particularly found the chapter on Accessibility to be rather useful, as it is another thing a lot of us tend to forget about when creating websites...On that count, I am guilty as charged.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars I always recommend Head First Books
I am learning to build websites on my own, and these books are the only ones that explain complex concepts in a visual format that is appealing to a graphic designer.
Published 5 months ago by H. Peakman

2.0 out of 5 stars a disappointing follow-up to html and css with xhtml
as a beginner new to web design, html, etc., and having just finished head start's html and css with xhtml and finding it to be very well organized, informative and a great... Read more
Published 5 months ago by kate bait

1.0 out of 5 stars Rife with errors (not just typos)
I have a feeling that the other reviews of this book were posted by employees of O'Reilly.
The chapters are disorganized, the writing confusing, and the code buggy. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mitchell R. Dunaway

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book!!
i just some day that i received this product to my country, i live in Peru in SouthAmerica. Only Wait 2. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Felix Miranda

4.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for beginners, but not for a complete novice
Pros: Easy read. Helpful methodologies. Good references.

I have to admit that I found the format of this book interesting. Read more
Published 10 months ago by A. Sattar

4.0 out of 5 stars Simplified and Intuitive
If you want a simple aproach to design web sites, especially if you are a developer, this book is for you.
Published 12 months ago by JHON MARREROS GUZMAN

2.0 out of 5 stars A confusing look at web design
This book is not for beginners or even those with a decent background in web design and HTML/CSS. The Head First series appears to be a web design version of "Idiot's Guide" or... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Sacramento Book Review

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Web Design Principles
Overall this book gave good advice. It was centered in design principles you'll have in a systems design course and adopts many of the same principles that are in design books... Read more
Published 15 months ago by konscept

4.0 out of 5 stars Head First Web Design
Product arrived overseas in under two weeks. Excellent condition. I really enjoy these books and would by other titles in this series from this seller. Read more
Published 15 months ago by M. Star

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful tribute to web design basics
Is it possible to learn real web design from a book format? HEAD FIRST WEB DESIGN is the key to designing user-friendly sites, from customer requirements to hand-drawn storyboards... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Midwest Book Review

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