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The Principles of Beautiful Web Design [Paperback]

Jason Beaird (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
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Product Description

Tired of making web sites that work absolutely perfectly but just don't look nice?

If so, then The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is for you. A simple, easy-to-follow guide, illustrated with plenty of full-color examples, this book will lead you through the process of creating great designs from start to finish. Good design principles are not rocket science, and using the information contained in this book will help you create stunning web sites.

Understand the design process, from discovery to implementation Understand what makes "good design" Developing pleasing layouts using grids, the rule of thirds, balance and symmetry Use color effectively, develop color schemes and create a palette Use textures, lines, points, shapes, volumes and depth Learn how good typography can make ordinary designs look great Effective imagery: choosing, editing and placing images And much more

Throughout the book, you'll follow an example design, from concept to completion, learning along the way.

About the Author

Jason Beaird dual-majored in graphic design and digital media at the University of California Florida. When he's not working on websites, he enjoys disassembling electronics and using them in his artwork. Jason writes about his adventures in design and technology on his personal site, jasongraphix.com.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 180 pages
  • Publisher: SitePoint; 1 edition (January 31, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0975841963
  • ISBN-13: 978-0975841969
  • Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.9 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #12,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #34 in  Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Graphics & Multimedia
    #71 in  Books > Computers & Internet > Web Development

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Jason Beaird
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Customer Reviews

73 Reviews
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4.3 out of 5 stars (73 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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128 of 131 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A good design primer, February 12, 2007
This review is from: The Principles of Beautiful Web Design (Paperback)
I'm not a graphic designer, I'm a techie. This book is a good introduction to graphic design for the web that even I can understand.

Jason Beaird takes us through the design process in a number of steps: layout, colour, texture, typography and images. He shares his wealth of in-depth knowledge in a way that makes it accessible even to those of us who do not have a university degree in design. He doesn't dumb it down, he just explains things very well using an easygoing literary style sprinkled with good-natured humour.

By itself this book will not teach you good web design. It doesn't go into any technical details and it (naturally) focuses on the visual part and aesthetics. Things like semantics and accessibility are subordinate and some of the practices he suggests are less than ideal from those points of view.

There are even some fairly serious errors in the code samples, but those are most likely introduced by the editor rather than the author.

If you know your way around (X)HTML and CSS, but struggle with making your sites more visually attractive, this book is a very good resource. It won't automagically make you a top-notch designer, but it will teach you the foundations and - most importantly - explain WHY things are the way they are.

If you are a web design beginner the book is a good resource for the graphic design part, but don't pay too much attention to the technical parts.
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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow - a gap that has needed filling for years, March 2, 2007
This review is from: The Principles of Beautiful Web Design (Paperback)
Having "stumbled" into web design almost ten years ago, with no real visual design background to speak of, I have over the course of time picked up principals. This was no easy task, and meant trawling countless websites and articles, being intimidated and awed by the breadth of knowledge and theory that is required to even suggest that you have an idea of what visual design is all about. Some of the articles I read required obscene amounts of concentration and application to the task at hand, as well as some difficult and surprising mental leaps.

A couple of years ago, "The Zen of CSS design" went some way to solidifying some of the pricipals I had learned, and helped guide me in new directions, yet still at times was a little inaccessible and while it is a great reference for themed ideas and principles, this new book has frankly blown me away...and I really wish it had been written a long time ago!

I possess several SitePoint books, but only two others have I read cover to cover in almost one sitting, and then revisited; Kevin Yanks's PHP book and Stuart Langridges Java/ECMA script and DOM book. Not only was the content of these books superb, but the writing style was infectious and consequently the ideas were absorbed quickly. The same is most definitely true of this publication.

Targetted largely at the coding/programming end of the market, it essentially provides the reader with a firm grounding in the ideas, theory and some history of visual design, breaking it down into sensible chunks and providing just the right level of information to leave you not only with a solid base, but thirsting for further knowledge.

This publication could have saved me quite literally weeks and months of stumbling research had I discovered it years ago, and even now is a brilliant refresher for those of us unfortunate enough to have pursued a "proper" degree ;).

For budding and established web designers, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Tremendous resource for web site design, May 21, 2007
This review is from: The Principles of Beautiful Web Design (Paperback)
This is perhaps one of the best books I've read in a long time, mostly because it's targeted specifically to folks like myself: those who are technically sound but graphically impaired. My solid skills behind a camera translate not at all to good site design and layout, so I was really excited to look through this book when I first heard about it.

Beaird has written a very concise, gloriously illustrated work that does a tremendous job of covering everything from layout/composition to textures and color. Throughout the book Beaird uses real-world examples of sites that illustrate the particular point he's working on. Sitepoint's willingness to spring for full-color printing helps nail down Beaird's content.

The book clearly discusses layout fundamentals like balance, grid theory, and symetry/asymetry. The chapter on color hits color psychology ("Feeling a bit blue today?"), palatte selection, and the value of using color wheels to pick complementary and contrasting colors.

The rest of the book is every bit as golden, hitting texture, typography, and imagery. There are a number of terrific resources for fonts, colors, and images with a mix between free and commercial resources.

This isn't a book to find out the details of how blocks flow and clear in CSS, nor is it a book to learn about the latest and greatest in AJAX/Javascript. What this book does cover, and covers well, are the higher-level, vital concepts you need to grok before you start wiring up AJAX controls and laying out <div> elements.

The Principles of Beautiful Web Design isn't just for lame design folks like myself. I imagine even accomplished web designers could learn a thing or two from it. It's that good.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A design book for non-designers
As other reviewers have mentioned, this book is an introduction of design principles for non-designers. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Hangjun Chen

2.0 out of 5 stars Too basic if you have any design background
This book was the text for a User Interface course I was planning on taking over the summer, however I moved and dropped the class. Read more
Published 2 months ago by P. Glockner

3.0 out of 5 stars It's ok...
I was expecting something with graphics, images, examples, but it didn't really have that. I was mostly reading. Which is fine, but it was a bit outdated. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. Turkevich

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book
It was exactly as described. I received it very quickly and it was in perfect condition. It's exactly what I'd hoped it be. Easy to read and understand.
Published 3 months ago by Marilyn J. Oddo

3.0 out of 5 stars Aesthetics only
I actually read the PDF version of this book, downloaded directly from SitePoint. It was something under 200 pages, including front matter and index. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Gary E. Albers

3.0 out of 5 stars IDEA GIVING
It is not a book I would consider mandatory but it gives a good overview of what can be done.
It does not show you how though. Read more
Published 9 months ago by GUIRI

4.0 out of 5 stars The Beautiful Principles of Web Design
The book The Beautiful Principles of Web Design, by Jason Beaird was to my surprise very interesting. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Angela Davis

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful for Beginners to Intermediate Level Designers
I enjoyed this book. It is easy to read and is well structured. The author walks you through the concepts used to design web sites, and takes you from the drawing board to the... Read more
Published 12 months ago by James T. Humphrey II

3.0 out of 5 stars A good overview
This book reads fine and is light reading. Good enough to get familiar with the subject and go through quickly. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Kerry Kobashi

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Web Design
This is a great book to learn about and review principles of design, especially web design. It is an easy read, well structured and, as I visual learner, I love the many pictures... Read more
Published 17 months ago by L. Catherman

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