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Carrie Bickner
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Web Design on a Shoestring 1st Edition

by Carrie Bickner (Author)
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 14 ratings
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With the struggling US economy, many businesses have had to implement steps to curb expenses and pinch pennies. One of the first areas to feel these cutbacks is the web site design and development group. Employees have been asked to fill roles previously held by other employees due to staff reductions. At the same time, these remaining employees are expected to execute robust and efficient mechanisms for their corporate web sites on a tight or non-existent budget. Developers and designers are looking for shortcut tools to get there. It's all about getting more bang for the buck. Web design on a Shoestring is the tool these web site developers and designers need. It reveals all sorts of free or inexpensive resources that are available but unknown. More specifically, Carrie Bickner shows you how any individual can do the things a team of web professionals are often brought in to do. Learn how to create a pennywise plan so that you avoid being nickled and dimed to death later. Find out the best ways to test your web sites efficiencies and functionalities. Understand the most effective content management systems, and the commercial products to use or avoid - all with no dollars being spent.

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  1. ISBN-10
    0735713286
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0735713284
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    New Riders Pub
  5. Publication date
    January 1, 2003
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    7 x 0.5 x 9 inches
  8. Print length
    250 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

At the height of those flush dot-com days, Carrie Bickner, in her role as Web developer for the New York Public Library, was about to embark on an ambitious site redesign project, one that would entail bringing aboard information architects, graphic designers, editors, and writers. Then the stock market suddenly tanked and the bottom fell out of her budget. Reduced to a two-person staff, she quickly learned how to do a lot with a little. And with, Web Design on a Shoestring, a lean but power-packed book, Bickner, along with some fellow "shoestring warriors," shares this knowledge and shows how each phase in site development can trimmed back without losing control, quality, or beauty.

Using case studies and countless anecdotes throughout the book, she begins with some steps for good project planning: find a clear focus for the site, figure out what resources (hardware, software, people) are already available, and, (this will cause a knowing smile for many readers) keep the number of decision makers small. She outlines how to document the goals and requirements, both functional and technical, and advises keeping this documentation where every team member can see it. The book covers user testing, proving that usability checking needn’t be sacrificed when money’s tight, and there’s helpful advice on what makes good written and visual content.

But the pot of gold in this book is in the chapter on content-management systems (CMS), especially ones that save money like templates, cascading style sheets (CSS), server-side includes (SSI), and open-source CMS solutions. Bickner discusses how employing good markup and adhering to Web standards can make your site work on the widest range of browsers and devices and even goes over some fine points of proper XHTML. She finishes with some sage words on choosing and registering a domain name and comparison shopping for domain hosting.

The checklists at the start of each chapter and little "Budget Threat" sidebars make Web Design on a Shoestring a handy desk companion for any money-strapped office. And isn’t that every office these days? --Angelynn Grant

From the Publisher

Now more than ever, individuals and companies alike are pinching pennies. But that doesn’t mean your web site needs to suffer. In fact, the economy shouldn’t even matter. Whether you’re experiencing great cash flow or a dismal downturn, there are all sorts of things you can do to make your web site and your workflow better. And author Carrie Bickner makes it easy.

This shoestring book is about more than pinching pennies. Sure, it will save you money, but it’s also best practices–-the things that save you time and enable you to put your energy toward creativity. My most favorite things about this book are Carrie’s Chapter Checklists and her writing style. The Checklists give you immediate ways to take action-–whether it’s implementing web standards, cleaning up your design, or making sure you’re not spending too much on hosting--and her conversational tone makes it a fun, engaging read.

Jennifer Eberhardt, Editor
jennifer.eberhardt@newriders.com

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ New Riders Pub; 1st edition (January 1, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 250 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0735713286
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0735713284
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.5 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 14 ratings

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Carrie Bickner

Carrie Bickner

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Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
14 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

William Signer
4.0 out of 5 stars Overall Website Development
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2015
Verified Purchase
good general information
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John Maliga
5.0 out of 5 stars Building a new site? Read this first...
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2004
Verified Purchase
I was talking with a friend who had just had a web site built. It was a simple site with attractive graphics and probably fewer than 10 separate pages. It had no shopping cart, and suffered from the typical Flash intro that interrupted visitors before they had time to explore what they wanted. I offered a gentle critique, and then casually asked him how much he paid to build the site. I could hardly contain my shock when he waved his hand in the air and said, "oh, about $20,000".
If he (and I aim this at any solo entrepreneur, or anyone else with limited resources) had read Carrie Bickner's book first, he might have spent as little as a tenth of his eventual cost, with greater satisfaction, and the ability to update his site more easily and inexpensively in the future. Bickner takes a holistic view, looking at the fabric of the site from initial planning, to hosting, to web standards. She's also ready with suggestions along the way to economize, whether it's by backing-off features you can't afford, through savvy design choices, or in careful selection of service providers.
Be warned: this book assumes a fairly broad array of skills and knowledge that one person alone might not likely hold. You may gloss over her suggestions for planning, usability, copywriting, and design without understanding their necessity. Likewise, the technical discussions of CSS, XHTML, content-management, and web hosting may be too detailed or obscure for your liking or experience. This is not a guide for beginners. If you've never launched a site before, use this book with trusted colleagues who have, and who are willing to share Bickner's perspective.
Though she mentions it only in passing, her New York Public Library Style Guide is a wonderful parallel resource that ties her into the web standards community. Once you tap into Jeffrey Zeldman, Eric Meyers, or other folks in and around alistapart.com, you'll appreciate even more how Carrie Bickner's simple little book is tied to the cloth of the web universe. This is a handbook (not a cookbook) that you might have around for a while.
4 people found this helpful
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John Davey
4.0 out of 5 stars Practical advice for the low-budget designer
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2003
Web Design on a Shoestring is divided into two parts: Production covers planning the site and marshaling assets; The Tools covers content management, standards compliance, and web hosting and domain registration.
Ms. Bickner's theme is that proper planning will keep your project in line and your clients' expectations in check. The point almost goes without saying, but the value in this book is its practical approach that is backed up with checklists and planning documents to put the advice into play.
Plenty of real-world examples inform this book. Chapter 7, for instance, shows a step by step transformation of a web page built on tables and presentation tags into a standards-compliant page based on CSS. I have read a couple of other makeover articles, but Ms. Bickner does a superior job of showing the before and after and describing how to get there. In the process, she makes a compelling case for the value of standards compliance in terms of efficiency and results.
Some sections I found difficult to understand, and while it might be me, I think some editing was needed.
My notes have a number of sections to re-read for solutions to problems I have encountered and for things I want to do better. The sections on planning a site are required reading, and I personally found the CSS makeover to be instructive and actually inspiring. The style is informal but not overly chatty, with good charts and instructive examples, and with suggestions based on sound judgment.
Despite some unevenness, this book has value for anyone making the step from tagging pages to developing full web sites. While the focus is on the small-scale or part-time designer, Web Design on a Shoestring has lessons for anyone who works with limited time or resources.
9 people found this helpful
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Richard J. Cirminello
1.0 out of 5 stars disappointing, at best
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2005
I wanted to like this book. I really did.

As a web designer who has worked on many 'budget' sites, I was hoping to glean some insight into streamlining my workflow to rock out a great site at a great price.

Unfortunately, the book didn't do that. True to it's name, however, many of the sites it references as examples do look, well, cheap.

For example, one of the sites mentioned in the first chapter cost $2500 (according to the book), consisted of lousy (really low quality) photography, large blocks of text which don't ever seem to make any point, and the site owner didn't even get his own domain name or hosting account! All he gets is four meaningless pages with bad photos and you can't even squeeze the low cost of registering a domain in the $2500 budget?!

I mean, what the heck is that?

Since when are cutting the domain name and hosting out GOOD ways to save money? It seems they also cut out the main reason for the site because even after looking at it several times, I don't see the point.

Furthermore, how are users supposed to find the site?

And if anyone did find it, what would they use it for?

I honestly think this client could have saved $2500.

A look at the site of the 'shoestring designer' responsible for this 'creation,' it is easy to see how the point was missed. Her site consists of mystery meat navigation, really really really small link text that only appears when you mouse over really really little squares (and the squares are on the right, the text that appears is centered a little lower on the page), the text images used as headings are all but illegible, and this site also rambles on with long meaningless blocks of text. Does it validate? Yes. But is there a valid reason for this site to exist? I think not.

To be fair, if you're a novice designer, you might be able to find some good information about standards and CSS, but I'm afaraid you might also mistake some of the poor examples as 'good design.' I am sure you can find something else out there that is better, however.

If you're already designing sites of any size larger than 4 pages, then I am afraid there is little here of any value.

In any case, don't waste your money.
15 people found this helpful
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