Head First Web Design: A Learner's Companion to Accessible, Usable, Engaging Websites

I am not a web designer but I hope to get some knowledge on the topic.

I am a self taught web designer and this book puts everything I know into context and has helped me to produce better quality websites faster. If you are already creating great websites or you have been on a web design course then this book may not be for you. This book also helps you to provide better communication with your clients and how to organise yourself better by working methodically. One of my biggest flaws in web designing was accessability to disabled user and this book really helped me. I would recommend this book if you want to fine tune your web designing skills.

Do yourself a favour and don't make the same mistake I did with buying the paperback hard copy... it isn't printed in colour and as a 'design' book, it was much harder to get a grasp on contrasts and layout because it's all greyscale. Got hold of the ebook now which is all in colour and it's WAY better. As for the content, it's great to have a web design book that isn't all about code or the UI of a creative program for mockups. It's thorough, goes into a lot of basic concepts without being condescending, and I've found it a valuable learning tool, as I have with other Head First books.

I've been a huge fan of the "Head First" series of books since they were launched and have used them to prepare for several Java certifications. Their book on design patterns is the most readable book on the subject. Recently though it seems to me that they are rushing out books on every subject under the sun. That is painfully evident in this ill-thought-out book. I don't know who the authors have in mind as being the typical audience for this book. On the one hand they assume you are conversant in HTML and CSS but then spend a couple of chapters telling you how to organise a navigation system and how to speak to the customer. A lot of it is common sense to anyone who has spent time browsing the web. It's probably safe to assume that anyone who has bothered to learn HTML and CSS will have spent a fair amount of time online. Incidentally, anyone looking for a well-presented, visual, introduction to CSS could do worse than check out the CSS section of the "Head First" book on HTML&CSS. There were things I liked about this book. The section on colour palettes contained some useful recommendations. The section on accessibility was excellent and is a subject often overlooked because it's not as much fun as playing around with colours and layouts. The section on the business angle was useful, though by no means comprehensive. What disappointed me most about this book was the number of omissions. Despite emphasising accessibility and knowing your audience( ironic since the authors don't appear to as far as the book is concerned ) no advice is given about browser compatibility. While some might argue that this is a CSS implementation issue it is a consideration you make prior to writing the code therefore is a design issue in my book. Fair enough they probably didn't want to get into a pile of CSS workarounds for IE but would it have been so bad to provide a few links for further information? There is no discussion on the subjects of including media players in your site, or the pros and cons of Flash and Javascript. In summary, if you know nothing about writing code professionally and have taught yourself HTML and CSS you'll learn something from this book but you'll still be left with a lot of questions. If you are pretty experienced you'll find yourself skipping large chunks of this book. One final point, anyone who is familiar with the Head First format will know that it is great for explaining tricky concepts in a memorable way. Since the concepts addressed by this book are not hard to understand there is not such a great advantage to the Head First format. I really hope O'Reilly aren't going to sell the "Head First" brand down the river in its pursuit of a quick buck but that's the way it seems to be going. What else would explain the absence of a book for Sun's web services exam. There have been enough people in the Java community asking for one. Too long to write for too limited an audience I suspect.

Excellent book for beginners. Many good exampels with step by step guides. Explained in a "easy to understand" way. I strongly recommend this book for beginners.

Although I don't design web sites for a living, I do manage my own for my business. Also, I have been asked by a local company or two to refresh their sites. Although my background is in architecture, that does not automatically make one an 'expert' in web design, so when I saw that this was available, I bought it. It helps if you are familiar with HTML and CSS but you can learn some of that along the way. I haven't been all the way through it yet, but the advice is sound and the examples are interesting. One client example is the Foo Bar Steakhouse and Saloon. (FUBAR?) Anyone that's been in the military will appreciate that 'in' reference. :-)

Llegó antes de lo esperado. A pesar de que tiene algunas anotaciones (lo pedí de segunda mano, era consciente de ello y no me molestan), la conservación del libro está perfecta y con embalaje bien protegido. Es un libro que te explica esos pequeños detalles que pueden no verse a primera vista pero hacen que de forma inconsciente al usuario le atraiga más nuestra web. Está en inglés y lo explica de una forma muy amena.

The Head first collection is well written and easy to understand... I didn't read this one but read others... It was shipped very promptly!

Head First brought us another a masterpiece in the usual brain-friendly way. After studying this book you'll 'master' pre-production, information architecture, navigation, color, and even accessibility. WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR? If you can answer 'YES' to all of these; 1) you're comfortable with XHTML & CSS but don't have experience with web design. 2) do you consider yourself a web developer (PHP, Ruby on Rails, .NET) and want to become a better web designer? 3) do you need to understand web design for a course or your line of work? TABLE OF CONTENTS (in brakets are my comments) 1 Building Beautiful Web Pages (know your audience, design for your users) 2 Pre-Production (start with paper, pencil, and a big fat pink eraser) 3 Organize Your Site 4 Layout and Design (some golden rules incl the Golden Ratio) 5 Desinging With Color (the color wheel & more ... excellent!) 6 Smart Navigation 7 Writing For The Web (...is different!) 8 Accesibility 9 Listen to Your Users 10 Evolutionary Design (keeping your site fresh/design updated) 11 The Business of Web Design (great basic stuff for those turning 'pro')

I gave this book 5 stars because of the many aspects for web design it offers. It gives you some ideas on the actual design process and how to organize and clarify the site. Well written and enjoyable to read, it goes beyond a boring how to book. I checked it out of the library twice before I purchased it. If you want to learn to get past a standard form web deign this book is for you. I found it fun and motivating as well. Enjoy. Jnetti