The Principles of Beautiful Web Design

by Jason Beaird and James George

Book Overview

The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is the ideal book for anyone who wants to design stunning websites that provide a great user experience. Perhaps you're a developer who wants to understand how... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 098057689X
• ISBN13: 9780980576894
• Release Date: December 2010
• Publisher: Sitepoint
• Length: 170 Pages
• Weight: 2.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Tremendous resource for web site design

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 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.

A must read for anyone who wants to get a better understanding about Web Design

To call "The Principles of Beautiful Web Design" by Jason Beaird a primer on Web Design does the book and its potential readers a disservice. The book speaks to those who pick it up in a language that is accessible and peppered with humor, making it very easy to follow and a highly enjoyable read. The title offers an excellent overview aimed at those who do not have a background in graphic or web design but need to get past the initial obstacles in order to translate the "idea of a web site" into a working design. Beaird goes, step by step, through the ins and outs of the design process, layout schemes, effective use of color, texture and typography and how to select images that will help your web site deliver its message in the most professional way. Throughout all the chapters, the author uses a case study of a (real) tile company to illustrate the application of all the concepts he presents. Whether you are new to Web Design or simply don't design web pages yourself (maybe you manage web designers, but don't know enough about Photoshop), this book is a must read that will get you understanding in no time the fundamental concepts of this important discipline.

For Web Designers

I'm more interested in web design, than programming, so for me, this book was delicious! As the previous reviewer mentioned, this book isn't a book that will teach you how to code or write css/xhtml, it is a feast for the eyes of all those sites you looked at and wondered how do they do it? Throughout the book there are examples of beautifully designed websites, and while I love going to cssmania, and cssremix, there is something better about looking at something in print, and then being able to read how they did it, and why it works.. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that a lot of principles of photography apply to web design, as I love photography too, and its just a great read with some really inspiring words and designs.. in one word, inspirational!

A book that has been missing for years...

This book should be read by EVERY beginning web designer, as well as the seasoned professional, for a great review of the steps in the design process of building web sites. Jason walks the reader through his process of designing web sites from more of a design view rather than a code view. He explains what colors to use, what fonts to use, graphic design rules applied to web design and also shows plenty of up to date examples of web sites that every modern day web designer should know about. Having met the author after reading the book, I can vow that the passion Jason has for the web and design is represented well in The Principles of Beautiful Web Design. Buy this book now, you wont regret it. If you dont learn anything new, this book will atleast solidify that you are on the right track to designing for the modern web.

Wow - a gap that has needed filling for years

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.