Everything you need to know to create professional web sites is right here. Learning Web Design starts from the beginning -- defining how the Web and web pages work -- and builds from there. By the end of the book, you'll have the skills to create multi-column CSS layouts with optimized graphic files, and you'll know how to get your pages up on the Web.
This thoroughly revised edition teaches you how to build web sites according to modern design practices and professional standards. Learning Web Design explains:
How to create a simple (X)HTML page, how to add links and images
Everything you need to know about web standards -- (X)HTML, DTDs, and more
Cascading Style Sheets -- formatting text, colors and backgrounds, using the box model, page layout, and more
All about web graphics, and how to make them lean and mean through optimization
The site development process, from start to finish
Getting your pages on the Web -- hosting, domain names, and FTP
The book includes exercises to help you to learn various techniques, and short quizzes to make sure you're up to speed with key concepts. If you're interested in web design, Learning Web Design is the place to start.
Jennifer Niederst Robbins was one of the first designers for the Web. As the designer of O'Reilly's Global Network Navigator (GNN), the first commercial web site, she has been designing for the Web since 1993. She is the author of the bestselling "Web Design in a Nutshell" (O'Reilly), and has taught web design at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and Johnson and Wales University in Providence. She has spoken at major design and Internet events including SXSW Interactive, Seybold Seminars, the GRAFILL conference (Geilo, Norway), and one of the first W3C International Expos.
Comments about oreilly Learning Web Design, 3rd Edition:
I have learn the basics of html/css reading this book. Thanks a lot to all of you who make this book get writen and printed. :)
8/17/2011
(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)
4.0
Anxiously Awaiting 4th Edition!
By Educator
from PA
About Me Designer, Educator
Pros
Concise
Easy to understand
Helpful examples
Cons
Too many errors
Best Uses
Novice
Student
Comments about oreilly Learning Web Design, 3rd Edition:
I utilize this as a text in my online class - it is a wonderful resource. More than ready for 4th edition as a 2007 publishing date is "old" for this industry.
10/21/2010
4.0
Detailed, professional
By University Art Teacher
from San Francisco, CA
About Me Designer, Educator
Pros
Helpful examples
Well-written
Cons
Best Uses
Student
Comments about oreilly Learning Web Design, 3rd Edition:
I use this book to teach intro web design at an art university. It's diagrams are easy on the eyes and it doesn't oversimplify the code. I think the chapters on image prep and design process valuable as well. I think it
4/23/2010
(3 of 3 customers found this review helpful)
4.0
Waiting for the 4th Edition!
By rabiakar
from Peoria, IL
About Me Educator
Pros
Easy to understand
Helpful examples
Cons
Not comprehensive enough
Best Uses
Intermediate
Comments about oreilly Learning Web Design, 3rd Edition:
I already taught the book in my college and liked most of it. In particular, the detailed, hands-on exercises were very helpful; I used them as lab exercises. On the other hand, I wish the textbook is oriented as a teaching textbook, accompanied with some instructor resources. I have built all of my lectures, class slides, and homework assignments. Compared to other textbooks I am using for other classes, this book caused me a lot of preparation. I wish there is a series of exercises to give as homework. No solutions are necessary if you don't have availability. Also, the 2007 edition is relatively old; a newer edition is absolutely due.
1/21/2010
(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)
5.0
Best Text for Beginners
By Rhabyt
from Santa Cruz, CA
About Me Educator
Pros
Accurate
Easy to understand
Helpful examples
Well-written
Cons
Getting old
Best Uses
Novice
Student
Comments about oreilly Learning Web Design, 3rd Edition:
I use this as my primary textbook when teaching beginning web design in University. It's great in every respect, except that its 2007 date was a while back. Bring on the Fourth Edition!
1/23/2009
(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)
5.0
A Fabulous Find - Very Helpful!
By k pippy
from Undisclosed
Comments about oreilly Learning Web Design, 3rd Edition:
As a beginner, I found this book to be very helpful & very resourceful! It's not one of those books where it is ALL text. The examples give you a great hands on experience and it is written in a way that is not overwhelming -I am still using it as a reference for my class projects. Great Job Jennifer - thank you!
11/7/2008
(5 of 8 customers found this review helpful)
1.0
Poorly Edited
By ron
from Undisclosed
Comments about oreilly Learning Web Design, 3rd Edition:
I found the errata and error section to be 14 pages long. This is the third edition of this book and I really expect more from a publisher that is in the technical book business. Surely I will not purchase the fourth edition. I'm almost afraid to check the errata for Web Design in a Nutshell 3 edition book by the same author. I think there is too much of a rush to publish a book and not check the content. Otherwise this could really be a good book, but I'm not thumbing through 14 pages every time I read a few pages of the book. The author is well known Web Designer and just can't understand the incompetence involved.
3/30/2008
(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
4.0
Learning Web Design
By E.Gray
from Undisclosed
Comments about oreilly Learning Web Design, 3rd Edition:
Many Thanks! to Jennifer Robbins! As an amateur I have dipped into web design sporadically over the years. The last serious work was in Dreamweaver in the late '90s, and the table markup and design code generated was a bit frustrating at that time. So when updating skills I was delighted to find a very good set of tutorials on CSS in the 3rd edition of Learning Web Design.
Frankly, I hadn't noticed the error problem. All of the examples I worked performed as advertised. The exercises built upon previous skills developed, as they should, and gave sufficient practice to learn the notation. The book is well written and clear, the layout readable, in contrast to a number of CSS books out there which are dense and unreadable.
I particularly appreciated all the references to articles and web resources that have been fun to peruse. Thanks again!
12/13/2007
(5 of 5 customers found this review helpful)
4.0
Great for Beginner in XHTML & CSS; Some Minor Inconveniences
By Anonymous
from Undisclosed
Comments about oreilly Learning Web Design, 3rd Edition:
I hate to give such a short and sweet review but here it is "In a Nutshell" no pun intended. I searched for a book that would teach me beginning HTML, XHTML and CSS with no tutor. I knew a little HTML from trial and error in my personal ebay auctions. This book is certainly a great choice! The teaching order and examples really helped me to understand these topics and where to go for many additional resources. I would highly recommend this book interested in learning about beginning XHTML and CSS.
There are many errors in the book chapters, examples and tests. The book comes with a download from the website that is used for exercises in the book. Apparently there must have been more than one set of examples or someone other than the author set them up. There are some mismatches in what the book says and what the downloads actually look like. I found the errors to be a challenge to correct, so I really didn't mind that so much. The other chapter text and test errors are numerous and too many to mention. The books website offers an errata that covers many of them. If you do buy this book, be prepared to encounter many of these errors.
Finally, I have had to return the book twice now for poor binding. I am a very careful reader and do not bend back pages, etc. The bookstore promptly exchanged the book, but it appeared the new book might have the same defect. And...today after experiencing the same defect, I have called again to have the book replaced. Having the problem the first time, I was extremely careful in how I handled the book. A large piece of the book is about to fall out of the binding. However, I consider the book highly informative and hope that its replacement will have a better binding.
If you are new to XHTML & CSS, and have a little HTML knowledge, this book is perfect for you. (Provided you can put up with the minor inconveniences.)