Designing for the Web: Getting Started in a New Medium gives you the basics you'll need to make the transition to Web page design. It is geared toward designers who need to hit the ground running.

This book won't teach you how to design. Instead, its aim is to give you the information you need to adapt your skills to the Web. It's a quick-start guide to introduce you to the Web and the unique considerations of Web design. Although the book is aimed at designers, the techniques in this book are useful to anyone who wants to put graphics online.

In this book you'll find:

• A brief introduction to the Web
• A step-by-step tutorial on putting together a Web page from scratch
• Pointers on creating graphics that are optimized for the Web
• Recommendations for reducing download times of images
• Instructions for transparency and interlacing to Web graphics
• A discussion of the impact of different browsers and platforms on your design
• A listing and demonstration of the HTML tags used for design
• Tips on using background images and colors in Web pages
• Guidelines on navigational and orientation aids, and on conceptualizing your Web site as a whole

Designing for the Web is written by designers who were pioneers on the Web. Accumulating the basic facts and special tricks for effective Web design was a slow, gradual process. This is the book they wish they had when they were just starting out: one that would quickly teach them the lay of the land, so they could concentrate on what they enjoyed doing most -- designing!