The Non-Designer’s
Web Book
Review by
Pat Ray
By
Robin Williams
and
John Tollett
Peachpit Press
320 pages, paperback, approx. $25
Robin Williams
has devoted her writing career to producing easy-to-read books that explain
design concepts to nondesigners. With this book, she has collaborated
with John Tollett to produce a book on Web design.
The book
claims to be for people creating their first Web page. Don’t let
that scare you away. It has good information for everyone. There are many
pictures and example Web pages, which I find especially useful.
I’m
going to touch on two of the five sections of the book: "Design Issues
on the Web" and "Color, Graphics, and Type."
We start
with a repetition of the basic design principles outlined in Design
for Non-Designers (a great book reviewed in the September
Signature) as they apply to Web design.
- Alignment:
Pick one—left, centered, or right—and use it on everything
on the page.
- Proximity.
Squint your eyes at the screen, and see what groups of items fall together.
Are they the groups you had in mind?
- Repetition.
The pages in the Web site should look like they belong together. Repetition
makes it happen. Besides unifying a Web site, it is much easier for
your visitors to get around.
- Contrast.
If two elements aren’t the same, make them very different. Create
a focal point on your screen. Squint at the screen again to see what
stands out; you may be surprised at what appears to be the focal point.
Design Principals
Now we go to the bugaboo of many a hated Web site: design.
Here are
some of the principles they recommend for you to use.
- A simple
plan. Make a list of the information to be included in the site.
Now create an outline, or even better, use sticky notes to create a
flowchart. You can keep rearranging the sticky notes as you decide topics
would be better in different places.
- One-size
surfing. Remember that many people still have smaller monitors or
use laptops to surf the Web. Make sure your initial screen fits in a
640 x 460 space. (Twenty pixels are used for the menu bar.)
- Navigation
based on the site itself. Let the information and topics for the
site determine the navigation scheme you use.
- Text
labels with the graphics. Some people surf with graphics turned
off, and some people use text readers to get around. If you don’t
have text labels for your navigation links, they cannot use your site.
- Typography.
Use sans serif on screen.
The book
also covers color theory, bit depth, and resolution. There’s a lot
of information about graphic file types and how to use them. In addition,
there are tips and tricks for using Adobe PhotoShop to create certain
effects.
The book is comprehensive and includes far more information than I can mention here. I find it very useful, and recommend it to you.
