Clint Eccher has designed professional Web sites for seven years and now makes some of his designs available as templates through his own site (A5design.com) and with his new book, Professional Web Design. You get 50 templates (each of which features home and second-level pages) and careful instructions on how to adapt them for your own use. Along the way, Eccher offers sound advice on good Web design practices; a little bit about HTML, cascading style sheets, and JavaScript; a look at JPEGs and GIFs; and some insight into "comping" (sketching) a site design for the client's approval.

For the most part, however, this book addresses just those aspects of Web design that readers will need to know in order to successfully utilize the templates. These are designed as "mortised" sites; that is, they are built with nested tables and sliced GIF/JPEG combinations, the kind of design made easy with the advent of Adobe's ImageReady and Macromedia's Fireworks. Although this is not a how-to about using those applications or about creating such sites from scratch, Eccher does help readers learn how to debug and otherwise adjust the source code in order to successfully implement the designs. In addition to trial versions of the major applications, the CD-ROM also contains the JavaScript Cookbook and HTML/CSS Developer's Resource Guide, which provide lots of cut-and-paste source code for all kinds of features (games, sounds, pop-up messages) that can be added to a Web page.

One caveat: despite the templates, this book is too detailed for beginners. For those with some experience, and especially for developers who lack design skills and like the A5design style, this book amounts to an intensive Clint Eccher brain-picking seminar. He offers a few tricks that can be applied to any design (like his tips on how to drastically reduce file sizes) and some good general advice (for example, "Do not get attached to the work" because a client may just decide against it). --Angelynn Grant

From Book News, Inc.
The new edition of this guide for beginning to intermediate Web designers includes 15 new Webpage templates (there are 65 now), and expanded coverage of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), client-side scripting with JavaScript, and server-side scripting with PHP. Topics include the concepts of mortising images and nesting tables; understanding graphics; branding a site; enhancing usability by simplifying architecture and developing consistent navigation; creating a comp (a mock-up of a page design); breaking up the comp into HTML, testing the page in Internet Explorer and Netscape, and uploading the site; tips and tricks for images, navigation, and color; and case studies for low-, medium-, and high-content designs. The final chapter describes how to customize the templates.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Book Description
Whether you are an intermediate Web designer looking to take your sites to the next level or a more experienced designer looking to improve your professional skills, you will find the tools to meet your needs in Professional Web Design: Techniques and Templates, Second Edition. This completely updated version of the best-selling book features the 50 professional-quality, license-free Web design templates from the original, as well as 15 new templates, all of which can be easily customized and extended. Each ready-to-use design includes a homepage, and one second-level page, and the framework to build subsequent pages. All of the specific techniques that are required for building these and other highly usable sites have been updated to cover the latest technologies, including HTML, XHTML, JavaScript, CSS, Photoshop CS, and PHP. Also included are five new HTML e-mail templates, an increasingly important marketing tool. Detailed tutorials and hands-on projects teach both basic and sophisticated design concepts, including how to create designs for low, medium, or high content sites and the strengths and weaknesses of each. The new edition also includes four new chapters on Cascading Style Sheets, using client-side scripting, creating dynamic sites, and an overview of the new Web designs. It covers important topics such as client- and server-side scripting, security, and using databases to update a site’s content. KEY FEATURES * Covers the entire design process, from gathering requirements and creating a comp, to enhancing usability, designing for scalability, developing architecture, and simplifying navigation * Explains technical and aesthetic graphics issues, from when to use GIF or JPEG images to which design will best suit your content * Teaches you how to upload your site to a server and test for compatibility with Web browsers On The CD-ROM * EXAMPLES - Includes all of the samples from the book * SOFTWARE - Includes an Open Source Web server package (containing Apache, MySQL, PHP, and Perl), trial versions of Adobe Photoshop CS and Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004, and JavaScript CD Cookbook 3rd Edition and The HTML/CSS Developer’s Resource Guide software * WEB SITE TEMPLATES - Provides the 50 license-free, ready-to-use templates from the original edition, 15 new templates, and 5 HTML e-mail templates SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS PC: 600 MHz Intel Pentium III processor or equivalent; Windows 98 SE (4.10.2222 A), Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003; 192MB RAM (256 MB recommended); 280MB available disk space; Color monitor with 16-bit color or greater video card; 1024x768 or greater monitor resolution; CD-ROM drive; MAC: Mac OS X 10.2.6 and later, 10.3; 500 MHz Power PC G3 processor; 192MB computer RAM (256MB recommended); 320MB available disk space; Color monitor with 16-bit color or greater video card; 1024x768 or greater monitor resolution; CD-ROM drive

Book Info
Through hands-on projects, examples, and case studies, this guide teaches both basic and sophisticated design concepts for creating professional Web sites. Covers the entire design process. Softcover. CD-ROM included.

About the Author
Clint Eccher is an award-winning Web designer with ten years of experience creating professional Web sites. He is the owner of A5designs, a Web design company commissioned by Fortune 500 companies, national non-profit organizations, and small businesses. Eric Hunley is an instructor and Web developer. He has taught and developed numerous courses over 25 different courses at the University of Arizona Extended University, including many on Macromedia Web design. He is also the author of Web Design with Macromedia Studio MX 2004 (Charles River Media). Erik Simmons is an independent designer and illustrator, and the principal of the online creative studios Vividology.com and FullAfterburner.com. He has won multiple design awards and has served such clients as Hewlett-Packard, UTI, the U.S. Government, and several national non-profit organizations.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Whether you are an intermediate Web designer looking to take your sites to the next level or a more experienced designer looking to improve your professional skills, you will find the tools to meet your needs in Professional Web Design: Techniques and Templates, Second Edition. This completely updated version of the best-selling book features the 50 professional-quality, license-free Web design templates from the original, as well as 15 new templates, all of which can be easily customized and extended. Each ready-to-use design includes a homepage, and one second-level page, and the framework to build subsequent pages. All of the specific techniques that are required for building these and other highly usable sites have been updated to cover the latest technologies, including HTML, XHTML, JavaScript, CSS, Photoshop CS, and PHP. Also included are five new HTML e-mail templates, an increasingly important marketing tool. Detailed tutorials and hands-on projects teach both basic and sophisticated design concepts, including how to create designs for low, medium, or high content sites and the strengths and weaknesses of each. The new edition also includes four new chapters on Cascading Style Sheets, using client-side scripting, creating dynamic sites, and an overview of the new Web designs. It covers important topics such as client- and server-side scripting, security, and using databases to update a site's content. KEY FEATURES* Covers the entire design process, from gathering requirements and creating a comp, to enhancing usability, designing for scalability, developing architecture, and simplifying navigation* Explains technical and aesthetic graphics issues, from when to use GIF or JPEG images to which design will best suit your content* Teaches you how to upload your site to a server and test for compatibility with Web browsers On The CD-ROM* EXAMPLES - Includes all of the samples from the book* SOFTWARE - Includes an Open Source Web server package (containing Apache, MySQL, PHP, and Perl), trial versions of Adobe Photoshop CS and Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004, and JavaScript CD Cookbook 3rd Edition and The HTML/CSS Developer's Resource Guide software* WEB SITE TEMPLATES - Provides the 50 license-free, ready-to-use templates from the original edition, 15 new templates, and 5 HTML e-mail templates SYSTEM REQUIREMENTSPC: 600 MHz Intel Pentium III processor or equivalent; Windows 98 SE (4.10.2222 A), Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003; 192MB RAM (256 MB recommended); 280MB available disk space; Color monitor with 16-bit color or greater video card; 1024x768 or greater monitor resolution; CD-ROM drive; MAC: Mac OS X 10.2.6 and later, 10.3; 500 MHz Power PC G3 processor; 192MB computer RAM (256MB recommended); 320MB available disk space; Color monitor with 16-bit color or greater video card; 1024x768 or greater monitor resolution; CD-ROM drive

FROM THE CRITICS

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