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Message from Dean - May 8th 2007
I am currently testing out a new version of the APF Bridge Component - If you notice any errors within this demo store please drop me a line.
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This is one of the best web design problem solving books I've read to date. This is a great buy and keep book! I loved it and I'm sure you will too.
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I spend my time flipping from designer to developer in the assignments for my classes and projects I pick up on the side. I am facing a semester full of Asp.net so I wanted to use the time between Summer classes and the fall semester to shore up a couple of things on the design. So I have been spending the nights sharpening my flash skills and improving my markup with web standards in mind.
I had been interested in picking up Web Standards Creativity: Innovations in Web Design with XHTML, CSS, Dom Scripting since it was released and I came upon the opportunity to obtain in exchange for reviewing the book. This is not a bad deal if you spend as much money on books as I do.
Most of the books I have picked up regarding web standards have been very basic and contain very vague examples. It seemed like I would always end up a little short of my learning goals at the end of these books. Friends of Ed assembled some of the premier web designers in the world know for not only their creativity, but their belief in web standards as well. Ok let's dive in and see if the book was worth the wait.
The book is divided into ten chapters and each author has his own chapter. In that chapter, the individual authors bring something different to the web standards table and provide their own little learning experience. The book was laid out a little differently than I thought it would be providing colorful pages which made the reading experience more enjoyable and was welcome break from the black & white of most technical books.
What I liked about the book
I thought every one of the authors brought something the table that I could use in my own projects down the road. The coverage of CSS in this book is top notch and anyone looking to learn a few new tricks will enjoy the first three chapters. Chapter four Jeff Croft makes light of the fact the .png file format is a viable choice for web graphics. His commentary really explained the advantages and limitations of the different image formats. Another highlight of the book would be the DOM scripting techniques presented in the third section and I felt all three chapters provided useful techniques. I found that the text size section of Evan Marcotte's chapter very useful and I cannot wait to use this technique. I found many of the tips given by the authors simplified things that I perceived as too difficult to pull off and after discovering the ease of use I cannot wait to experiment on my own projects. I thought the color of pages in the book made for a more interesting read. I also enjoyed Rob Weychert's chapter on Typography because it refreshed my knowledge of font types and techniques that I have failed to use recently.
What I didn't like about the book
I wish it would have been a bit longer as it was only 288 pages. The second part of the book focuses on bringing print techniques to the web maybe it is because I have limited experience with designing print publications and I wish these chapters would have be a little more detailed. I would like to have seen a couple of more chapters on DOM scripting, but Friends of Ed has another book that really dives into this area.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed reading this book and working through the examples. This is one of the better technical books I have read in awhile the presentation is clean and concise. I took many useful tips away from this book and I can't wait to experiment with them. I came away from this book hungry for more examples from the author's which lends itself to the quality of the content. I hope Friends of Ed will come out with a sequel and expand open the topics presented even further.
{[Jeff]}
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The authors of this book have really done a wonderful job. The cases they discuss are as original as they are useful for real-world application.
It was refreshing to read a book about web standards that started not completely at the bottom. The authors will require some knowledge of HTML and CSS prior to reading this book, and that's good, since there already are so many beginner books available out there.
What struck me mostly was the inspiration I got from various examples in the book. It made me want to test the code and experiment further with the explained principles.
I can recommend this book to anyone who is already familiar with web standards and would like to have an entertaining read to broaden their thoughts on certain design problems.
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Contains a lot of project described by fine designers. I know web standards very well, but with this book I've received a lot of inspiration and acquired some new tecniques that I was not aware.
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This book is a bunch of use-cases developed by PRO technicians in Web standards (but Andy Budd, the author of the essential CSS MASTERY, have only written the introduction).
While some of the topics are of great interest, i can't help to feel a bad habit when reading them: the book does not follow a straight line to deploy the info, it's more like a collage rather than a well structured painting.
I also find the layout not such usable (a little paradox for a book that also talk about Web usability): reading the electronic version of the book the continuous change of background start boring me (and tiring my eyes) after 20 pages (i suppose the paper version must be better).
That said it's not a bad book, but neither a masterpiece.
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