The Designer's Web Handbook: What You Need to Know to Create for the Web

by Patrick McNeil, Malcolm Ed. McNeil

You know how to design. But you can increase your value as a designer in the marketplace by learning how to make that design function on the web. From informational sites to e-commerce portals to blogs to mobile apps, The Designer's Web Handbook helps any designer understand the full life cycle of a digital idea, design, production and maintenance. The best web designers create not only beautiful sites but also sites that function well--for both client and end user. Patrick McNeil, creator of the popular web design blog and author of the bestselling Web Designer's Idea Book , volumes 1 and 2, teaches you how to work with developers to build sites that balance aesthetics and usability, and to do it on time and on budget.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Website Design

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 20, 2012

Reviews

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book for beginners who are breaking out in the web designing world after having learned how to blog here and there using Wordpress themes and the like. While this does not provide you the architectural knowledge in modifying or creating CSS themes, it still offers the marketing and designing terminology that you should learn to explain your concepts and requests to your client and/or your web designer if you are going to be working along side one instead. I think the handbook is a good way to start off your web designing exploration.

[Dominic Aquilina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately I was not the target audience for this book -- I read it as a web developer hoping to gain insight and improve my skills in the world of design, but the book was intended for those transitioning the other way.

That said, my position gives me a unique insight about how useful the provided advice is to budding developers in the current web ecosystem, particularly considering that I was early in my career at the time the book was published and have been watching the technology evolve ever since. This review -- and its associated rating -- focuses on that viewpoint rather than my enjoyment of the text, as subjectivity would be unfair.

That said, a lot has changed since the book's original publication in 2012. In 2020 it is fairly clear that the content hasn't aged particularly well. The turbulent nature of ever-changing web technologies is ill-suited to being captured in a static medium.

First, the good. The book isn't poorly written by any means. Its intended reader is a talented designer with absolutely zero experience in building web pages, and were that reader to use this medium they would have a solid approximation of the foundation for web design. It assumes you know nothing of the field and attempts to share with you a snapshot of what the (2012) landscape looks like and provide you with numerous resources to reference when you are actually doing the work therein. Some of these resources I still use today.

However, many are outdated. The book makes references to techniques that I'm aware exist but would never use in a modern project (e.g. flash videos, replacing text with images). Since that time the emergence of far better techniques, as well as widespread browser support for what were at the time emerging features, has made those practices obsolete. They are given significant credence, so a new developer at the start of their first major project would start off on very much the wrong foot were they to follow the book's advice to the letter.

Furthermore, while there are numerous links provided for additional reading, the text itself does little to help train the reader to implement any of the concepts it discusses. I understand that the purpose of the book is to make one aware of what's out there, but I don't believe I would feel at all ready to take on a new project if this text were my only resource. Everything is discussed at such a high level that it would be impossible to do alone.

In the end, I find it very difficult to recommend the book in the current scene. If you are in the target audience, it may be of some use, but know that you will need much more help if you want to take your web project past conceptualization.

[Plum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas and nicely illustrated, my only criticism was that the wireframes section and design to that point could have been longer.

[VaultOfBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

By Patrick McNeil. Grade: A+
You know how to design. But you can increase your value as a designer in the marketplace by learning how to make that design function on the web. From informational sites to e-commerce portals to blogs to mobile apps, The Designer’s Web Handbook helps any designer understand the full life cycle of a digital product: idea, design, production and maintenance.
This book is definitely a web designers handbook. To put it simply, the book outlines the different trends and styles of website and what makes them tick. You can think of it as a comprehensive documentation of web design as it is in 2012.
Inside the book the author, Patrick McNeil, gives valuable information and tips about the accepted norms in web design and how to get there yourself. Think of it like this, someone is looking for a new profession or a new hobby. Web Design seems like a good way to go to them but like a good designer they don’t want to put out just anything that pops into their head.They need to look at the trends that have already been established and how they can best compete with everyone else.
As an experienced web designer myself, I found this book particularly helpful and interesting because it gave me the chance to see if there was anything I might have missed in my own learning and a chance to catch up on the latest trends. This book was just published this year (2012) so it is very current. It’s actually the newest book on web design I could get my hands on as the others are dated a few years back. And with the recent changes made in HTML, CSS and gosh, even Internet Explorer, a new and updated book was needed. I mean, blogs are great but to have all of this information in one place is even better.
You can basically thumb through the book, stop and pick up on a title that excites you most, and by all means, dig in. You can trust this author to have a new and exciting look and spin on things. From fixed size designs to control replacement, from sitemaps to WordPress, every aspect of a website is covered here. I can’t stress enough how easy it is to learn and pick up a bunch of new tips on how to tackle your next design project.
If you haven’t caught on by now, Patrick McNeil is the author of the ever popular Web Designer’s Idea book series. The whole series, including this book, is such a terrific asset for web designers. It helps us see in a snapshot the most modern ways to go about designing sites and finding ourselves with happy clientele. I mean, I want to do a great job and get great reviews, don’t you? Taking up this series which, by the way, has just as many pictures as it does words, would be a good idea for any designer. It’s a way to see what you can do and what everyone else has been doing. To learn from your community. The web design community.


Originally reviewed at http://vaultofbooks.com/

[Nettie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very succinctly outlines what you should know when creating a website. It outlines the considerations with enough description for a basic understanding and lists various full-color examples, websites for reference and books for further reading. When needing to understand the basics of designing a website, start here. It will inspire your creativity and give you a lot of food for thought when reading the more technical how-to books.

[B]

Skimmed.

[Hom Sack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clearly delineates the role of designer and that of others in the creation of web sites. The author offers very good advice.

[Rachael Knudsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

To the point with invaluable info. Exactly what I was needing.