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Web Design All-in-One For Dummies
Web designers must wear many hats. Among books on Web design, Web Design All-in-One For Dummies is the one that helps you successfully wear all those hats without losing your head. Full-color illustrations and five self-contained minibooks show you how to be a graphic designer, creative organizer, visual communicator, markup language technologist, and cutting-edge trendsetter, all in one. This book helps you lay the groundwork, follow design rules, test your site, register a domain name, and much more. Web Design All-in-One For Dummies also helps you learn how to choose a Web editor and graphics program, how to make your site accessible to the widest possible audience, and when it’s time to call in a pro like author Sue Jenkins. It’s just what you need to start and manage a great site.
656 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 2009
34 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 5, 2011
A simple, visual reference for beginning web designers. Five books in one, covering many areas related to web design, including planning, designing, graphics, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, web standards, testing, hosting, and search engine optimization.
In her examples, the author uses Dreamweaver for web design and Photoshop for graphic design, but the lessons apply regardless of the tools you use. I especially liked business tips that appear throughout the book, regarding contracts, pricing, project management, and customer relations. These topics are more important for the self-employed web designer than a web designer within a company.
I was bored by the extended coverage of tables. There were many good examples of CSS. The chapter on SEO was my favorite, as it debunked myths and explained what actually works.
Web project phases
Planning: define goals, content, requirements
Contract: create signed document specifying payment, deadlines, deliverables
Design: understand target audience; mock up layout
Building: create functional site with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.
Testing: test with popular operating systems and browsers; validate code
Launch: register domain; buy hosting; publish site
Maintenance: add and update content and design
Contracts
Create a contract similar to the Premium Web Development contract.
Get a 25% deposit before starting the job.
Include a revision clause in the contract, stating the number of included revisions. Bill for additional revisions.
Get written approval for the sitemap, mockup, and final site.
Have the client review the test site and sign off before going live.
Stipulate that the client is responsible for the accuracy and substance of content.
Web standards and testing
Follow accessibility guidelines to make the site more usable to disabled people and search engines.
Validate links, HTML/XHTML, and CSS.
Test in major browsers and operating systems (OSs).
SEO (search engine optimization)
Unethical and/or useless SEO techniques
keyword padding
keyword listing
tag padding
image padding
hidden text
oversubmitting to search engines
duplicate page submissions
SEO techniques
Include keywords in text.
Link keywords to other pages in the site.
Stress keywords with headings, bold, and italics.
Use keywords in title and alt tags.
Use meta tags, especially Description. Keywords isn't used by most engines.
Make page titles complete, informative, keyword-rich sentences.
Create a sitemap and link to it from the footer and head of HTML.
Add a Google Custom Search Engine to the site.
Add breadcrumb navigation.
Additional notes
The site should explain the benefits of the client's products or services to their ideal visitor.
The client isn't always right. If they make unreasonable requests, explain why the idea is bad, then offer alternatives.
Make images as small as possible (10 KB or less, or 30 KB for larger graphics).
The author recommends Lunarpages for domain registration and hosting.
Designate a day for site updates. Have clients send a list of all updates at once, rather than sending as they think of them.
In her examples, the author uses Dreamweaver for web design and Photoshop for graphic design, but the lessons apply regardless of the tools you use. I especially liked business tips that appear throughout the book, regarding contracts, pricing, project management, and customer relations. These topics are more important for the self-employed web designer than a web designer within a company.
I was bored by the extended coverage of tables. There were many good examples of CSS. The chapter on SEO was my favorite, as it debunked myths and explained what actually works.
Web project phases
Planning: define goals, content, requirements
Contract: create signed document specifying payment, deadlines, deliverables
Design: understand target audience; mock up layout
Building: create functional site with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.
Testing: test with popular operating systems and browsers; validate code
Launch: register domain; buy hosting; publish site
Maintenance: add and update content and design
Contracts
Create a contract similar to the Premium Web Development contract.
Get a 25% deposit before starting the job.
Include a revision clause in the contract, stating the number of included revisions. Bill for additional revisions.
Get written approval for the sitemap, mockup, and final site.
Have the client review the test site and sign off before going live.
Stipulate that the client is responsible for the accuracy and substance of content.
Web standards and testing
Follow accessibility guidelines to make the site more usable to disabled people and search engines.
Validate links, HTML/XHTML, and CSS.
Test in major browsers and operating systems (OSs).
SEO (search engine optimization)
Unethical and/or useless SEO techniques
keyword padding
keyword listing
tag padding
image padding
hidden text
oversubmitting to search engines
duplicate page submissions
SEO techniques
Include keywords in text.
Link keywords to other pages in the site.
Stress keywords with headings, bold, and italics.
Use keywords in title and alt tags.
Use meta tags, especially Description. Keywords isn't used by most engines.
Make page titles complete, informative, keyword-rich sentences.
Create a sitemap and link to it from the footer and head of HTML.
Add a Google Custom Search Engine to the site.
Add breadcrumb navigation.
Additional notes
The site should explain the benefits of the client's products or services to their ideal visitor.
The client isn't always right. If they make unreasonable requests, explain why the idea is bad, then offer alternatives.
Make images as small as possible (10 KB or less, or 30 KB for larger graphics).
The author recommends Lunarpages for domain registration and hosting.
Designate a day for site updates. Have clients send a list of all updates at once, rather than sending as they think of them.
July 21, 2012
I liked it. The book teaches very basic but essential HTML and CSS if you wish to start and design a basic website. It also includes basic design standards when designing websites for other people. For example, you learn to create a design mock-up which includes colour pallet, the company name and logo, font etc. for potential clients to see. I reference it here and there and don't regret buying it. I found that some information you can easily find on the web, however something about a physical book in front of me helps to re-enforce information better. I didn't like the books assumption that the reader owned Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 since some of the tutorials incorporated it's use. But MS notepad or a free code viewing software is just fine if you don't own Dreamweaver. Be aware that this book is definitely for amateurs and I wouldn't recommend it for professionals since basic html, css and webdesign standards are things they would (or should) already know. Overall, I recommend this book to amateurs looking for basic knowledge in html, css and design basics.
May 7, 2022
I quite enjoyed this book.
As a web developer, web design comes with the territory.
You need to keep up-to-date on new technologies or you quickly get left behind.
This was a fair book on teaching some web design principles. A lot I already knew, of course!
3.8/5
As a web developer, web design comes with the territory.
You need to keep up-to-date on new technologies or you quickly get left behind.
This was a fair book on teaching some web design principles. A lot I already knew, of course!
3.8/5
March 1, 2014
Good introduction to HTML + CSS. The 'for Dummies' books have this image like they're written for complete computer illiterates but they're just good for anyone seeking to learn a particular skill.
September 7, 2012
it just gives a helicopter view
May 31, 2013
Great starting point to learn web design.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews