Creating Killer Websites

David Siegel is truly a master of this craft. Despite flames by his obviously narrow-minded, envious detractors, Siegel's message is this: unify graphic and informational content in a way that will amaze your clientele and keep them coming back for more. This book sets the standard for thinking "outside the box." If you are a minimalist, or prefer the latest in Flash/Shockwave over-the-top design the book is equally relevant. It is not about "design your site exactly like this," but an inspiration to spark your own creative juices.Don't be scared off by Siegel's nay-sayers. Take the book for a test drive. You won't regret it.

I decided one day to teach myself web design. Im a student and also an experienced print designer and I found "Killer Web Sites" an invaluable tool. The two books I used in creating my web site were this book and a Visual Quikstart Guide to HTML. "Killer Web Sites" bridged the gap nicely between the HTML coding and my creative ideas for my site. I got excited when I found that my school uses this very same book to teach web design. Not only does it show how, it explores marketing theory. It also contains examples of "Killer Web Sites" and goes into detail of how they were constructed and the problems solved along the way. I've read reviews complaining that the sites in the book are done in Photoshop and Debabelizer on a Mac and therefore useless to PC users. Those reviews are written by persons not willing to put forth a little effort as far as I'm concerned. I created my web site on a PC! Debabelizer is a nice tool for converting graphics to web-friendly, but it's not necessary. Any Photoshop user with half a brain can still output web-friendly graphics from Photoshop alone. And also, Photoshop is the ultimate in graphics creation software in the first place. You think your going to get nice graphics from using Paint Shop Pro? And for those complaining that killer sites don't work on earlier or text-based browsers. Siegal explains that you have to establish who will be viewing your site and what they will be using to view it with. You then make a decision as how many colors and graphics, screen resolution and what not. Simple enough, if your still in jam, make a text-based alternative. Doug Molidor Lounge 9 from Outer Space

Dave Siegel's rewrite of his classic "Creating Killer Web Sites" contains enough new information to be worth buying even if you read the first edition. Besides bringing us up to date on current and future developments such as Cascading Style Sheets and new graphics formats, Dave admits to having found better ways of doing several things since the first edition, and he shares his new knowledge with us. For example, the inventor of the "single-pixel GIF" now feels that it is generally more effective to use nonbreaking spaces to control layout, and he shows us how. My only caveat would be that this is not a book for someone who has no experience with HTML, as Dave himself points out. Also, his sections on graphic design and layout assume that everyone has access to Photoshop version 4.0.1. For those of us stuck with Microsoft Image Composer or Paint Shop Pro, some of the information will not be useful. But all in all, the book is well worth the money. (I stayed up all night reading it!)

One great gauge of a technical books usefulness is if it grabs you with techniques and examples which lead you to say "I (or we) need to do that!" several times. Reading Creating Killer Web Sites was like that. I found myself constantly thinking of applications for our own web publications and saying just that. Creating Killer Web Sites (2nd edition) is stimulating and chock full of great ideas for web design. It is concerned with the building of what the author calls "Third-Generation sites". These are web sites that are conceived by design and not just by technological ability. The book is my first introduction to actual design issues on the web. Most of the time I have, I admit it, focused on the technical issues of what can be done rather than how it looks. This is probably a common error to all start up's. However "Third-generation" web developers have evolved beyond technical issues to a wedding of the technology and aesthetics which are peculiar to the World Wide Web. A balance of functionally and design. It would have been quite unsatisfying for the focus be just on ascetics. Developers need actual how to's. The book satisfies by providing plenty of roll up your sleeves, lets get to work technical issues as well. The nitty gritty how to use specific HTML tags, how to select software tools, the latest on CSS, and covers the issues involved with color reduction giving concrete examples on how to deal with them. If you use photoshop you will feel right at home here as many of his examples show you how to optimize your work flow. You'll also find techniques and principles which you will need to build sites for today's 4.0 and the coming 5.0 browsers. The book also provides real perspective when it comes to the subject of cross-browser compatibility - which is always a topic on our Cut and Paste JavaScript. While I found myself disagreeing with some "pronouncements" on what makes good design I nevertheless highly recommend the book for web veterans and new developers alike. Jeremy J. Black Infohiway Cut and Paste JavaScript Reviews END

You've already seen the reviews above this one,and you're trying to figure out what Seigel hasthat Lynda Weinman doesn't. Yes, this book displays Dave's ego rather dramatically. Yes, it's not very good HTML. (Dave freely admits that.) Yes, it's Mac- and Netscape-centric - the guy's a graphic artist, after all. And yes, it's full of tricks and color/compression information that any web guru should know by now. But the main reason to buy this book is this: you'll learn about *design*, about layout and whitespace and color and fonts and links and intuitive interface, the kind of things you won't get out of "Deconstructing Web Graphics". Half the people who work with HTML today started out with computers and haven't spent a lick of time in an art & design course, and this book will benefit them the most. In another note, Dave finishes the book with a wish list for future HTML and browser additions, including z-axis layers, absolute positioning, multiple layers of transparency, downloadable fonts, and site-wide style and color control - and guess what features Netscape and Microsoft's 4.0 browsers are touting the most? Layers, positioning, stylesheets, and PNG support, all of which are no doubt making Dave a very happy designer right about now. (And, hopefully, giving him plenty of material for a second book.) Plain and simple, the man knows exactly what he's talking about. If he inflates his ego a little along the way, he's probably earned it.