Professional Web Design: Techniques and Templates (CSS and XHTML) [With CDROM]

As the title says, this is a book on the design of web pages. It is focused on producing designs that reflect many of the modern trends in web design thought. There was a time a few years back when the web sites of all the major companies used Macromedia Flash to animate, that is create movement, on their home pages. For instance, the authors report, quite accurately I think, that such animation has not proven suitable for the majority of web sites. Like Microsoft's "clippy" paper clip "help" thing that used to appear at the bottom of Word/Esce./Etc. a lot of people really don't like moving things. These authors really like mortised sites. This design philosophy uses tables within tables within tables to provide the view the authors are trying to create. The designs they give in their fifty included templates are of the mortised type. The trouble with mortised sites is that you have to receive all of the information for the site before the browser can begin drawing the tables on the screen. With todays fast processors, this is not usually a problem. But they can get dreadfully slow if you are accessing them over a slow line, especially if they include a lot of graphical images. The back of the book says this is for Beginner to Intermediate. This does not mean the Front Page level beginner. You'd best have some idea about HTML before you start this one. I'd say it's an intermediate level book, which is reflected in the wording on the back page.

No book is ever perfect but some books are sure close and this happens to be one of them. This book teaches mortising which is break up sites in smaller chunks for faster downloads. I really appreciate the part about slicing that went a step further to say which slices to be saved in Gif or Jpeg and the rational. Mr. Eccher please be a little more lucid with some of your explanations and it would be nice to show alternatives, for example masking. Yes this book focuses on photoshop but if you know how paint shop pro some of the design techiques should be lucrative.

I have an intermediate knowledge of HTML, some CSS, and javascript. I know a little bit about photo editing (with Paint Shop Pro 7). I was looking for a webpage design book that wouldn't overwhelm me with hoards of technical code, or tons of eye candy and graphic designs I couldn't do without having to take a 12 month course in Photoshop. This book was JUST what I was looking for!It starts by briefly discussing changes in web design over the years as well as refreshing your memory of table and css code that's used throughout the book and in the 50 designs included in the cd. Then, it goes on to explain what mortising is, without boring you with endless babble, and why you should apply it in your designs. At this point, the author has made his case and then proceeds with teaching you how to do it.There's plenty of examples, source code, as well as tips on how to use certain aspects of Photoshop to do everything in the book. (Perfect for me since I had never used PS).50 designs + source code/files + referrence books + trial software = icing on the cake!Worth every penny! Get this now!

I'm a graphic designer. For years I've explored multimedia and web design on my own, but wasn't sure my approach was right. This book not only confirmed what I did know, but explained the stuff I didn't. The templates alone are worth the price. Yes, I believe every designer worth their salt, print or web, should own PhotoShop and knowing HTML is helpful. But I must disagree with the reviewer who said this book isn't for WYSIWYG/Dreamweaver users. Understanding *why and how* HTML, CSS and nested tables function from a coding standpoint only makes working with Dreamweaver easier. This book is a MUST for anyone wanting to design web pages--for a living or otherwise. THANK YOU CLINT ECCHER for writing the book I'll never have time to write.

I am a developer and can make a web page do anything I want it to do. But my design skills (prior to reading this book) were for the most part, 2 columns black text on white background. maybe a picture here or there. I could not design a site to save my life. This book has changed all that. After reading it, excited with my new found knowledge, I went to the web designers at my company (probably some of the best anywhere) and told them everything I learned. Thier reaction was "duh... We know that..."Even without the templates, this book will open a new world to non designers. The templates are just icing on the cake. If you are a developer, that can make a web page sing, but have the design skills of a slug, then this book is for you. It will give you the design skills that you need to do anything you want!