Web Style Guide: Foundations of User Experience Design

This is not a book on how to do HTML or how to import graphics. This is a book purely about design features of a web site. Most major web sites that you find pleasing and organized and viewable exhibit the design features in this book. Read it. It is enlightening to say the least and I repeat you will find the good features of well designed web sites embodied in this book. If you are more tuned to throwing technology at the visitor versus being visitor focused then please do not read this book because I want your visitors to return to my site and not yours.

In the last forty years, our fast-paced, future-shocked society has made it harder to comprehend the idea that certain concepts are timeless and enduring. Believe it or not, some things do not have to "improve" every year or be replaced by the latest thing in vogue. That is why enlightened people still read Plato or listen to Beethoven. That is why I am giving this book 5 stars. What it teaches you are classic design concepts, only applied to the Web. Keep it clean and useful, keep it consistent, plan it out completely before you construct a single page. And most important, design it for the intended users, not for your own entertainment. If you are new to Web design especially, this book will get you off to a great start and give you much to think about.

If you are just at the beginning stages of creating a web site - buy this book! It gives you a step by step plan to make sure you think about what you are doing before starting. As the books says "careful planning and a clear purpose are the keys to success in building web sites. . ." This is not a technical manual or a book to teach design. It's a "think about what you want to accomplish" guide. If you want to feel confident you are getting off on the right foot with your web, whether you are designing it yourself or outsourcing, this book will help tremendously.

The book addresses most of the important issues any Web designer needs to know to be effective in using internet communications media. It is relevant to the full range of users and is the best book I've found to date on the subject.

While designing a website, whether experienced at it or not, this book is invaluable. The folks at Yale know Information Design, and this book proves it.