Feature Book Review
October/98

 

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Building better Web Pages Building Better Web Pages
by Rebecca Frances Rohan
Academic Press ISBN 0-12-593185-9 (paperback)

Reviewed By
Daniel ffolliott

This easy-to-read book offers a clear and practical roadmap not only to building superior web pages, but maintaining and advertising their existence as well. Intermediate Web Designers, without formal design school training, will benefit particularly from reading the book. In fact, they will be quickly on their way to transforming their existing web creations into the "outstanding" class. All they have to do is follow the step-by-step principles outlined so elegantly by this accomplished and experienced Web communicator. In addition to providing extensive information on downloadable Web design resources, this book should materially transform the way you design Web pages in the future.

Here is a sampling of some of the things you will learn about improving the effectiveness and appeal of any Web site. Critique an existing site and see what improvements you can learn to make.

 

Is your site guilty of? This book will show you how
A sign which says "Welcome to............" Achieve cross-browser support
Sound included just because you know how Users will feel safe buying from your site
Dark photos hanging on a plain background Make updates easily using templates
Photos with no framing around them Boost download speed by reducing file sizes
Images looking as if they don't belong Achieve a unified professional look
Text hard to read over a heavy dark background Create amazing backgrounds
Your background texture has been seen before Make your own 3-D buttons
Divider bars and buttons not matching well Lose those ugly borders around hot graphics
Art jammed up against sides or top of your site Adopt a practical approach to fonts
Broken graphic links and outdated URLs Find the hex number for any colour
No alt, height and width attributes in <IMG> tags Draw traffic to your site with <META> tags
Your pages exceeding 25k in size (double that for interlaced GIFs or progressives JPGs) Make transparent background GIFs
   Smooth image "jaggies"
   Precise layout with invisible tables
   Know when to choose GIF or JPG format
   Add drop-shadows and cast-shadows
   Feathering inset frames for photos
   Attract search engine spiders
     

See also The Morgan Kauffman Publishers Web site and Rebecca Rohan's Homepage