The Principles of Beautiful Web Design: Designing Great Web Sites is Not Rocket Science!

This is one of those books that satisfies all my needs at once. I've given it 5 stars, but please multiply them by 5. There's absolutely nothing in this book that I can complain about. The only problem is that I bought a lot of other design books in the past; what am I going to do with them now?First off, I am a very difficult customer. I look at a book from many different angles - especially books that are supposed to teach me something. I usually have a problem or two or more with most books. The cover and the content SEEM of value, but upon opening the book one realizes very quickly that it's just a waste of money. This book, however, explained to me in ONE text everything I ever had to research on the Internet. Then I had to sift through thousands and thousands of results, and this book narrows it down to personal favorites. That's okay - after having read the book written by a pro, it's just very obvious that his preferences and judgement are better than mine.One of my favorite topics in the book was the discussion about color psychology and text. I've read plenty of books on these - they were all boring and the author explained nothing. In this book it was like having a face-to-face discussion. And, that's only ONE example.In short: if you're looking for something comprehensive, that teaches you MORE than what it claims, and gives you resources to study, AND teaches you how to look at your own designs critically, then you've found the answer in this book. You can look at something else, but believe me, I've most probably bought them already, and they don't get close to what is offered in this comprehensive package.

Solid entry into understanding the design part of web design. I use this as a required text in a college course I teach. I've found it does an excellent job of filling the gap often left by books that focus more on software than the process designing a site. Those with a graphic design background will find that there isn't much new information here, although the author does a great job of detailing how graphic design principles map onto web design. The intended audience is certainly those that are either learning web design or already have the technical skills (e.g. coding, Dreamweaver, etc.), but don't have a graphic design background. I highly recommend it. Another good on is White Space is Not Your Enemy, although it doesn't focus solely on web design.

It's a very good book and I truly enjoyed reading it. Though I have to say that it didn't go far enough for me. I think it's perfect for a beginner though, it gets you started quickly.

This is a textbook for a class I'm taking. It's good, the author is funny. For a text, not bad.

Bought it with the idea of getting a grasp of the basic. It served this purpose during the first two chapters. It gives a good explanation of colours, layouts and the like, but then it gives too much programming stuff that a rookie wouldn't understand. I think it's also my fault as I thought it was intended for rookies. It clearly states: "The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is the ideal book for people who can build websites, but are seeking the skills and knowledge to visually enhance their sites."

As a developer, this book lets you understand the mindset of a designer and gives any non-designer good tools to design beatiful web sites.

If you know how to program but want to learn how to avoid making your websites look amateur, this is the book for you.

A great book to have on hand if you get stuck on a design.

The formatting is odd. Had some useful tips but overall is a modest book. Has trouble forming a cohesive theory of design. Lots of fluff in between the useful tips as well.

Antes consideraba que con que una aplicación fuera funcional sería suficiente y que la funcionalidad siempre va siempre antes que lo estético, sin embargo, siempre estamos inmersos en el diseño, no solo de diseño web, sino en presentaciones, documentos para el trabajo y escuela.Soy una de las personas que le cuesta mucho trabajo el escoger colores que funcionen, las letras me parecen iguales y usaba cualquier imagen que encontrará primero, y es precisamente para este tipo de personas a las que va dirigida el libro, presenta conceptos muy claros y básicos del diseño, además de que da consejos útiles y herramientas. Sé que habrá tendencias muy nuevas, como lo explica con el círculo de colores, pero como dije es básico para personas que no no están familiarizadas con el diseño.Recomendable y seguro como lo usaré frecuentemente como libro de referencia.

I am halfway through the book and I have to say, there is everything you need to know about webdesign aesthetics. This could actually be the only book you really need. It will prepare you to analyse and understand why you would go for this style rather than another, you get to know why some designs work better than others. A must have for every junior designer, or student. Not recommended for experienced ones who already know all these things. However, there are precious useful web links to discover.

This book provided plenty of examples of web design to support its theses, but honestly none of them look good enough to make me want to listen to its advice. One of the case studies features an atrocious orange and purple design for a site about monkeys (?) that seems totally inapplicable to what a real website one of us might want to design would be like. I later designed a website about a year after reading this, but nothing stuck with me enough for me to still remember it a year later. Next time I design a site, I would consult more modern examples than this dated tome.

Really enjoyed this as a resource for those looking for a foundational guide to web design... this will open the doors to delving deeper.... very well written