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Before I say anything about the book let me remind you that Mark Boulton is a Web designer who begun as a graphic one. Many graphic designers who want to design for the Web don’t get the difference and they think all they need to do is to transform a static layout for a magazine into a design for the Web. Boulton doesn’t think so. So we ‘re very lucky he wants to share with us such an interesting load of knowledge.
His book, 5 simple things - A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web, was impressive because he not only shares his view as a professional, experienced designer but he does it so smoothly, almost magically. I admire writers who select to be simple and stay away from showing off. Boulton could show off anytime, but he doesn’t.
The chapters
Introduction
Research & Ideas
Typography
Colors
Layout
Introduction is the only chapter not so strongly connected to design. In this one Boulton shares his story and how he started as a designer of a small company, he moved on and became a Senior Art Director in a big agency and how in the end decided to leave all behind and start with his own tiny design studio. I love this part of the book but I feel it is not properly connected with the following chapters. I ‘d like to learn more about Boulton’s thoughts on this but not in this book.
The next chapter, Research & Ideas was the less important as long as it regards me. It is good to see how a famous Web designer approaches his work, but I think every designer has his very own way. However I liked a lot the Brief section of the chapter.
The rest chapters cover what Boulton does best. I won’t say much about the Typography chapter. If you visit this website you must know I adore typography. I believe Boulton is simply one of the best in this area. The chapter was great.
Regarding the Color chapter I thought I have learned everything I needed to during my studies as a physicist. This is only partially true, because this book helped me start over from a different point of view. I love Boulton’s analysis on Hue, Saturation and Brightness along with the examples. By showing us certain examples of websites where a specific color scheme works well for each one of them is valuable, because it proves that good design leaves our ego out of the story.
The last chapter Layout is the best one. Grid design, the Rule of Thirds, the Looking Room, the use of negative space and most of all putting it all together in a real website. What more could you ask? This chapter is really fascinating. Boulton writes and illustrates the way a great dancer performs on a stage in front of a difficult audience. In the end he deserves out applause.
-Should I buy this book -Yes!
5 simple things - A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web is a book that worths every single cent (or should I say penny) your going to spend for it. It costs £12. Don’t download this book from a torrent. Don’t get it from a friend. Just buy it.
“The complete manual of Typography” written by J. Felici is a great book for those people who want to start with the basics of typography and move on. The book explores typography in depth and it can be used as a reference as well. Web designers and graphic designers are the main groups of people who would care about it, but the subject is practically open to anyone.
The book is divided into two main chapters. The first one has to do with the basics of typography e.g. differences between fonts and typefaces. It also covers the evolution of typography through time.
The second part of the book examines the correct use of typography and it covers all details about it.
Typography is a kind of art and technique at the same time and it is interesting to see how things have changed through centuries depending on the use. For example, Garamond, a typical typeface for everyone who uses a computer, was born in the 16th century because of people needs to create a more legible and at the same time elegant type. Garamond, changed the way people used typography and it remains unchanged and heavily used until nowadays.
If the previous paragraph feels a bit geeky, I must add that “The complete manual of Typography” involves a series of practical guidelines which can be applied anytime to our designs. Kerning and manual kerning, leading (or line-height, if you prefer), the differences between serifs, sans-serifs and slab serifs, the aesthetics of ligatures are only a few subjects this book covers.
“The complete manual of Typography” is one of the best on the subject and it is highly recommended to anyone who likes or has to work with typography. It is also cost-effective via Amazon ($32).
Web Standards Creativity was written by 10 gurus of modern Web design. Some of them are M. Boulton, A. Clarke, S. Collison, J. Croft, R. Weyhchert.
Well the truth is that anyone of them could write such a book alone (some of them have already done it) and we would have a great result. What happens when an all star team does it? We have a book way appealing.
Each paritcipant writes about a specific issue e.g. typography or technique e.g. grid design applied before in real projects. In other words this book consists of a 10 chapter tutorial given by the best ones.
This book can be read by a Web designer of any level. New ones or amateurs will find a resource of high quality for their own projects. Experienced ones can certainly learn more and keep this book open by the beginning of a new design.
Of course everything written goes hand in hand with Web Standards. An extra is the technical review made by M. Holzschlag and the introduction made by A. Budd.
I can’t say if a chapter is better than another but I need to point out the fact each chapter guides a designer from abstract ideas to an applied work. This is a characteristic which makes the book special.
What I didn’t like was the colored backgrounds of the pages which make reading difficult. There are pages which are so tiring that you want to leave them to go forward.
Overall, this is a book which should be in every Web designer’s desk. Need I say more?
Subtitle: The greatest second act in the history of business.
A book for Steve Jobs, a book he turns down. This is an effort to depict Job’s personality through several events in his life.
First of all I have to say it is a book easy to read. It was written to become a best seller and it did become a best seller. The authors of the book take the story from the very beginning: the birth of Jobs, his childhood, his growing up, how Apple was born, how Jobs became a king, how he was pushed away from Apple and his great return of course.
The book is breathtaking. You can’t stop reading. Sometimes you feel you are an invisible guest of the story and you see it happen right in front of your eyes. Nevertheless, this book is not a Jobs’ colophon. Page by page we see a man who is raw, angry all the time, someone who gets what he wants by crying, an egomaniac. We can also see some of his virtues, but not too many.
What I expected to find but I didn’t was a real portrait of Jobs’ character. Instead there is a detailed description of the background of crucial events which made him be an idol. For me this wasn’t enough.
So if someone wants to read a book during his summer vacations, iCon is a perfect choice. If he wants to find out more about Jobs he will have to dig deeper into other resources.
This book by Andy Budd was published in 2006 but only lately I had the opportunity to read it. Each time I see such a book I wonder whether I should buy it when there are so many good sources online. This time the answer was pretty easy: you should buy it because it is an exceptional book.
CSS Mastery has to do with several ways which make a designer’s life easier and more profitable. The book covers both beginners and experts but my opinion is that if ine wants to take the most of it he shouldn’t be a starter.
The book is full of examples and techniques on several design issues. It can be read anytime with any order. It ends with two excellent case studies written by Simon Collison and Cameron Moll which include all said at the previous chapters.
I personally found very useful the chapters about round corners and CSS hacks, which always trouble me. During the reading you realize that you can apply all the techniques explained before because what is written is valid and precious.
Such books reduce the need of research on CSS, a research which can be proved to be time consuming and tiring. Of course I highly recommend this book.
Before I say anything about the book let me remind you that Mark Boulton is a Web designer who begun as a graphic one. Many graphic designers who want to design for the Web don’t get the difference and they think all they need to do is to transform a static layout for a magazine into a design for the Web. Boulton doesn’t think so. So we ‘re very lucky he wants to share with us such an interesting load of knowledge.
The book is divided into two main chapters. The first one has to do with the basics of typography e.g. differences between fonts and typefaces. It also covers the evolution of typography through time. 
Web Standards Creativity was written by 10 gurus of modern Web design. Some of them are M. Boulton, A. Clarke, S. Collison, J. Croft, R. Weyhchert. 
Subtitle: The greatest second act in the history of business.
This book by