Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
14th out of 67 books
—
29 voters
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
by
Jason Beaird
Tired of making web sites that work absolutely perfectly but just don't look nice?
If so, then The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is for you. A simple, easy-to-follow guide, illustrated with plenty of full-color examples, this book will lead you through the process of creating great designs from start to finish. Good design principles are not rocket science, and using t...more
If so, then The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is for you. A simple, easy-to-follow guide, illustrated with plenty of full-color examples, this book will lead you through the process of creating great designs from start to finish. Good design principles are not rocket science, and using t...more
Paperback, 180 pages
Published
February 7th 2007
by SitePoint
(first published January 31st 2007)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
843)
An excellent introduction to the artistic side of web design. Beaird teaches that a site’s design should reinforce the identity of the organization, and expertly shows how to use layout and composition, color, texture, typography, and imagery. He explains the concepts of design theory, then applies them to a website that he builds throughout the book.
The book is full of colorful illustrations and screenshots from many websites. I read the first edition from 2007, so the specific CSS and graphics...more
The book is full of colorful illustrations and screenshots from many websites. I read the first edition from 2007, so the specific CSS and graphics...more
This is a very helpful book that looks at web design less from a technical perspective but more from an aesthetic point of view. It covers all the basics you'll need to consider, from typography and layout to color schemes. It was very easy to understand and very helpful. The color illustrations and examples were fantastic. Then again, much of this is common sense. The main point is that the site themes and color schemes should be appropriate to the task at hand. You don't want to create an ulti...more
Definitely an "essentials" book. Filled in some gaps in terminology and techniques that I was familiar with, but couldn't identify by name. The flow of the book, from business card to website (*.PSD) was interesting. And the chapter on typography was surprisingly very good and immediately helpful.
In all, the book wasn't as thorough as I'd hope, and the designs developed and covered were circa 2007-styling, pre-buttony Obama, so while the mock up and samples were nice, they also looked overtly d...more
In all, the book wasn't as thorough as I'd hope, and the designs developed and covered were circa 2007-styling, pre-buttony Obama, so while the mock up and samples were nice, they also looked overtly d...more
Una bella panoramica di tutti gli argomenti che riguardano il design di siti web, dalla scelta dei colori a quella dei font, passando per le foto, gli spazi e gli ingombri. Naturalmente, vista anche la lunghezza, non scende in tutti i dettagli per ogni argomento, e non può inculcare il gusto grafico, ma dà buone basi e consigli per evitare le combinazioni più disastrose. Una buona base con buoni spunti per approfondire gli argomenti.
If I was a beginner, I would definitely give this book a better rating. As an intermediate, I can only give it three stars, mainly because some of the examples he uses are kind of cheesy. However, this is a well-organized book and as an experienced web designer it does offer a nice refreshing view of the author's design process. Definitely a worthwhile read (or skim) for anyone in the web field.
This book emphasizes on creating Standard Websites. It covers aspects such as color-schema, layout, Importance of choosing appropriate fonts, importance of each color, impact each color makes etc.
Except for the 'Textures' Chapter, rest of the book is informative. However this is book is not much help to create Web Applications. But its helpful for creating portfolio, blogs kind of websites.
Except for the 'Textures' Chapter, rest of the book is informative. However this is book is not much help to create Web Applications. But its helpful for creating portfolio, blogs kind of websites.
Aug 23, 2009
Dhuaine
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
webdesign beginners who are serious about it
Shelves:
tech
This book covers all essentials needed to start webdesign job: sketching, layouts, color, typography, imagery plus copyrights, and mending it all together. The information in it is accurate and although it is presented in very reader-friendly manner, the book provides a lot of useful data. There are no gaps filled with unnecessary words here. Beaird presents process of designing a website on an example, but - unlike in Sexy Web Design - it was actually useful, although a bit cheesy.
I can recomm...more
I can recomm...more
May 01, 2009
Shaphron
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Shaphron by:
Parlicoot
Shelves:
web-stuff
A very useful book on how to make designing a new website easier for those of us who have no formal training in design. Well documented with case studies, and easy to read throughout, nothing is too difficult to understand, although proper terminology and ways of looking at design, colour, typeography etc is looked at and discussed. I will be going back to this book to refresh myself of it's ideas regularly.
A great overview to web design, split into five sections: layout and composition, color, texture, typography, and imagery.
There are lots of links to useful tools, websites, and blog posts scattered throughout the footnotes.
Overall it's a very informative intro to design, and after reading it through once I'll be using it as a reference!
There are lots of links to useful tools, websites, and blog posts scattered throughout the footnotes.
Overall it's a very informative intro to design, and after reading it through once I'll be using it as a reference!
For a web design noob, this book is a nice place to start. It solidly hits several topics concerned with design elements that are at play when designing a web site to be pleasing to the eye. Especially of interest were links to websites for further reading. The chapters about color theory and fonts were the most memorable and enjoyable.
This book doesn't talk at all about web server configuration, URL re-writing schemes, web frameworks, or Cascading Style Sheets other than to reference CSS as th...more
This book doesn't talk at all about web server configuration, URL re-writing schemes, web frameworks, or Cascading Style Sheets other than to reference CSS as th...more
Absolutely superb, a must read for anyone creating websites!
I have an ever growing library of books on css, html, (web)design and web development but this is definitely one of my favourites, both for its excellent content and for Beaird's warm, friendly tone. I remember having plenty of "light bulb moments" on the first read and get something more out of it each time I dip in (which is freqently).
The first section on layout and composition is superb and has already helped me improve existing des...more
I have an ever growing library of books on css, html, (web)design and web development but this is definitely one of my favourites, both for its excellent content and for Beaird's warm, friendly tone. I remember having plenty of "light bulb moments" on the first read and get something more out of it each time I dip in (which is freqently).
The first section on layout and composition is superb and has already helped me improve existing des...more
from the perspective of a non-designer with aspirations of one day maybe becoming one, this guide is a treat.
Definitely not for design students, this is instead a perfectly-paced, layed-out and easy to digest book for lay persons.
Definitely not for design students, this is instead a perfectly-paced, layed-out and easy to digest book for lay persons.
Eh. Either I'm dense or this book is.
Couldn't even understand the rule of thirds based on the examples given.
Suggested some good websites for inspiration, so I'll probably end up there instead.
Couldn't even understand the rule of thirds based on the examples given.
Suggested some good websites for inspiration, so I'll probably end up there instead.
Un buen resumen sobre tópicos básicos de diseño web, alternando conceptos de diseño con ideas básicas sobre programación front-end. Un buen punto de partida para introducirse al tema.
If you want to go beyond simple coding, if you want to learn the Design principles behind Web Design, this is a very good way to start. I'd recommend it to both developers and designers.
Discusses all the basic elements of good design in relation to websites. It has TONS of websites that are good resources for color palettes, stock images, CSS and just plain inspiration. I learned a couple of things and would recommend it to others. : )
As title says, it covers some principles of web design, like typography, spacing, columns, image editing, and more. Good as a first introduction.
May 03, 2013
Jan Pozivil
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who wants to learn about web design and to majority of my clients ;)
The title sums it up nicely. All the important know-how is there. I especially enjoyed the chapter dedicated to the colour theory.
A great book to get basic for web design. It is well written and illustrated. It is a joy to read.
Very nicely laid out book, with some very interesting content.
This is a great comprehensive treatment of issues in web design. Still, for $40 retail I would have liked more depth in the various areas.
Awesome book. Quick to read and very easy to assimilate the concepts.
Love this book! Glad it's required reading for a class. Great addition to a tech related shelf if you have one. Give it a read.
Alright.
Offers an excellent section on layout, white space, typography and color theory for the uninitiated.
I think this book is a really good primer. Quite easy to read. This book covers the basics of design and can help people get started if they had little or no experience in web design. For those with a bit more experience, or for those who would like a refresher on some topics, you can probably have a quick glance at some sections.
A Great book if you're just starting out, but also good to fill out some knowledge gaps if you're already experienced in web design. I found the Layout and Color Theory Chapters most helpful—as it's always good to know other creatives' work process, and now I also feel more confident with learning more advanced color theory.
This book offers great, albeit short introduction to many of the core concepts relating to web design. The author does a great job of explaining the basics of color theory as well as perspective.
This book was one of the few that inspired me and made me want to go hack away on some new designs and ideas right away.
This book was one of the few that inspired me and made me want to go hack away on some new designs and ideas right away.
An excellent introduction to the aesthetic side of website design. Paired up with the book, Above the Fold, it should give a beginner a very good basis from which to launch into website design
I can recommend this book to every beginner. it covers all essentials needed to start webdesign job: sketching, layouts, color, typography, imagery plus copyrights, and mending it all together.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Jul 04, 2012 06:20pm