Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
4th out of 67 books
—
29 voters
Designing with Web Standards
by
Jeffrey Zeldman (Goodreads Author)
You code. And code. And code. You build only to rebuild. You focus on making your site compatible with almost every browser or wireless device ever put out there. Then along comes a new device or a new browser, and you start all over again.
You can get off the merry-go-round.
It's time to stop living in the past and get away from the days of spaghetti code, insanely nested t...more
You can get off the merry-go-round.
It's time to stop living in the past and get away from the days of spaghetti code, insanely nested t...more
Paperback, 456 pages
Published
May 24th 2003
by New Riders Publishing
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,483)
Forward-compatibility. Reduced site maintenance. Increased extensibility. More users. And big cost savings. That's what this book is about. Jeffrey Zeldman (of the The Daily Report) leads readers through the why's and hows of building web sites using the established standards of Structure (XHTML), Presentation (CSS), and Behavior (ECMAScript, DOM). Since most web site decision-makers don't yet grasp the significance and business reasons for moving to a pure, standards-based design, Zeldman spend...more
Sep 30, 2011
Dhuaine
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
amateur web developers
Shelves:
tech
I heard this book was like web standards Bible. Well... Let's just say I was seriously underwhelmed. Sure enough, it came out a long time ago, when web standards wasn't something every web professional had heard about, and in my humble opinion it should have stayed as 1st edition, if the re-release was going to be as lazy as it turned out to be. I read 3rd edition and it's just ridiculous: a 2009 book talking about IE5, Netscape, table-based layouts, and spending well over hundred of pages on co...more
May 12, 2011
Chad Warner
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
web designers
Shelves:
non-fiction,
web-design
This is one of the most popular web design books, and for good reason. Zeldman has been around the Web for a long time, and his experience shows. This book teaches the concepts, history, and technologies behind web design for beginning and intermediate designers. It’s unexpectedly funny; I laughed out loud several times at Zeldman’s puns and wordplay.
The book is about why and how to "write structural, semantic markup styled with CSS for sites that are relatively lightweight, portable, findable,...more
The book is about why and how to "write structural, semantic markup styled with CSS for sites that are relatively lightweight, portable, findable,...more
Zeldman, one of the founders of the Web Standards Project, writes an intelligent and convincing argument for the use of web standards recommending a variety of combinations from XHTML, XML to CSS for different types of website purposes and cases. The book carefully points out flaws in the current model of design and coding, and quickly explains the benefits of creating sites that are forward compatible and pay attention to accessibility. Part 2 and 3 of the book go into great detail about implem...more
Jan 22, 2008
Bob
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Any web designer tired of being an amateur and trying to do work like a pro.
Amazing perspective on web standards. This, literally, changed my working life and convinced me of the importance of web standards and a semantic approach to site architecture.
Mar 22, 2010
David
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Experienced "old-school" web designers, new designers
Jeffrey Zeldman & Ethan Marcotte's Designing with Web Standards (3rd Edition) provides an excellent overview of the issues involved in designing for the web using a modern, standards-based approach. It is by no means a comprehensive treatise on the technologies that must be mastered (that would require 1000s of pages). It does serve admirably as a guide for experienced designers intent on upgrading their skills, or beginners that need an overview of the field.
As such, a significant portion o...more
As such, a significant portion o...more
Nov 18, 2007
Dl
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Web Developers just setting out to design with web standards
Shelves:
web-tech
Jeffrey Zeldman is an icon in the Web Design world. His insights are obviously from experience and compelling. He manages to describe the importance of web standards in a way that the suits should understand and Web designers/developers will appreciate.
This reads like a 2nd edition book. The examples used are dated, although still valid. Often he references the first edition of the book which is a little awkward. The tone is light-hearted, with geeky jokes and comments here and there. It's a qui...more
This reads like a 2nd edition book. The examples used are dated, although still valid. Often he references the first edition of the book which is a little awkward. The tone is light-hearted, with geeky jokes and comments here and there. It's a qui...more
One of the big 'standards-based development guru' books. First half deals with the problems, second deals with solutions using web standards-based approaches. Amusing and easy to read. Some review for those who already know about XHTML, CSS, etc, but still some good points worth learning.
Includes topics on:
standards-based web design, costs of not following standards (duplication of effort, maintenance, user experience, etc), brief history of web standards and practices, intro to XHTML and struct...more
Includes topics on:
standards-based web design, costs of not following standards (duplication of effort, maintenance, user experience, etc), brief history of web standards and practices, intro to XHTML and struct...more
A lot of the issues raised in this book are sort of irrelevant to someone DIY-ing websites, but I still learned a whole ton about semantic markup and how one would effectively incorporate behavioral aspects into web sites. The reason standards based web design is so important, after all, is because in the end it seems to save a lot of time and headache, and so these lessens may prove fruitful. If you read this though prepare to skim past large sections where he rants about how the web was in the...more
Oct 05, 2011
Jennifer
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
web-design-and-development,
favorites
I have been building websites since tables were the latest and greatest in the web and animated gifs were everywhere.
I have seen some reviews here that think this book is out of date and not relevant and that is the undermine it's importance. Once this book came out I had an argument with employers and clients as to why things had to be done differently because it was finally a discussion of web standards to a much larger audience.
If you are in the web design and development field today it migh...more
I have seen some reviews here that think this book is out of date and not relevant and that is the undermine it's importance. Once this book came out I had an argument with employers and clients as to why things had to be done differently because it was finally a discussion of web standards to a much larger audience.
If you are in the web design and development field today it migh...more
This book (and its companion, Developing with Web Standards) are great resources for the modern web developer. People who have been in the industry for years are prone to carry over methods for dealing with web design issues that do not stand the test of time due to difficulty maintaining such solutions. These two books server to educate both veteran and novice web developers on how to create and maintain websites in such a way that they support rapid development & maintenance while focusing...more
Good stuff. A little bit too much attention to 4.0 browsers, but I'm willing to forgive that since it's a five-year-old book. A great introduction into why web standards increase usability and accessibility (to the able-bodied and disabled alike). I should have waited for the third edition, otherwise: excellent stuff.
Aug 04, 2009
Jerel
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone
Recommended to Jerel by:
Matt King
There is not enough space to write everything that I have learned from this book. Suffice to say this is a must read for any person who is or has a desire to write web pages or who is looking for a web designer and why you would want one who uses web standards in their coding. It is in my permanent collection of tech manuals.
While I enjoyed "Principles of Web Design" as a good introduction to Web Design, I found this one superfluous, more like an update of the previous book according to the new standards. As a first book, it would be OK, but, me coming from the previous one, getting this felt a bit of a waste.
Extremely informative and a wonderful source on the right way to develop/build a Web site. It's been a while since I've read it and I'm sure there are newer versions out there to stay current. I enjoyed his informal writing style and presentation of such a potentially dry subjective.
When this book first came out (2003?), I consumed it several times over to make sure I'd learned everything that I needed to learn. I would highly recommend this to any new web designer who is interested in learning the right way to build web sites.
You know you've crossed the point of no return into nerdhood when you find yourself cackling over code examples in a Jeffrey Zeldman book at 11pm on a Saturday night. Yup, that's me, and this book is great.
Aug 18, 2011
Rae
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
web-design_usability,
2011
Lot of theory and some code to help explain.
This book is a must read if you learned HTML several years ago or if you're just learning it. Otherwise it'll say a lot of what many newer books say and can be skimmed for interesting content or new ammunition to back up why you're building a site the way you are.
This book is a must read if you learned HTML several years ago or if you're just learning it. Otherwise it'll say a lot of what many newer books say and can be skimmed for interesting content or new ammunition to back up why you're building a site the way you are.
Think strategically and save some time. This is an invaluable resource for web designers and developers. It changed the way I think about everything related to the field.
A lot of info to cover. This is for the person who is going into the field of web design. A lot of CSS & html context. Shows you how to build web pages from scratch. Each edition gets better.
This is the book that helped me go from "dabbling in web design" to understanding the big picture. This book pushed me into interactivity, and I've never looked back!
lucid exposition on clear and stylish design with CSS to modify HTML. :-)
Life changing for me - it changed the way I coded pages entirely.
Life changing for me - it changed the way I coded pages entirely.
It's an okay book, lots of fodder for thought. Better for people newer to web design and those old school programmers still on tables.
Great book, but by the time I read it, I was pretty much already designing with web standards... so it was more of a review.
A must-read for anyone getting into or already working on the Web. This book will change the way you build websites.
I love good good design. zeldman knows how to do it. best book on design I have ever read.
Il verbo degli standard per la progettazione web diffuso dal miglior predicatore in circolazione. Irrinunciabile.
Jan 07, 2009
Andres
added it
kick started my world of css. whatever, it was a fun read about html. poo.
Great overview book for someone entering the world of web design
แล้วก็อ่านไม่จบ ไม่ค่อยเข้าใจแสลงคุณพี่เค้า อ่านไปได้ครึ่งนึงเองมั้ง
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Goodreads is hiring!
Dubbed King of Web Standards by Business Week, Jeffrey Zeldman was one of the first designers, bloggers, and independent publishers on the web, and one of the first web design teachers, beginning with "Ask Dr Web" at zeldman.com in 1995. In 1998, he co-founded and designed—and from 1999 to 2002 he directed—The Web Standards Project, a grassroots coalition that helped bring standards to our browser...more
More about Jeffrey Zeldman...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
