In switching over our software and hardware review sites to a new publishing application, site design is something we put a lot of consideration into. I wish I'd had The Principles of Beautiful Web Design to read as I was going through that process. Content-wise, it is indeed that good -- it's indispensable for Web designers, professional and amateur. It's afflicted by substandard editing, but the high-color, graphic-rich, information-heavy content is superb.

Writing analysis

The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is an unusual technology book, though it's not too much of a deviation from other Sitepoint titles. It's larger -- 8.5"x11" -- and far more colorful than most technology books. Being larger in size means it's thinner in page count, but combined with the copious amount screen shots, diagrams, and example drawings, it's a surprisingly quick read.

There is very little code in this book, but there doesn't need to be -- it's primarily about layout and design philosophy.

The writing is clear, concise, and sufficiently detailed. I discovered a few stupid editing mistakes, which seems to be par for the course for Sitepoint, but other than that, I was impressed with the overall quality of The Principles of Beautiful Web Design.

Putting the book to the test

Any Web designer or anyone else who creates Web pages can pick up The Principles of Beautiful Web Design and put it immediately to use. This book is informative, helpful, and valuable from page one until the end. The author covers all aspects of design in sufficient depth and detail, from dealing with the client to choosing colors and using whitespace effectively. Every page is packed with good examples of best practices. There are few examples of worst practices, which I think is good -- readers can become confused when you give too much negative advice.

Summary and conclusions

Overall I'm impressed with the depth and usefulness of information in The Principles of Beautiful Web Design and would definitely recommend it to anyone who has anything to do with site design or creation. Even if you think you know what you're doing with site design, I guarantee you'll learn something valuable from this book.

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Copyright 2008 JEM Electronic Media, Inc. No reprints without written permission.