by Jason Beaird
Copyright © 2010 SitePoint Pty. Ltd.
Pages 218
Second Edition
ISBN 978-0-9805768-9-4
About the Book
The Design Book for Non-designers
Clipart, Comic Sans, and clashing colors ... If any of these fail to make you cringe, this book will teach you why they’re design no-nos.
SitePoint’s best-selling design book, The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, has been revamped to cater to a variety of web professionals without a graphic design or art school background.
By the end of the book, you’ll be able to apply the fundamental principles of design and create beautiful websites of your own—seriously!
Design Is a Skill That Can Be Learned
Many non-designers believe that they’re unable to create visually pleasing websites because they didn’t go to art school, or that they lack creative flair.
Thankfully, this isn’t true.
There are certain design maxims and techniques anyone can learn and apply to ensure that their website is not only functional, but sexy too. No art school required.
Whether you want to improve the look of an ordinary website or learn a new set of skills, The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, Second Edition will teach you good design fundamentals, ensuring that you avoid making any rookie mistakes.
From Paper to Screen ...
The second edition of The Principles of Beautiful Web Design has been expanded and revised, and is illustrated with full-color examples. It’s an easy-to-follow guide that will lead you through the process of creating great designs from start to finish.
You’ll learn how to:
apply color effectively and develop killer color schemes
construct practical layout foundations using whitespace and grids
use textures – point, line, shape, volume, depth, and pattern
master the art of typography to make dull websites dazzle
choose, edit, and position imagery effectively
design confidently for mobile devices
see into the future of web fonts, including @font-face
Grab your copy now and see why this book has been so successful in helping readers like you create stunning websites.
Table of Contents
Preface
Who Should Read This Book
What's in This Book
Where to Find Help
The SitePoint Forums
The Book's Website
The SitePoint Newsletters
The SitePoint Podcast
Your Feedback
Acknowledgments
Conventions Used in This Book
Code Samples
Tips, Notes, and Warnings
1. Layout and Composition
The Design Process
Discovery
Exploration
Implementation
Defining Good Design
Web Page Anatomy
Grid Theory
The Rule of Thirds
960 Grid System
Balance
Symmetrical Balance
Asymmetrical Balance
Unity
Proximity
Repetition
Emphasis
Placement
Continuance
Isolation
Contrast
Proportion
Bread-and-butter Layouts
Left-column Navigation
Right-column Navigation
Three-column Navigation
Finding Inspiration
Using a Morgue File
Fresh Trends
Navigationless Magazine Style
Expansive Footers
Bare-bones Minimalism
Resizing: Fixed, Fluid, or Responsive Layouts
Fixed Width
Fluid Width
An Alternative: Responsive Layouts
Screen Resolution
Application: Southern Savers
Getting Started
2. Color
The Psychology of Color
Color Associations
Color Temperature
Chromatic Value
Saturation
Color Theory 101
Red, Yellow, and Blue, or CMYK
The Scheme of Things
A Monochromatic Color Scheme
An Analogous Color Scheme
A Complementary Color Scheme
Split-complementary, Triadic, and Tetradic
Other Variants
Creating a Palette
Hexadecimal Notation
Color Tools and Resources
Color Scheme Designer 3
Adobe Kuler
COLOURlovers
Color Stream iPhone App
Pictaculous
Colour Contrast Check
Application: the Color of Coupons
3. Texture
Point
Line
Shape
Rounded Corners
Rotation
Shapes and Layout
Volume and Depth
Perspective
Proportion
Light and Shadow
Pattern
Building Texture
Aged, Weathered, Worn, and Nostalgic Style
Clean and Grainy
Handcrafted Scrapbook
Whimsical Cartoon Style
Minimal Texture
Starting Your Own Textural Trends
Application: Clipping and Saving
4. Typography
Taking Type to the Web
Text Image Replacement
Web Fonts with @font-face
Self-hosted Web Fonts
Web Font Services
sIFR and Cufón
Anatomy of a Letterform
Text Spacing
Horizontal Spacing
Vertical Spacing
Text Alignment
Typeface Distinctions
Serif Fonts
Sans-serif Fonts
Handwritten Fonts
Fixed-width Fonts
Novelty Fonts
Dingbat Fonts
Finding Fonts
Free Font Galleries
Commercial Font Galleries
Individual Artists and Foundries
Choosing the Right Fonts
Setting Font Size and Line Height
Using Punctuation and Special Characters
Application: The Fine Print
5. Imagery
What to Look For
Legitimate Image Sources
Take It or Make It
Stock Photography
Getting Professional Help
How Not to Impress
Google Ganking
Hotlinking
Clipart
Creative Cropping
Photoshop Adjustments
File Formats and Resolutions
Creative Image Treatments
Using Images to Enhance Images
Using Pure CSS to Enhance Images
Application: the Fine Print
Onward and Upward
Index
About the Author
Jason Beaird is a designer and front-end developer with over ten years of experience working on a wide range of award-winning web projects. With a background in graphic design and a passion for web standards, he’s always looking for accessible ways to make the Web a more beautiful place. When he’s not pushing pixels in Photoshop or tinkering with markup, Jason loves sharing his passion for theWeb with others. He writes about his ideas, adventures, and random projects on his personal site, http://jasongraphix.com.
Download
By: Shahen Gasparyan
No comments:
Post a Comment