The Principles of Beautiful Web Design

[tripwire45]

Author: Jason Beaird
Format: Paperback, 180 pages
Publisher: SitePoint (January 31, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0975841963
ISBN-13: 978-0975841969

Review by James Pyles
March 29, 2007

Who should read this book? Well, you'd better know at least basic HTML and CSS. Adobe Photoshop knowledge would be a big plus, too. Hmmm...I'd throw in Flash experience. just for giggles. Ok, ok...let's cover what this book won't teach you. It won't teach you how to make a basic webpage with HTML and CSS. Shocked? So was I a little, until I realized what Jason Beaird's book is really all about. What it isn't about is teaching you HTML and CSS. Lots and lots of books teach that. Don't pick up this text until you've already created at least one site that works. So what is this book good for anyway? It's good for making more than just a website that "works".

A friend of mine who created a Linux tutorial site once said to me "I'm not an artist". In other words, he can create a functional and informative website using tools such as HTML, CSS, PHP, and so on, but he can't make it "beautiful". Heck, it's not even very pretty. I'm not being mean. Many web developers are very adept at the technical side of their craft but in their minds, usability and functionality will always work better for them than the art of creating art.

That's where The Principles of Beautiful Web Design comes in. The book hardly contains an example of HTML code. No kidding. You won't find a stray <table> or <div> tag anywhere. What you will find are pages that look and talk like they came out of an art book. Chapter titles include Color, Texture, Typography, and Imagery. Naturally, screenshots abound as do a plethora of URLs to sample sites, employing the age old adage, "a picture is worth a thousand words".

This book isn't for the artist who wants to design websites; it's for the web developer who wants to design art. Crazy as it may sound, employers and customers may actually want their websites to not only work but be visually attractive, too. That's not always something all those other website design books teach. Actually, that brings up an important question. Can a book teach anyone to be an artist?

I think there's something inside an individual that either can see and create whatever it is we call "art" or they can't. My 18 year old daughter (a graphic design major at a university in the U.S. Northwest) likes to show me her designs and ask for my suggestions. I've been noodling around with charcoal, acrylics, pastels and the like for almost as long as I could hold a pencil in my hand, so my daughter and I tend to "speak the same language". However, when I used to ask my Dad for the same sort of advice, he'd get that "deer-in-the-headlights" look and I could see him wishing I'd just asked him about his favorite fishing hole. Not everyone sees and thinks in the same direction.

Can The Principles of Beautiful Web Design bridge the gap and teach technical minded web developers the meaning of "beauty" in a web-based format? Frankly, I'm not sure. I can only see this book through my own eyes. The leap from technology to art is longer or shorter for each individual. I can say that if you do design web sites and you find yourself traveling from the world of making everything work into the domain of "beautiful web design", you'll have to start somewhere. Try out this book and see if it adds some color, style, and soul to othewise cold and impersonal script.