Hotwired Style: Principles for Building Smart Web Sites

The web has its own language, aesthetics, issues, and problems; yet the infrastructure and rules of web site design are still in their infancy. Here, the author discusses how Web designers should collaborate with editors and engineers, have an acute understanding of the concept of real-time, master hypertext, know their audience, be wary of multimedia, and create sites that emphasize simplicity and clarity and that users can move through quickly. Includes numerous color reproductions of web pages. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Like it or not, HotWired, the Web presence of Wired magazine, is one of the most distinctive and interesting sites on the Web. The site's outlandish color combinations and adherence to the latest and greatest in Web technology are the perfect counterpart to its editorial identity. In HotWired Style: Principles for Building Smart Web Sites, head Webmonkey Jeffrey Veen shares some of the design philosophies and techniques he and the other HotWired designers employ to achieve these singular results. It is not a prerequisite that you agree with all of HotWired's style choices to learn something useful from this guide. HotWired Style offers sound advice on topics such as interface design and metaphors, effective hypertext, and appropriate multimedia. Unlike some Web design books, which emphasize style, this one has plenty of useable examples and some exceptional "How We Did It" sections that provide insight into HotWired's cutting-edge techniques. This isn't a tutorial, so beginners will want to supplement HotWired Style with a book (or, as Veen suggests, an online resource) on HTML and Web design.