"Sometimes Every Commercial Has a Web Address"
When I first started writing HTML, the main purpose was to get information up that could be read by many people. We supported browsers like Lynx because a chunk of our customers used them. Thus, we focused on the quality of information, but not so much on how it was presented. Many Web authors were the same. In fact, in one class I took, the teacher told us that the presentation didn't matter as the Web would look differently on every machine that viewed the page.
Crystal Waters stands that idea on its head with her book Web Concept and Design. She points out that on TV "nearly every show, every station, and sometimes every commercial has a web address." This is a lot of competition, and if your pages don't look good, you won't get the page views.
One of the first things that Ms. Waters recommends is that you review your audience. If you decide that you want to focus on the text browsers of the world, then you could focus on the quality of the information. But, even Lynx has some layout rules. What are the goals of your Web site? How do you see your Web site standing out from the rest?
I especially like the chapters on color, font, and graphics. The examples she uses to demonstrate how colors affect your pages may be "Western", but they give you something to think about. She shows, on her own site, how to use font effectively for a fast loading, interesting page.
"Colors Convey an Image or a Mood"
She gives ideas on how to generate content through brainstorming and then organizing the list into sections. Then when you have some ideas, she describes how to organize your site using flow charts. This gives you an excellent start at a site map as well.
Finally, if you don't read the book, you should at least review the test drive. This excerpt from the book explains 29 things you should check before you make your page live on the Web.
This is not a book to learn HTML. This is a book to learn to use HTML to good effect. There are a few pages on the HTML tags, but even if you use an editor, you can get something out of this book.
Reviewed: 29 December 1997
