Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design

by Vincent Flanders and Michael Willis

Unless you're abnormally gifted, the best way to learn a craft thoroughly is to learn not only its central tenets but also its pitfalls. Here, authors Vincent Flanders and Michael Willis teach you... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 078212187X
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Sybex Inc
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.3" x 0.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Don't design a website without it

It's to-the-point, it's based on real-life experience and it's even hilarious. Flanders and Willis stress the fact that there is only one important issue in webdesign: content. Plain and simple. People ultimately visit your site because there's something they want. So the whole book is about attracting customers, marketing your site, providing convenience for your visitors and make them return. All based on the fact that you provide your visitors with meaningful content. These rules apply even for non-selling websites, as they will show you. They urge you to invest more time in careful planning than in graphical design, more time to market your site than in stuffing it with Flash or five-page stories.The book is served in logical portions, from the very first concept of a website up to the maintenance of your content. It's equally well suited for continuous reading - they won't bore you, they're actually quite entertaining - as it is for random browsing.A must, for novices and for professionals!

Very helpful (and fun) book on web design

Of the 3 or 4 web page design books that I've purchased this one is the best by far. Be examining the common mistakes people make when putting together a web site the authors illustrate good web page design principles. They use examples from actual commercial sites on the web, telling you what's wrong with them and what they did right. The writing style is light and the book is full of humor (what did you expect with a title like that). However, don't let this fool you into thinking that the book doesn't have any "meat" in it. While the authors are designers by background, they also seem to know a lot of the technical aspects about the web. They cover the latest technologies (as of 1998) and tell you how to use them. More importantly, they tell you when not to use them. These guys definitely feel that it's best to avoid "bleeding edge" techniques. They are also advocate the principle of keeping things simple. Many the sites that they think "suck" are one with an overuse of animation, strange colors, or flashy techniques. They also point out sites that may look good on one browser at one resolution but may look terrible when viewed on another -- then they show you how to avoid this problem. It appears as though their target audience is someone that is designing a site for commercial purposes. This book was not specifically intended for the person putting together a family web page. That being said, I think that anyone that's designing for the web will learn a great deal by reading this book.My only criticism for this book is that it probably needs to be updated. It is currently a couple of years old and some technologies have change since it was written.

Don't even THINK about NOT buying this.

.If you dare say your interested in website design, then I must beg of you why you do not have this book already? As a professional web designer I was totally impressed with this book. It holds true to every concept on decent and good web design that I have been trying to teach my employees and students forever.The concepts are simple, and presented in a humorous and fun tone. The graphics are colourful and definitely add to advice being given. I think this book is a must have for hobbyist and pro, beginner and expert alike. There is just too much valuable information in here, even if it serves as a check list to judge your own work against, it is well worth it for anyone at any level. At the very least, it's a good place to start a fresh designers training.My only complaint is the age of the book, the urls and websites could be updated, as well as the wonderful cd included in the back, that being said, I still hold firm this book is worth more then every penny.Anyone who works in this industry will tell you that good design is about bringing in money, something you can't do if you scare away your users. This book teaches you about advertising art. Read it, learn it, live it.Learn what to do right, by learning what not to do wrong. What an awesome idea, why didn't I think of that?

Sucks a paradox

Ideas are presented in a easy to understand manner showing how great concepts fail miserably in web design. Ths KISS principle is evident throughout this book and their "No holds barred" attitude is refreshing.

Worth every dime!!

I run an online based company called Onlinemetals and first read "Web Pages That Suck" because of the goofy title. What I found was great advise that every serious minded web developer or business owner should know. The basics tools in this book have helped me to guide the "teky minded" developers in the right direction and have without a doubt helped my customers have a better and faster expierance.