Designing for the Web… Win! Win!
One of the last tweets I saw today stated: “Reading is hazardous for your stupidity…”. Thanks for the message pal! Looking back at what has been hazardous for my stupidity through the past week is the PDF book I bought off Five Simple Steps by Mark Boulton.
What I like with Web design guru Mark Boulton is his transversal view of web design and his direct and concise way of explaining the underlying design concepts. It reads with a great pace while giving you “to the point” information on webdesign in a 100+ PDF printable, personalised book! This is another example of a great Web design book to own. You can read other writings from Mark Boulton on his blog.
Having said this, the Web Design Bureau of Mauritius is offering 2 (yes TWO) copies of Mark Boulton’s book. Just leave a comment on this post about your experience of “learning” from books (most web designers, designers or programmers do so at a certain point in their lives) to enter the contest which will end on Monday 2nd of March 2009. I can assure you that you’ll even love the book’s layout!
About the Author:
Sachin D. Brojmohun has extensive experience in terms of graphic design, CSS integration, usability and accessibility as well as in SEO. More about him and the Web Design Bureau of Mauritius here: Web Design Mauritius.
well i am totally against only reading books to build design ideas, infact i recommend to browse through the different competitors and googling
Twitter: sachindb
says:
Hi Ali, thanks for your input. I would point out that I have never said that one should go round only reading books to build design ideas. This would be a rather stupid way of trying to improve one’s skill.
Twitter: kurtavish
says:
I want I want I want I want I want the gift LOL
Well infact for me I learn mostly of what I know from ebooks and the net. University course? They dont teach you much except the very basics.
I still my ebooks on hold whenever i need them…mostly PHP 5 Fast & Easy Web Development and many other ones on different topics.
[...] D. Brojmohun and the Web Design Bureau of Mauritius is offering 2 copies of Mark Boulton’s book : A Practical Guide in Designing for the Web. All you need to do is head over to the site and post a comment about your experience of [...]
I’m a firm believe that any and all resources to learn are valuable. Sure, what you’ll take away varies from resource to resource – but as long as you take something away, it was valuable. Books combined with practical experience and research are an excellent way to continue to learn and improve up on methodology. Books, in fact, often show through example better methods to process – which are excellent business management lessons. I say if you have to time to read online take the time to read a book – ebook or otherwise.
For the beginning of a design career I believe one should just act like a huge sponge sucking any and all tactics from books. It is awesome to learn on your own but even if you have been around for a while you still can learn from the books out there. Be a sponge and create amazing content. In addition the Kindle might be a great product but it will never have the smell of a brand new book. Thanks for the great contest all, peace.
Books offer something different to web tutorials – and I prefer them. Maybe it’s because of the geek inside me who likes lying in bed and learning how to work with arrays in PHP, I don’t know! The quality of books out there is just so superb it’s unreal and we are lucky in this industry to be blessed with so many superb books from top notch authors.
I own about 10 physical books and countless ebooks – I’d love to add another one to my collection
Books are a pretty awesome resource, you can learn theories and workflows just from reading. I personally read CSS Mastery and learned how to code and style websites without any previous training. Also, I’m sharpening my design skills with “How to be a Graphic Designer without losing your soul” and Stefan Sagmeister’s Biography. I also have a few ebooks on identity branding which have proven quite useful.
Although I actually haven’t read too many of them, I must say the reading experience is much better than the regular materials posted all over the web. Not only the quality is better but the form as well. As I am more into reading traditional books, the form of it definitely penetrates my mind better. I consider such books to be “the place to look for all information” that I need. The authors are specialists in particular topic and explore some topics in a more thorough way than just the basic techniques explained elsewhere.
Bright cover. Delicious.
I feel that learning from books is possible only if the user is self motivated. Otherwise it’s worthless. But like all learning no matter how much you read it will all come down to practice, practice, practice.
Books are great – hook me up
Reading is a way to take knowledge of what others do to get over the same issues I get, when building or creating something.
I read to clear my doubts and to get new ideas
I can honestly admit that i have never taken a class to learn web design but have done everything i know from reading books and web posts. I have been designing web and print since 97 and as i stated that reading resources has been my design education.
Books are an invaluable resource for inspiration as well as rethinking the process and considerations of design. The major breakthroughs will always come from real life problem solving.
When I was 11 I bought a book called ‘HTML 4.0′ (and now it’s Web 2.0, clearly the version numbers are going backwards!) and now I’ve got a shelf full of books with titles like ‘Web Standards Solutions’ and ‘The Principles of Beautiful Web Design’. There’s something comforting about reading a book rather than tipping Google upside down and shaking it to see what falls out. And I love reading stuff by people whose blogs I read and therefore whose opinions I respect.
Mark Boulton is one of those people.
Books are a good way to learn, and a great source of reference.
Well, my process of learning is mostly a combination of various sources, books being definitely one of ‘em.
I think that great books are great resources for learning, but the caveat there is that the books used as resources must be relevant, engaging, practical, useful, and substantial in value. I have web design books that have various contents: from displaying other site designs, to current technological advancements and timeless best practices, to authors with insight on marketing technologies related to design, to business-focus mindset within the design world, and so forth. There is a lot of value on reading well-thought out books, but at the same time, it is not my only resource to develop my talents and knowledge in the industry. I see books to be complimentary to hands-on action, the same way that print marketing teases a user to more information on the web. (not that I do print marketing LOL).
In my opinion, it is very different to find books on web design or web development that are really worth reading.
Some topics are ageless, for example, usability or design principles. Books like Nielsens Designing Web Usability are worth reading, even if they are very old. Tim Berners-Lee Weaving The Web is also a very old book, describing a web years from now, but it was worth reading to understand the basic ideas behind the web.
If you want to read books on web topics, try to find examples like these.
Books about technologies like HTML, ActionScript or PHP aren’t really helpful. Most of them are outdated after two or three years. They are only helpful, if you’re starting with a technology from the very beginning, but when you’re experienced, you’ll find a faster solution online.
As a soon-to-be university graduate, learning from books is part of my life. If a book is well written and is about a topic I have some interest in (this means excluding those courses that I am forced to take but have 0 interest in), then there isn’t much that can stop me from reading that book.
Books are different. The best ones doesn’t only contain a dry facts copied from documentation and nicely build into sentences, but also opinions and ADVICES from the author. As far as I heard, Designing for the Web is one of these.
What I’m looking for is actually getting into design (while I’m a front-end webdeveloper, not much a designer) and doing it perfectly. I hope that this book will give me some basics and rules I should follow. Besides, learning stuff about typography is something I DEFINITELY need.
I have spend countless hours during the past 5 years scouring the internet and collecting numerous amounts of design related bookmarks. So many it has become hard to keep track of them all. I recently started teaching a basic web design class at a community college, and it was then when I picked up my first design book. There were always people talking about great books to read but I never really gave it the time and thought all I needed was on the web. Boy was I wrong. I began learning so much more as well as reinforcing the concepts I already understood about web design. Books, are great and if anything else they let you step away from the screen for a few hours!
I’m always eager to implement different views of design. Would love to have a copy of your ebook
Are books better than blogs or else? Maybe books are just different. They let me dive deeper than the best blog posts. I tried to use the web for learning but I really missed books. Right now I’m waiting for my copy of Jeff Croft’s “Bulletproof Web Typography”. I’m really looking forward to this.
There’s nothing like a good book going by train or tram!
I learn from books on a weekly basis, however not on the topic of web design. I get that information mostly from online sources, since I have not yet invested in books on this subject.
Books like this are important, when done right, they communicate concepts that are not necessarily obvious to the reader, or they allow the author to communicate intention. So it is important to see things outside of books, however insight can’t always be gained from the outside.
Books are a great source of inspiration. I love to see the use of typography, layout, colour and shape being used to deliver a message or expose a concept.
For me its more a question of inspiring my mind. Everything I read or what i look at (if its something in the way of design and layouting) is somehow inspiring for me. I try not to make notes, not in textform, not in illustrations, so I can create completly new ideas without just copying what other people think and create.
I would realy look forward to have a look in the PDF-Book.
Greetings from frankfurt, germany,
Carsten
I love learning and i want to learn everything i can in life my love is web design and I want as much help as i can get with it! so if its not this book and you got some links to shoot me do it… i just enjoy learning!
I think the very best part of a book is the time the author takes to order his ideas and knowledge with the goal of sharing his experience. Thanks to all of you for sharing.
I’m interested to see what you have written! Is your written work about design a style of writing that will keep my interest? I only keep books that inspire me and are great for future reference.
Twitter: sachindb
says:
@Kristine, the book is not by me but by Web Design guru Mark Boulton and I think that it might really inspire you. Cheers!
Books are a great resource for learning. All the bookmarks in the world won’t do you a bit of good when your internet connection is down.
But books alone aren’t enough. Books can give you the basics, and the theories, and tips, pointers et. al. Then take that new found knowledge, visit some good sites and use tools like Firefox and FireBug to see how things are done.
I love reading design books. I find myself often with a backlog of books to read, because I’ll buy them even when I already have a stack to read.
I think it’s a responsibility of professional designers to elevate the industry by properly educating themselves, and continuing that education throughout their entire career.
I use books primarily as reference points and tools to enhance my skills either by providing basic information as regards fundamental principles or by providing a helpful tip or trick to quickly accomplish a task.
The glut of information, not just as found in books but as found in all sort of reference mediums, presents a challenge in terms of finding something well written, non repetitive and truly useful; however, such references do exist. It just takes the time to do some research on the reference work beforehand.
The internet is great to find content about web design, but books can teach you much more about every topic you want and makes you a better professional.
It’ been more then 5 years working as a designer, a self taught designer. I’ve learn a lot from books, well most of the things I know about design, typography, web and new media I’ve learn from books and design/technology magazines. This pdf seams to be a very interesting reading, let me get my hands on onde od those pdf.
All the best,
João
I read a book a day and have learned far more from the combination of reading and trying than I ever did in school. I do occasionally read an ebook on the computer, but because of my arthritis I prefer being able to sit in a comfortable chair and lean back or lay in bed and read. I hope that the industry never completely eliminates the printed book.
Books are becoming a lost art form. I’m almost sure I do 90% of my reading through my RSS feeds now because I choose convenience over content. I have to admit though, blogging content and online articles have stepped up their game quite a bit to provide very accurate and helpful reading material.
For web development I’ve exclusively done most all my learning on the web (makes sense) but I do wish that I had started reading the fundamentals about these subjects through a book where everything is organized in separate chapters and thoughts are well-formed, edited, and published.
Either way, thanks for encouraging me to cleanse my stupidity with a good book again. I think I’ll need it
Many believe that reading from a book isn’t enough. They are partially correct. But I also believe in the wise words of Will Smith who said that many others have had “[...] problems and they solved them and they wrote it in a book somewhere”. Only problem is we need to pick up more books and read to learn from their experiences.
Learning from books is great, taking that gained knowledge and applying it is better.
Although learning from online sources can be valuable, there’s nothing like finding a good reliable book that you can refer to again and again. Over the years, I’ve found myself going back to some gems like “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug and “The Big Red Fez” by Seth Godin.
And who knows, this one might eventually make the list too.
Learning for me has always been a combination of exposure, experience and reading. Books therefore are a valuable jump-off point and reference guide, towards gaining principles and theories that are solidified during hands-on experience. The book starts the process of education, the exposure cements it.
Reading books and learning from them has been invaluable to my growth and improvement as a web designer. Various books on form design, usability and the differences between web and print have shaped and molded me into a designer that not only knows how to design, but can apply that knowledge to create beautiful and usable sites.
I’d love to win this Book!!!
Personaly I step into de Web Design World reading a book, because it seems more easy for me to read in paper and then focus on my computer screen just to work. I found out that i learn more and better when i have the theory read on paper first and then practice on the computer.
Hope to win a copy.
Cheers,
Book is Art. It is an Art to present his personal experience, to “teach” someone the better way, to engage someone be better, more creative. When i read a book about anything design-related, i start to feel addicted to it. From the first sentence you feel the creativity of its Author, his personality. To feel like the Author is priceless. The synergy of your own soul and the way the Author share his soul can result as an incredible Impression — something new is born. Reading a learning book give you something else too — you know how hard it was for the Author to get his minds and experience together to produce a story on paper. You don’t need to find the path he found, you have only to integrate his path to your own way of getting expressive in Design.
Oo, I’d love this!
I’ve actually done a lot of my web design/development learning from books. I’d say maybe even 40% or so. I love learning from web resources (e.g. blogs) as well, but it’s just not the same. I guess I give more credence to books. Maybe that’s a mistake, but it’s a hard habit to break!
When I first tried to learn how to make websites, I had not clue what to get, so I checked out a book on XML at the library, which, obviously, wasn’t the best book. Then I learned how servers and sites actually worked, so I got some books on HTML and CSS. Later, I read books on PHP and MySQL, which have helped me become a better website developer.
I read a chapter of a book, for example, “Learning Python,” and then practice those skills for the rest of the day. The next day, I try a new section or chapter, and again, practice. This is slower than reading straight through, but saves time in the end, while giving you a better understanding of whatever topic you’re learning about at that time.
Oh. I’d be cool if I won a copy of that book!
Adrian Saughnessy taught me “How to be a Graphic Designer (without selling your soul)”
Sometimes, though, it still feels a little hollow.
I can usually learn larger topics more quickly from books. The reason is because I like to do multiple scans of material absorbing more details with each scan. First I like to skim through the whole book by reading the table of contents and all the chapter titles and section headers and browse any figures, charts, images and other visual aids and sometimes quickly look over the index (depending on size) to familiarize myself with what the book offers and where things are. Then I usually progress through the book one chapter at a time, doing multiple passes of the chapter and maybe converting the information into “mind-maps” and noting key points or quotes (and the page it was on) on the back of the mind-map.
I can learn from tutorials and ebooks too, sure. But it seems to work best if tutorials are shorter or else it gets to be difficult to make it through the entire thing at once and its not so easy to use my multiple pass method. With ebooks I do something similar to what I do with books, but I prefer the real thing because its easier to flip around and “see” where I am… whereas e-books it can be harder to remember which way to flip to find where you want to go relative to where you are. Its doable, but not as easy.
I’d love a copy of this book. I’d buy one but I’m out of work and just can’t afford to spend money on anything that doesn’t qualify as something that I “need” (or can’t do without in other words).
Cheers, Simone
Books have been very important for me, especially when I began to learn about design and web. I read a lot of design books to teach myself and they have taught me most of what I know today.
Even though books aren’t the be all, end all way to learn, I find it easier to learn what I can from a book and then have someone explain it too. This was I can get a basic knowledge beforehand.
I learned a lot from online tutorials and by discovering things by myself. I had to learn ASP.NET at my job and we had a book about it and it helped me a lot. I think there are some things that you can learn faster if you read a book about it.
I never read a book about webdesign or any thing about websites
.
Books have always served as a guide for mental expansion. When there is a new subject/topic, books operate as blueprints which allow new skills, techniques, and thought patterns to be created (or destroyed) in the mind.
I hope I’ll have a chance to learn from this eBook..
Ah!
There is a lot of research that goes into writing a book and hence the greater the amount of knowledge you gain out of it. Also, nothing beats the flexibility that comes along.
I have to agree with a lot of the comments; I find ebooks these days to be the natural transition for books.
It’s so handy just popping it onto a flash drive and taking it with you, instead of lugging around a book in your litttle handbag all day.
And you can easily skip or navigate to a preferred section in a fraction of a second.
Another useful thing is you can print it as and when you please, pull out quotes and stick them on your wall for inspiration!
Online tutorials/reading is great for understanding little snippets of information or instructions. But you cannot beat a physical copy of a document/book to give your full attention to.
The book I am reading at the moment is ‘How to be a graphic designer without losing you soul’ by Adrian Shaughnessy – http://tinyurl.com/agre45. It is really well written by a graphic design professional and not an industry bystander. I hope that ‘Designing for the web’ is just a good a read. I really love the design and images posted on Flickr, a very slick document Mark.
I prefer learning from a book because there are (for me) fewer distractions. With an e-book or pdf I find that I don’t give it my undivided attention because my mind is often focused on the other things I should be working on at my computer.
With a physical book, I can take it away from the computer and often get a little better perspective.
Either learnin from a book and learnin from ebooks/the web has its good and negaitve aspects… i cant sit and read on screen for hours so i prefer to just sit down and grab a book… and its less distructive
also a good thing to learn from are podcasts for me… so for every situation theres an opportunity to learn….
I personally adore learning from books. I obtained my initial education at a tech school with a less than satisfactory curriculum and found out early that teaching myself was the only way to get where I wanted to be. Even with all of the tutorial and instructional sites available on the web, which were and are extremely helpful, nothing can replace the feel and experience that a real paper and ink book bring to the table. I can’t tell you how many hours I have spent glancing down at a good book on my desk between my arms as I typed and worked on improving my skill-set and understanding of my field. Also there are not to many sites out there that focus on learning the basics of design theory and good aesthetics. Whereas you can find good books on almost any thing you might want to learn. Thanks for allowing us this opportunity to share out passion for independent book learning!!
I’ve had mixed success learning from books. While I treasure some print-based reference guides and tutorials, in this highly web-focused society in which we leave, the printed word seems so unbearably static at times. Open Source solutions (and, in many cases, closed source solutions) may change so rapidly as to obsolesce printed material very quickly, necessitating an expensive, updated edition or tedious trips to updates-and-errata web pages.
Nevertheless, there are books that stand the test of time, and (perhaps this is antiquated, but it’s me) I seem to be at my best when I have a book on my desk under a computer monitor, doing work or learning some new technique. Being a bit of a bibliophile, I’m always on the look-out for a new addition to my shelves of printed knowledge, but I’ll always supplement my collection with more dynamic, web-based content.
“most web designers, designers or programmers do so at a certain point in their lives”
That’s excactly the point where i’m at now. Every book where i can get my hands on will be read thoroughly! My intention: Get smart, get better and be succesfull.
Man! I need one!
After reading Jeffrey Zeldman’s book, “designing with web standards”, my eyes were opened to a whole new world of making things work on the web. But reading about web design isn’t the only reading I enjoy. I also love fiction, non-fiction, cook books and the occasional wired magazine article.
Thanks.
I am trying very hard to pull myself together and do something useful with my life, I have recently started focusing on some technical books, mostly dealing with PHP, MySQL, Java Script and CSS, but I am seriously missing out on the design side of things. I have recently enrolled into a short course in Graphic Design to be able to think more visually and to be able to deliver an experience a more complete experience. It would be very helpful to read a book focusing on bringing those 2 worlds together.
On the other side I would like to point out that reading from a book, has it’s on unique feel to it, I don’t think that I will ever live to see the day were I will be as comfortable reading from a screen, as I do from a book. There is always this special connection on an emotional and psychological level, as it feels more personal. As well as it gives you the freedom of reading while actually being able to implement certain tips and tricks, without having to keep switching between multiple screens, as well as the freedom to read the book while traveling on the tube.
In the end I would like to thanks you, for offering us all the possibility to increase our knowledge.
Good luck to everyone and me
Hi,
I would echo previous comments in that I also find reading from a physical medium, be it a book, newspaper, or magazine to be a far more personal experience than reading from a digital source. Somehow you feel more involved and connected to the subject matter. Maybe it’s because it engages our other senses – you can feel the book in your hands and you have to turn the pages. Maybe I’m just more comfortable with normal books because that’s how I learnt when I was a child – and wasn’t staring at a computer screen like I do now all day long.
Over the years I have taught myself new skills by looking at tutorials on the web, books, and pdf books. I have to say that I’m always dipping into the books, whereas the pdfs end up being forgotten about once you’ve downloaded them and read them the first time.
Many thanks for running this competition, and my best regards to you all.
Jason
Let me in, please!
There is something about the physical touch of books, they are still more intuitive to go through and i don’t have to deal with Bill Gate’s Windows Waiting Time when i want something–books give it to me straight away. Even when i design a new website, i go to a paper and pencil, not the computer.
Hi,
Books are the starting point of my learning process. They have the benefit of being portable so that you can read them everywhere you like.
I have noticed that for some reason I spent to much time online searching for valid information about a topic while having read a book about that same topic. I consider a book the starting point of a journey of information digging and exploration.
And some books look nice designwise so that can even be a source of inspiration itself.
Jan
I’m a long time network engineer and computer nerd with a huge artistic side. I’ve decided to branch out more towards the design / artistry side of things and improve my designing skills. I’ve am reading “The principles of Beautiful Design” by Jason Beaird. It’s great and really helps get the other side of my brain to stop being limited by the technical side.
[...] back to the issue of web design education, a lot has come out from the ongoing contest to win a copy of Mark Boulton’s “Designing for the web”. Read the comments and you’ll get a great view of how most people in the industry have [...]
Hello!
I think, that books are a must if you want to learn something well. No matter, if you are starting with book or trying to boost your skills. And as Brigham said, there is realy something about the physical touch of books.
I have both good and bad experiences.
One of the things that sometimes is bad is that books focus on explaining what others have done, and do not show how to use the same techniques with innovation.
(so are books that tech you upon copying and dont really give a clear understanding of subjects. because a clear understanding would be able to modifyit)
When they do, they usually talk with slang that not every designer understands (especially designers who are not from US; and fail to explain correctly to who the book is for and the clear expected background)
On the good part, i’ve always found out more clear to read a book whose writer talks in a friendly way, they’re almost as a personal talk and this experience to experience envroment its great.
Also, They are a portable solution if you have no internet, the book is always there, and if it is a PDF it always on the computer even offline.
And as a plus reading excersices the brain more than tv,s videos etc.
Between all things i have noted those are the most importatn to me (i hope im not forgetting any)
beWell
GBY
bao!
Every time I want to learn a new skill the first thing I do is read bit about it on the web to get a 10,000 feet high view of the most important concepts.
Then I search for relevant books, read some reviews and get sample chapters if they’re available (and mostly there’s always a sample chapter and table of contents of technology and web design books.
Once I selected the book (or books) that I feel are more best suited for me and the timeframe I have, I purchase them and study.
Having good books available and reading blogs has been my main source of education in the past 10 years, and In my opinion THE ONLY THING BETTER THAN ONE GREAT BOOK when you’re learning by yourself, IS MORE THAN ONE GREAT BOOK.
Then there are books that you just need to have, because they allow you inside the thought process of an expert. Those I buy even if I already know the concepts, because I can always learn something from them.
As soon as I learned that Mark was writing this book I got on his announcement list. I hope I can get it free, because the exchange rate between the UK pound and the Argentine Peso makes these purchases really expensive to me.
I have often found that technical/design related books contain information that would otherwise be hard to find while googling the interwebs.
The books from Taschen (illustrating several websites with sceenshots) also have the advantage of being a great source of inspiration. You could find the same content on one of the many css galleries but having an offline view of the online world makes me admire some of the great design work even more.
More often then not I will look for more in depth information on a topic I’ve read in a book.
Reading a book is nice, searching for further detailed information online is good but the combination of the two creates innovation!
[...] the Web is already considered as a stepping stone in Web design and I hope that the winners of the PDF book giveaway will take great pleasure in scouring its pages. The contest was a real success and it is a pleasure [...]