Review of Web Design in Easy Steps

I'm a member of the web design/developer online community boagworld.com which accompanies the podcast BOAGWORLD which is co-hosted by Paul Boag and Marcus Lillington.

Anyway as one would expected the forums are full of web designers/developers who take an active role in the web design community one such member is Richard Quick, he runs his own design agency Richard Quick Design, he's one of the big boy's in the web design industry who knows what he's talking about but has the gift of explaining it in an easy to under way, which is rare for a 'web person' to do.

To give back something to the web design community and to make a bit of money he's wrote his own book 'Web Design' under the 'In Easy Steps' collection of books.

So why have a bothered with this review? Well their are a few things that set it apart from the rest first off all the book is cheap (please don't take this a que to say the content must be crap - because it's not). It costs Â£10.99 RRP but if you do a bit of search on the 'inter-web' you can find it for a cheaper. Another thing that amazes me is that for a book this cheap it's in FULL COLOUR. Why you ask are you saying that it's good because it's full colour? Well the fact is that this book is suppose to be for people who have little or no experience in web design/developement it's a considerable factor in buying a book, you see normal consumers think they are getting more for their money because it's full colour, also they see it as superior to other similar books because it has full colour! Ok, I'll stop talking about colour now.

Onto the actual content of the book, the book title 'In Easy Steps' gives away the fact that the book is easy to understand, which frankly it is. The book covers a wide range of topics from mood boards (read the book and you'll understand what they are) to AJAX.

Along the border of the page it has quick and handy tips as well as recommended further reading for css, javascript, ajax, etc. The book also shows real world examples of websites which actually do what he's talking about.

If I was to have one criticism of the book it is that I hardly think their is a need to put information in about podcasting and blogging, yes they are latest craze on the internet but are they required in a web design book? If the case was that he was talking about designing blog designs then yes but basically he's giving a small run down (just one page) of what blogs and podcasts are and how to use free services.

However apart from that the book is great. In fact I've just bought a second copy for my mum who wants to design her own website and needed some help getting started. So the real test will come if she understands the contents of the book.

As a member of the web design community I say keep it up Rich and I'm looking forward to more of your books.

For more information on "Web Design in easy steps", visit the Web Design Book blog,
which accompanies the book. http://www.web-design-book.com