Max Hits: Building and Promoting Successful Websites (Digital Media Design)

Sometimes all one needs to finally "get" a concept is to hear it reworded in a friendly, less technical way. Top Web designer Slocombe (urban75.org) demystifies the entire Web site production process with a fun, slang-filled text in Max Hits: Building and Promoting Successful Websites. He makes ideas that novices often find confusing, like XML, SVG, and CSS, seem easy and points the way to further reading and useful applications. Not strictly a how-to manual, the book is rich with screen shots and bite-size blocks of text, with a hip layout by Bark Design that makes it more entertaining than most technical books.

Slocombe dispenses a lot of hard-earned wisdom. Rather than teaching all of HTML, he gives a simple tutorial that gets across the main idea of how tags work and then sends the reader off to look at source code, consult online resources, and/or use an HTML editor like Homesite. When discussing how wide a site should be, he gets right to the crux of the problem: should a Web designer worry about how the site looks on every monitor from plasma to PDA? What are the pros and cons of specifying the table tag width at 100 percent? Again, he points the way to places online where readers can check how their site displays in different browsers and resolutions.

Pros and cons come into play in most Web site design decisions. For example, developers must weigh design versus download time or latest technology versus browser compatibility. These decisions are unique to each site and Slocombe helps readers make knowledgeable choices. His advice can be as simple as hitting the auto button on the levels panel in Photoshop to clear up a muddy photograph or as complex as delivering appropriate content to your audience.

This is a hip book that looks at all the details involved in making a Web site. It's well written, well designed, well coded, and gets lots of attention from search bots. And it clues readers in to some of the coolest sites existing on the Web today. It may just be the pat on the fanny you need to get off to a good start with your own Web site. --Angelynn Grant