Web design studio secrets

Do you keep an archive of killer Web sites? You're not alone. Fifteen leading Web designers reveal the secrets behind their favorite sites in the updated edition of Web Design Studio Secrets. Featuring interviews with the experts, undocumented tips and techniques, and full-color illustrations in an oversized format, this edition also presents case studies packed with advice.

Discover what's in a winning site -- Dynamic HTML, Flash animation, and JavaScript rollovers are among the contenders. The CD-ROM contains demo software from key industry players, artwork from the book, and QuickTime interviews with featured artists. With Web Design Studio Secrets, 2nd Ed., you'll find out what the competition's been up to and how to use it to your advantage.

Author Notes

DEKE McCLELLAND is a contributing editor at Publish and Macworld magazine and the award-winning author of more than 30 bestselling books on computer graphics and design, including Macworld Photoshop 5 Bible and Studio Secrets

KATRIN EISMANN is an internationally recognized artist, educator, and speaker.

TERRI STONE covers Web design and multimedia at Macworld.

Foreword	p. VII
Preface	p. IX
Part I General Techniques	p. 1
Chapter 1 Designing for the Web	p. 3
Where to Begin?	p. 3
Getting to Know Your Client	p. 4
Getting to Know Your Viewers	p. 4
New Game, New Rules	p. 7
Who Is in Control?	p. 7
Designing Up or Down?	p. 8
Speed Issues	p. 8
Site Navigation	p. 10
Real Estate: Knowing Your Screen Sizes	p. 11
Limiting Scrolling	p. 11
The Design Process	p. 12
Designing Buttons	p. 15
Photoshop as a Page Layout Tool	p. 15
Buttons in Action	p. 18
Engaging the Viewer	p. 19
The Bottom Line	p. 20
From Start to Finish	p. 20
Chapter 2 Making Your Site Easy to Navigate	p. 23
Maximize Access, Minimize Clicks	p. 24
DigitalThink: Developing Paths to Learning	p. 24
Candy-Coating the Interface	p. 26
The Home Page Sets the Standards	p. 26
The Two-Tiered Approach	p. 27
Specialty Navigation	p. 28
Deutsche Bank: More Than a Pretty Interface	p. 32
Site Trees and Sketches	p. 33
The Splash Page	p. 33
The Training Portal	p. 34
Viewing Course Options	p. 35
Learning About a Course	p. 35
RGA Tech: Three Sites in One	p. 36
The Ultimate Test	p. 37
Chapter 3 Creating Web Graphics	p. 39
Color on the Web	p. 39
Bit Depth	p. 40
Dithering	p. 41
Adaptive Palette	p. 42
File Formats	p. 42
GIF	p. 42
JPEG	p. 45
PNG and SVG	p. 47
How to Choose Formats	p. 47
Antialiasing	p. 48
Platform Gamma Differences	p. 49
How Big Is Too Big?	p. 50
Image Slicing	p. 50
Batch Processing	p. 51
Chapter 4 Basic HTML as a Design Tool	p. 53
Do I Really Have To?	p. 54
Workflow Organization	p. 55
File and Folder Hierarchy	p. 56
Naming Conventions and Consistency	p. 57
Getting into the Code	p. 57
Cleanliness Is Next To...	p. 58
What Every Web Page Needs	p. 58
[Body] Attributes	p. 59
Color	p. 60
Background	p. 61
The Essential Text Tags	p. 62
[Hn]	p. 62
[Basefont Size]	p. 62
[Font Face]	p. 62
Formatting Text	p. 63
Lists	p. 65
HTML Text Versus GIF Text	p. 66
Link Me Up	p. 66
Absolute Versus Relative URLs	p. 67
Working with Images and HTML	p. 68
Please Leave the Lights On!	p. 69
Working with Nothing to Design the Page	p. 70
Using the Lowsrc Tag	p. 71
Image Maps	p. 73
Setting the Table	p. 75
Frames	p. 77
Commenting about [!-- Comment Tags --]	p. 78
Metatags	p. 80
[The End]	p. 80
And in the End...	p. 81
Chapter 5 Dynamic HTML As a Design Tool	p. 83
The Good News	p. 84
The Bad News	p. 85
Love Your Layers	p. 86
Absolute Positioning	p. 88
Take a Closer Look	p. 89
Wysiwyg Dhtml?	p. 90
Advice for Dhtml Aspirants	p. 91
Chapter 6 Constructing Pages Using Tables	p. 93
Brett Waxes Tables	p. 94
Making Graphics That Stretch	p. 96
The Expanding Line	p. 98
Aligning the Buttons	p. 99
The Expanding Title Bar	p. 100
Constructing Complex Page Designs	p. 102
Table 1 The Green Buttons	p. 104
Table 2 The Red Buttons and Text	p. 105
The Nested, Floating Tables of the Gray Sidebar	p. 106
Thinking in Tables	p. 107
Chapter 7 Designing Type for the Web	p. 109
Why CSS?	p. 110
Specifying Typefaces	p. 112
Sizing Up the Situation	p. 112
Leading	p. 114
Embedded Versus External Style Sheets	p. 114
Structure or Display?	p. 115
No-Fault CSS	p. 115
CSS on Computer Alternatives	p. 116
Oldies, Some Goodies	p. 117
Who Cares About Type?	p. 118
Chapter 8 Creating Rollovers With Javascript	p. 121
Neil Welcomes You to Rollovers	p. 122
Mouse Over and Out	p. 123
Giving JavaScript the Gas	p. 124
Preloading the Images	p. 124
Creating the Rollovers	p. 126
The Power of Functions	p. 127
Rolling Image Maps	p. 128
The Rollover Functions	p. 129
Scripting the Image Map	p. 130
Advanced Rollovers	p. 131
The Double-Swap Function	p. 131
The Double-Image Swap	p. 132
Making Animated Rollovers	p. 133
Random Rollover Notes	p. 133
Mi Coda Es Su Coda	p. 134
Part II Specific Applications	p. 135
Chapter 9 Site Management and Workflow Techniques	p. 137
What It Means to Produce	p. 139
The Five Phases of Web Design Workflow	p. 140
Phase 1 Site Definition	p. 140
Frasier's Cranium	p. 141
NW Federal Credit Union	p. 142
Phase 2 Developing Site Structure	p. 143
The Rosie O'Donnell Show	p. 144
Go West with Lewis and Clark	p. 145
Phase 3 Interface Design and Production	p. 146
Expedition '95	p. 147
UCSC NetTrail	p. 149
Phase 4 Technical Engineering	p. 151
The Virtual Lot	p. 152
Phase 5 Publishing and Marketing	p. 153
Chapter 10 Creating Database-Driven Sites	p. 155
What Is a Database?	p. 156
Workflow	p. 157
Documents Are Key to Success	p. 158
Templates	p. 160
User Needs	p. 164
Talking on Air	p. 165
Ingram Micro	p. 166
Keep It Simple, Not Stupid	p. 167
Chapter 11 Gif Animation	p. 169
Evaluate Potential	p. 170
Simple Is Better	p. 171
Tween Idol	p. 172
File Size and Playback Speeds	p. 174
Frame Rates and Looping	p. 175
Image Slicing	p. 175
From GIF to .SWF	p. 177
The GIF Animation Workhorse	p. 179
Chapter 12 Flash Animation and Interactivity	p. 181
Good Things and Small Packages	p. 183
Interactivity	p. 184
When Not to Use Flash	p. 185
Flash and Frames	p. 186
Layer It On	p. 187
Faking 3D Flash	p. 188
Sound Off	p. 190
Business Sense	p. 191
Chapter 13 Films and Video on the Web	p. 193
Small Screen, Huge Audience	p. 194
Now Showing	p. 196
Using QuickTime	p. 196
Using Streaming Video	p. 197
Choosing the Right Format	p. 197
From Celluloid to Bits and Bytes	p. 198
Capture	p. 198
Cleanup	p. 199
Settings for QuickTime	p. 200
HTML for QuickTime	p. 201
Behind the Scenes	p. 202
Streaming Video	p. 203
Serving Streaming Video	p. 204
From Nickelodeon to Multiplex	p. 205
In Honor of Robert Wise	p. 206
Using JavaScript	p. 206
Finally, with or Without Butter?	p. 206
Chapter 14 Immersive Online Imaging	p. 209
Immersive Imaging Flavors	p. 212
Interactive Panoramas	p. 213
Interactive Object Movies	p. 218
The Immersive Photo Studio	p. 223
After the Shoot	p. 224
VR Photography on the Web	p. 228
Embedding VR Photography with HTML	p. 229
Chapter 15 Announcing Your Web Site	p. 233
[META] Tags and Search Engines	p. 234
Submitting to the Directories	p. 237
Tiptoe Through the Yahoo	p. 238
Search Engine Submission	p. 240
Industry-Specific Directories	p. 240
Putting a Face with a Name	p. 241
Promoting Outside the Box	p. 242
Speaking to the Zines	p. 244
Giving People a Reason to Stop By	p. 246
Bringing New Attention to an Old Site	p. 247
Do It Right, Do It Yourself	p. 248
Appendix	p. 250
Index	p. 254
About the Authors	p. 262
Colophon	p. 263
End-Users License Agreement	p. 264
CD-ROM Installation Instructions	p. 268

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Author Notes

Table of Contents