Though I thought the accompanying CD was rather weak, I appreciated being able to see the visual aspects of how the designers put the sites together, as well as reading their thoughts on it.
There's a good variety of topics covered, though some of the more technical ones may have been disserviced by the lack of space to adequately delve into the specifics.
In all, it's worth it for any designer to have in his or her library.
While the overall quality of the book is quite good, the technical chapters on HTML and JavaScript are rather weak- -new users of either of these languages won't find these sections very illuminating, and experienced users won't find many new tips either (the example figures showing HTML code are barely legible). The chapter on Web type starts off by considering usability issues, but soon turns to snazzy ways to make an artistic point, seemingly forgetting the needs of users (as well as search engines, which read only real text, not animated gifs or Shockwave). The book is definitely geared towards graphic artists, almost assuming that the readers are working on high-end Macintosh computers. Certainly, any graphic artist designing for the Web will find tremendous value in this book, as well as general readers interested in Web design.
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.
