Web design book for non-designers?

Need a recommendation if you've got one (or two)

[Hawkgirl]

We've decided that it would be a good idea to "educate" our marketing team (sales folks, business development folks) on web design. That way, when they make deals (to integrate with a partner, for example) they will have some idea of what they should be pushing for in the negotiations.

I'm looking for a general book (book is better than website - we want to hand 'em out and make people read them). Something along the lines of "Web audiences scan the page from upper left to lower right. Content should be in easy-to-read chunks (e.g., bullets). Yada yada."

Any suggestions? I've got people ranging from the VP of marketing to a formerly-print designer who need to understand the info.

Any help would be appreciated.

[buckworks]

Take a look at "The Non-Designer's Web Book: An easy guide to creating, designing, and posting your own web site." By Robin Williams & John Tollett, PeachPit Press. It might suit your purposes.

You might also find Ken Evoy's "Make Your Site Sell" to be useful, although it's only available in ebook form these days. Another one that made a huge difference for me was "Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity" by Jakob Nielsen. It might be more than most folks would want to wade through, though.

[martinibuster]

Robin William's "Non-designer's Web Design Book" seems like an easy read with content about how to structure, though it leans heavy toward graphic design issues.

A more rounded book is "Web Re-Design - Workflow that Works", which quickly but pretty thoroughly covers the web design process from flowcharting to usability testing (although it lacks a mention of seo issues). I especially like it because it is engagingly written.

[rjohara]

From your description it sounds to me like Jakob Nielsen's _Designing Web Usability_ would be a very good choice. I read his useit.com columns and was skeptical that the book would offer more than was already available for free at useit.com, but it certainly does (and as you say, the tangible thing to pass around it important). It's got lots of clear color screenshots of good and bad design, loads of practical examples, and JN's typically blunt recommendations (do this, don't do that). Some people don't like that aspect of Nielsen's style, but I do -- it doesn't waste my time, and if I decide I don't agree with his recommendation I will know exactly why. I was very pleased with the book, and your folks probably would be also.

RJO

[caine]

Web Design In a NutShell (2nd Ed.) by Jennifer Niederst, published by O'Reilly.

I got it when it came out and was quite surprised of its contents, very intuitive, and covers the basics of every angle of websites, from design > structural / visual, to code, compatibility issues etc. You won't go far wrong with this book.

[Robert Charlton]

If you know anything about HTML and site building, you may find a lot of the Williams "The Non-Designer's Web Book" much too basic.

Much better by Williams... and in fact the best basic book about page design and type layout that I've read... is "The Non-Designer's Design Book." It covers "design and typographic principles for the visual novice," and it's excellent. It's also US$15 cheaper than the Web book.

[Hawkgirl]

Wow - thank you all so much for the fast responses. I'm going to see if I can find copies of these suggestions (I'm thinking Borders?) and flip through them tomorrow.

I am somewhat embarassed to admit that I've never picked up a book on design. I learned what I know through lots of usability testing, competitive and best-of-breed analyses, online resources (such as WW) and friends/coworkers/consultants.

It'll probably be a good edu-cashun for me as well as my peeps at work.

[vmcknight]

I'd say the best for non-technical people is Steve Krug's "Don't make Me Think - A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability".

I also love Robin William's book on design for non-designers, but I wouldn't use it for your purpose. Customers and marketers are already too caught up by appearances, and need to be steered over to think about structure, IMO.

[Marcia]

I looked through Williams' book at one time, if I remember right it was Mac oriented, and had some excellent design pointers.

Just about anything by Molly Holzschlag is good. She covers the whole spectrum of web development in depth and does a lot about navigation as well, and explains a lot about the different angles to design. She's a prolific author so she gets into writing styles, too. She headed up MSN's web community for a number of years and teaches sessions at conferences, so her explanations are very clear (though verrry leeeennnnngthy).

I've looked through Web Design in a Nutshell, I was impressed with it. The author also wrote a book on navigation, I believe.

[vitaplease]

Day before yesterday I just bought "Homepage Usabitlity - 50 Websites Deconstructed" by Jakob Nielsen & Marie Tahir. oct. 2001 (40 $)

50 full page screen shots of "big" sites fully scrutinised in a large colourful layout. Nice fall asleep - dream away - lets redo the whole site again - reading and browsing.

Also nice to read what Nielsen charges for a normal Usabitlity consult ($10.000.-)

This was the most inviting and clear set-up book I came across in the bookshop, I can recommend it.

[Crazy_Fool]

>>Web Design In a NutShell
i've got to endorse that book too. all the basics of everything, plenty of more advanced stuff, easy to read. always useful for reference.

[rewboss]

For a slightly different angle: Web Pages That Suck, and Son of Web Pages That Suck.