I was looking for books to read while I was here in Vietnam and picked up an enormous 1,000 page tome on Web site design called The Design of Sites. I’ve never seen a more helpful book on Web site design ever. One of the problems with Web site design as a subject is that it’s vast and seemingly uncategorizable. The authors, Douglas K. Van Duyne, James A. Landay and Jason I. Hong (all of them with ties to UC Berkeley and all smarter than the average Bear) have distilled all the most important design patterns from many Web sites and put them into an easy-to-use book. In so doing, they’ve created a deep resource for both novice Web site designers and old hands like myself.
I would echo their recommendation that the business backers of a new or updating Web site read the first five chapters of their book. These chapters explain their customer-centered Web design philosophy and how to use the book properly so that you can find the perfect design pattern that expresses the intent of your Web site. Those of you not familiar with design patterns may want to peruse a couple of good Wikipedia articles that both explain who
who came up with the idea and how it’s applied to computer technology. It’s ironic — I employ design patterns all the time when programming but never considered it in a formal way when designing a Web site. With this book, I have no more excuses.
And those of you designing nonprofit sites exclusively also have no more excuses as the authors have outlined a set of usable design patterns for nonprofit Web sites. What’s interesting is that the authors specifically include blogs and discussion groups as a design patterns for advanced Web sites. As this book will eventually become a sort of Web Design Bible, I hope that nonprofit techies will take those recommendations and lay them out for their managers to consider.
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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I just ordered the book. We\’re in crunch time with our nonprofit redesign(s), so good timing – thanks!
My guide to date has largely been Jakob Nielsen, useit.com. I\’ve read a few of his books and man, though most are 6+ years old, I find them right on and ahead of the times.
We\’re in the \’mock-up\’ phase with a couple of sites, so I hope The Design of Sites arrives soon. Thanks for the suggestion.
Yeah, I’m a Jakob Nielsen fan as well. However, Design of Sites is kind of an operational guide to Web site design. I think that even in the mock-up phase, you’ll find the book useful as it will definitely solidify the direction you’ll need to take in regards to UI and use cases. And when I can, I’m going to try to comment on your blog Chas about your mock-ups.
I’m a web designer and I just started a series of blog articles on how to optimize 6 areas of your web site.
http://www.turtleinteractive.com/category/nonprofit/
I also have a search engine that will search resources of about 120 sites relevant to nonprofits and churches.
Doesn’t the very nature of a static, printed book render it obsolete and outdated as soon as it is purchased?
Nope not really. It’s about design patterns. By their nature, they don’t change that much. I REALLY recommend the book more than I initially did. I read much of it during my recent vacation and was utterly impressed by it. If I were to teach web design, it would be my textbook.
You mention that “the authors specifically include blogs and discussion groups as a design patterns for advanced Web sites”. I ran back to my copy to read their thoughts on blog design but could find no mention of blogs. I bought mine at press time. I wonder if it has had updates since? (mine is blue, yours is red).
Pam,
On the spine of my book, it says Second Edition. Does it say that on yours? I think the blue cover used for the first edition of this book.