Patrick McNeilThe Web Designer's Idea Book, Vol. 2: More of the Best Themes, Trends and Styles in Website Design

First, if you don't have the first one, you're missing out. They fit together perfectly... hopefully the start of a long series!The Web Designer's Idea Book: The Ultimate Guide To Themes, Trends & Styles In Website DesignLike the first volume, this is full of carefully picked examples of the best in modern web design. It's organized into very clever topics making it the perfect reference book. It's loaded with screenshots, screenshots, and more screenshots... just as before, but all new, and more recent.In this version, the screenshots are even larger and easier to pick up on detail and text. They've also included "Developer Notes" which I think are pretty insightful and in context.If you are involved in web design in any way (even if you're hiring other people to do it), this book will be super handy. The two editions are the same size and style... they're intended to be on the bookshelf together. With the two combined, there must be a thousand organized designs to look through. The amount of work that went into collecting such quality work without "filler" junk is astounding.I'm really impressed... if you can't tell!On the negative side: I'd personally prefer these came in large hardback coffee-table books. While maybe not as handy, it certainly would be great to have around the agency. Maybe after the 3rd edition, they should release a combined volume!

What a great book. There are lots of 'inspiration' books for graphic and web designers out there. Most consist of a few great sites. Not bad, but "The Web Designers Idea Book" give you hundreds. But McNeil makes this flood of layout orderly by breaking sites into categories - first according to basic design principles (balance, contrast, document flow) and then by site type. An example of his detail is the entire chapter devoted to "404" error pages - this is some serious work on what makes a layout tick. The author also provides developer-centric counterpoint to his design discussion - some layouts, easy to create in Photoshop or Illustrator would be almost impossible to make work in HTML/CSS.The author also provides advice on how to use the examples, and discussions of larger design trends. If you want to explore the "classic" web 2.0 look check the earlier edition, but the examples here are cutting-edge. Also, nearly all work when you try the site URL!My only critique is labeling - some figures are not clearly labeled as being associated with text. It would also be great to have commentary on a larger proportion of the examples, but we'll need to pay the author more IMHO. If you're trying to learn web design, get it!

This is not a book you read from cover to cover. Its primary goal isn't to teach you CSS, how to use graphic design software, or how to do web design. It's a reference book as its title implies. There are tidbits of useful advice scattered about from various industry professionals.The author, however, makes it clear that copying an entire design is tacky and unprofessional. Use this book when you're running low on creative juices. Pick elements you like from multiple designs and mix-and-match to cater to your tastes or for your client.In an effort to build my references library, I added this to my collection. Looking forward to getting the other series. Good for any front-end developer.

I love this book. From the second it arrived, I've been pouring through the pages again and again. I'm a web design student; thus, I'm always working on multiple sites at a time. Each time I hit a new design phase for a site, I pick up this book and thumb through it. I see new ideas every time I open the book. I tag pages with ideas I might like to implement. My book has little tags hanging out of it all over the place. It's nice that ideas are modern and visual. If you design sites, I can't see how this book wouldn't inspire you.

This book has a lot of examples and good information, however, ITS TOO SMALL. The entire purpose of looking at this book it to see the design clearly including every spec. Honestly, I don't see why the author would choose to make this book so small. If I had known I wouldnt have bought it. One can argue that you can use the links provided under the design but that defeats the purpose of buying the book entirely. I bought this book so when im on my couch relaxing i could skim through it to keep my mind fresh with ideas. But I often find myself throwing my face into it so that i can see it better and it doesn't work. It frustrates me and my eyes eventually hurt. On a good note, if you own a magnifying glass you're all set.

The book is written on quality paper, and the page images are clear. Some of them are a little small, but they're readable when you consider that they're trying to cram one or two full screens into (at best) half a page or so.The part I appreciated most was the color palettes at the end of each chapter. I have no color taste, so it's nice to get a complete list of what's used in a given set of pages.Good source for ideas if you're trying to lay out a site but you're not quite sure what it should look like yet.

I bought both volumes of this book and I'm impressed. They are both full of unique and beautiful websites. I feel as though the author was reading my mind, picking only the best websites that truly are like interactive works of art. It is the cure to my designer's block!These books are made to work together and combine into a huge collection of some of the world's most truly awesome-looking websites. One isn't complete without the other, so if you buy it, be sure to buy volume 1!