Proof, if it was needed, that you cant please all of the people all of the time and that there’s not much point in trying to, either.
Veen’s book falls between two stools – those just starting out may find his passion for standards a little disconcerting. While veterans like myself will find that he barely scratches the surface of the processes involved in producing a standards compliant design.
I wouldn’t have minded a chapter on dealing with clients and the logistics of playing the chess-like games that ensue when a client thinks they know better than the professional designer they’re employing. Just like the manufactured pop stars of today who are trained to deal with the media, a fresh young developer needs to know how to handle themselves in a client facing situation. Failing to cover this important subject is a bit of a missed opportunity and although dry, it’s a just as important in delivering a design as CSS.
I’ll probably pass this book on to someone who is just starting out, as it does carry a shed load of common sense that many of todays bright-eyed wannabe designers seem to lack. Like why you shouldn’t copy the fame-whore design sites and stick a 200K image laboriously crafted with Photoshop filters on the front end of your site.
When it comes to site design, Veen seems to deal more with the logical workings than the aesthetics, something I found disappointing as I’d been expecting the “Art” of the title to compliment the “Science”.
It doesn’t take someone who’s grossly pedantic to spot that there are a few typos and missing words in the book, but I wouldn’t say it detracts from what is a very readable tome.
