With Robin Williams' guiding hand, non-professionals, artists, and designers alike have learned the principles behind elegant design. Now that much of this same audience is working on the Web, Robin has focused her attention on the specific needs of this medium with Robin Williams Web Design Workshop. John Tollett and Dave Rohr pitch in with their illustration and graphics experience to create a handsome and engaging instructional book. The ideas in this book tackle all aspects of Web design theory, including all the ways that color, fonts, clip art, photographs and so on contribute to creating a visual impression. Then the book takes the user through site planning and layout, navigability, and functionality, all in Robin Williams' clear and accessible style.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. I. BACKGROUND. 1. How much do you already know? Color Theory (RGB vs. CMYK, web safe colors, etc.). File formats (GIF, JPG, TIF, PSD, RIF, HTML, PNG, etc.). Page building (software, index page, naming files, etc.). Resolution (bit depth, ppi vs dpi, screen resolution vs. print resolution, etc.). Type and fonts (aliased vs. anti-aliased type, quote marks and apostrophes in graphic type, cross-platform fonts, etc.). FTP process. Tables: How to make and use them. Fonts (viewer customizable and what to do about it). 2. Taking advantage of clip art and fonts. Using clip art in web design, buttons, animations, etc. Where to get it, what to do with it (file format, color, etc.). Use a new typeface! 3. Taking advantage of photographs. Using photographs on the web. Borders, resolution issues, thumbnails, etc. 4. It's a horizontal world. Horizontal screens, laptops, initial visual impact, etc. Ways to take advantage of the horizontal space, etc. 5. Creating a visual impression. What makes a site look personal, corporate, portal, trendy, dorky? II. PLAN THAT SITE. 6. Initial planning and client input. Audience, market. Browser compatibility. Hosting, domain names. Working with clients. Save those source files!!! Design vs. production. 7. Organization of site. Site mapping. 8. Organizing the work flow. Including updating (“this page last updated...”). 9. Layout process. In PhotoShop or Illustrator. Posting on web for client to view, etc. 10. Enhanced functionality (when do you need it, where to get it). Automated stuff like sending out a newsletter (list management), auto-responders. Chat rooms/guest books. Database integration. CGI scripts. E-commerce. Javascript. Other code. 11. Web site work is never done. Submitting to search engines. Maintenance. III. IDEA SOURCE. 12. Slicing and dicing. Slicing up the PhotoShop file for placement into cells. Troubleshooting cells. 13. Backgrounds. Don't be stupid. How to make seamless tiles. Examples of backgrounds that work (tiled, single image, etc.). 14. Navigation. What makes for clear navigation. Options for navigation (left side, right side, top, bottom, frames, flash). 15. Buttons. Lots of ideas for buttons. Tips on streamlining the process; making them easy to revise (style sheets). 16. Rollovers and image swaps. For navigation clarity. Examples of clever uses of, multiple image swaps. 17. Fonts and typefaces. Readability and legibility. Specifying certain fonts. Cross-platform fonts. When to use or not use real quotation marks and apostrophes. Quote marks and apostrophes in graphics. 18. Search and/or site index page. Lots of examples of site index pages. How to add a search feature. 19. Dynamic HTML (DHTML). What is it, when do you use it. Lots of examples of DHTML in use. 20. Cascading Style Sheets. What are they, when do you use them. Lots of examples of CSS in use. 21. Frames. Advantages and disadvantages; have a reason for using them. Examples of poorly executed frames. Examples of well executed frames. 22. Animated GIFs. Advantages and disadvantages. Lots of examples. Make them stop. 23. Flash animations. Advantages and disadvantages. Lots of examples of building web sites in Flash. 24. Layers. What are they, when to use them. Advantages and disadvantages. Creating them?? 25. Forms. Need CGI; where to get it, simple scripts. Lots of examples of lovely forms.