If you pick up Designing
Multimedia Web Sites in the store, a quick flip
through would suggest that along with a CD-ROM full of
software, this book would show you how to make your site sing
and dance.
It won't.
There's a strange mix of specific (mostly pretty basic such
information such as how to create a GIF in Photoshop) to
useful design philosophy. It's not so much a how-to book but
a why-to and what-to do it with book. If you are a
computer literate designer you'll know a lot of this already,
but if you need one overview that doesn't patronise, this
will quickly bring you up to speed on what's happening on the
Web.
(Of course if you already have the smarts then locking
yourself away and spending two months to explore the Web will
also give you context, something this book can't really give.
Who's doing what, and when not to add animation won't sit
still for a book like this.)
This book can almost be read at a sitting if you didn't
follow the online links. It can certainly be read over a
weekend using the archived sites on the CD-ROM. Of course
it's already out of date, missing some of the latest
plug-ins, but the biggies are here. The authors are working
web designers so you can decide for yourself about how good
they are, before you buy. Stella Gassaway is at http://www.vizbyte.com. The
journo in the mix, Catherine Gregory (who I think could have
done it better. It has too much of the feel of a grab bag of
wildly different bits), was introduced to the Web by 'the
company down the hall, Animation House',
where Gary Davis, the last of the author/advisors is
president. Stella is featured as Author
of the month on the Hayden books site, but most of the
information is repeated from her own STELLAViSIONs pages on
vizbyte.com.
These people know a lot of stuff. If you don't, then
you'll gain a lot of background knowledge fast from Designing
Multimedia Web Sites.
The CD-ROM has Mac and PC software. The usual demo
versions and some shareware utilites. A directory listing is
here to see if you need it. But don't forget the time saving
in having the author's site picks and demo's on the disc.
Designing Multimedia Web Sites.
Stella Gassaway, Gary Davis and Catherine Gregory. Hayden
Books Paperback+CD-ROM. ISBN 1-56830-308-4
Distributed in Australia by Prentice Hall Australia.