Web Menus with Beauty and Brains

Be the first to write a review

Overview

This book is designed to be the start to finish reference for creating powerful and attractive menus and menu-based interfaces for the Internet and other interactive software applications. It begins with determining the structure for a site, and how to organize menu categories, and then moves on to the practical information required to complete the graphics for the menu, and finally onto the actual page. The sections are clearly divided for use as a reference for experienced designers. The book covers the use of ...
See more details below
Paperback (BK&CD-ROM)
$14.99
BN.com price
(Save 50%)$29.99 List Price
Other sellers (Paperback)
  • All (16) from $1.99   
  • New (1) from $13.52   
  • Used (15) from $1.99   
Sending request ...

More About This Book

Overview

This book is designed to be the start to finish reference for creating powerful and attractive menus and menu-based interfaces for the Internet and other interactive software applications. It begins with determining the structure for a site, and how to organize menu categories, and then moves on to the practical information required to complete the graphics for the menu, and finally onto the actual page. The sections are clearly divided for use as a reference for experienced designers. The book covers the use of major apps such as Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, GoLive, and Photoshop.
Read More Show Less

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble Review
An entire book on web menus? Heck, yes. Web menus are where the "rubber meets the road." They're where designers must translate all that fancy, high-falutin' talk about navigation and usability into solutions that work. In this book, long-time Webreference.com columnist Wendy Peck shows how.

The emphasis is on the second half of the title: delivering menus with both beauty and intelligence, menus that respect the goals of the site -- and the visitor. You'll get your hands grubby with plenty of examples -- examples using Photoshop/ImageReady, Fireworks and Dreamweaver, Paint Shop Pro, and more.

Peck covers the full gamut of menu design, ranging from simple lightweight text (even creating wireless device menus) all the way up to Flash (very cool, but with a couple of huge limitations). There's extensive practical coverage of Cascading Style Sheets, and of tables -- especially, how to avoid the stupid browser inconsistencies that still plague web designers. Speaking of which, Peck walks you through creating menus with server-side includes, which are cross-browser safe because your server's doing the processing.

The accompanying CD-ROM contains a batch of easy-to-adapt menu templates that put the final polish on a book working web designers will love. (Bill Camarda)

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer with nearly 20 years' experience in helping technology companies deploy and market advanced software, computing, and networking products and services. He served for nearly ten years as vice president of a New Jersey–based marketing company, where he supervised a wide range of graphics and web design projects. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.

Read More Show Less

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780764536434
  • Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
  • Publication date: 12/1/2001
  • Edition description: BK&CD-ROM
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 384
  • Product dimensions: 7.46 (w) x 9.18 (h) x 0.82 (d)

Meet the Author

Wendy Peck is a Web designer and computer graphics trainer with more than a dozen years of graphic design experience. She writes the popular WebReferenec.com column "Production Graphics" and is the author of Dreamweaver 4 Weekend Crash Course.
Read More Show Less

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Pt. I Putting the Brains into Menu-Based Interfaces 1
Ch. 1 What Is a Menu? 3
Ch. 2 Setting Site Direction and Assessing Available Tools 19
Ch. 3 Why Are Your Visitors Here? 27
Ch. 4 Understanding Browsers, Intranets, and Wireless 35
Ch. 5 Putting the "Map" into a Site Map 49
Ch. 6 Choosing the Right Look 63
Ch. 7 Creating a Rough Comp 75
Pt. II Slim, Sexy Menus: Making Words Count 83
Ch. 8 Understanding Text Menu Methods 85
Ch. 9 Cascading Style Sheets: The Production Tool that Delivers on Promises 99
Ch. 10 Lightweight Champs: Text Menus That Fly onto the Page 115
Ch. 11 Creating Tiny Text You Can Actually Read 129
Ch. 12 Typography Counts for Menus 139
Ch. 13 Text and Design 153
Ch. 14 Text Menus for Wireless Devices 167
Pt. III More Than Just a Pretty Face: Graphic Menus with a Purpose 175
Ch. 15 Why'd They Do That? Notes from Great Graphic Sites 177
Ch. 16 Creating Graphic Elements to Guide Your Visitor 191
Ch. 17 Preparing Graphics for Slicing and Rollovers 205
Ch. 18 Optimizing and Slicing Graphic for Menus 215
Ch. 19 Creating Tables that Stay Put in Any Browser 233
Ch. 20 Stretch Your Work: Liquid Design for Any Monitor Resolution 245
Ch. 21 Special Techniques for Flash 257
Pt. IV Lights, Camera, Action! Time to Create the Show 273
Ch. 22 Mouse Moves: Creating Simple and Complex Rollovers and Image Maps 275
Ch. 23 Building DHTML Drop-Down Menus with Text and Graphics 285
Ch. 24 Creating Jump Menus and Customized Forms 297
Ch. 25 Automation and Template Tricks 307
Ch. 26 Pulling It Together, and Test, Test, and Test Again 319
Ch. 27 Production Tricks and Fun Stuff 331
App.: What's on the CD-ROM 343
Index 349
End-User License Agreement 360
Read More Show Less

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review
( 0 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identity on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

 
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously
    If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
    Why is this product inappropriate?
    Comments (optional)