Simple Web Sites: Organizing Content-Rich Web Sites into Simple Structures
July 16th, 2010 | 
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There is a movement towards minimalism in web design. End users are tired of and turned off by overloaded sites that are difficult to navigate and slow to load. Faced with organizing vast amounts of content into a structure that can be accessed quickly and easily, many designers have created techniques that make designing more manageable. This book offers insight from top designers on creating simpler web sites, while offering the reader visual inspiration.... More >>
Simple Web Sites: Organizing Content-Rich Web Sites into Simple Structures
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This book is a collection of case studies, like Jakob Nielsen’s Homepage Usability. The explanations from one chapter to another tends to be repetitive, and not all of the 24 websites are really-really cool, BUT unlike Jakob’s book that just attempted to make long distance intepretations, this glossy hard cover book takes us into the design processes complete with each designers’ thinkings, from the early paper sketches, the sitemaps, and the final screenshots. And those insights are good enough for me buy this book.
Rating: 4 / 5
Whether you are designing professionally or just for your own sites this attractive volume is worth mining for some usefully creative design strategies you may not have considered. Stefan Mumaw not only offers his perspectives on the sites but shares original drafts, schematics, ven diagrams, and other structural strategizing notes of the sites? creators. You may work better in some of these modes than others, but at least you?ll be encouraged to see new possibilities for working through complex designs.
The twenty-four example sites discussed are corporate but certainly not staid – even those required to be quite serious. The clients range from retail mountaineering equipment to winery to interactive education and even to ad agency; the types of issues, the complexity of information, and necessary ?feel? of the site are therefore quite different. But author Mumaw is taking you back to the *process* with which the sites? designers had to match design and structure to content and mission.
Note that this is NOT a book about *how to* make a design function (i.e., no HTML, DHTML, Flash, etc.), but on how to conceptionalize *what* functions / designs one needs: taking a complex business or organizational message or process and putting an attractive and effective face on it. As a designer, you?ll probably admire some of the results more than others, but I think *almost anyone?s* design savy could benefit by seeing how the experienced artists here tackled some interesting design challenges.
Rating: 5 / 5
I liked the way the book showed different case studies, starting with the designer’s sketches, sitemaps, thoughts, and comments. The biggest problem with the book is that almost all the sites covered are in a style that has not aged well. These sites are mostly the Flash-based mini-sites that barely cover 1/3 of your screen, and are usually not very content heavy. I don’t think that’s the way sites are being built today, and in the future. So, really, while it’s a nice looking book, it has little relevance to today.
Rating: 3 / 5
This book is a great source and provides some of the most valuable information on how to achieve a clear information architecture that incorporates good usability and is visually compelling. A real must have.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’ve purchased God knows how many web design/usability/information architecture books over the years and each one offers something unique. This one offers great pictures and clear examples of web site screen shots, sitemaps, design methods, plus much more.
Overall the book is great and worth the $15!
Rating: 5 / 5