the web is not quark
I've had this idea kicking around for a while now.
I work with a lot of print designers at my current job. These are hard-core print people, with little to no knowledge of the web and frankly, little desire to learn. Not that it stops 'em from wanting to design the web site. But I digress.
The hardest obstacle I have when working with print designers is that the basic fundamentals of Quark do not really extend all that well to the web. You have to think flowy. You have to give up some of that radical control. It's just the way the web works. You don't get to dictate the “paper” your audience uses - they have control over their own paper, thank you very much. And their “paper” may be older than you'd like to have to deal with.
I may not be a print designer, but I have done a lot of training in my time, and I've logged hundreds of hours trying to explain esoteric geek bits like tables and CSS-P and browser quirks and compatability and standardized, site-wide navigation to print designers for over two years. I've got a lot to say on the subject, frankly.
And I believe I could teach it well. Originally this book sketch was to be an internal document for my company, something they could hand to the print designers before they started playing with the web, but since then I've wondered if I couldn't maybe get it out into the public eye as well. There must be other print designers who need to learn about the web, right?
Here's how I envision my book:
Chapter 1. Design: A New Way of Thinking
Chapter 2. A Web Primer
Chapter 3. Users
Chapter 4. Browsers
Chapter 5. Colour
Chapter 6. Typography
Chapter 7. The Basic Tools
Chapter 8. Layout
Chapter 9. Other Design Options
Chapter 10. Interactivity
Appendix A: Resources
I've even got topic lists and in some cases screenshots for some of the chapters. All that's left is writing the darn thing.
I know there is already an excellent book on the subject, but maybe the market could bear one or two more.
You never know.
2002.09.10 10:36 PM