recommendations needed for a good web design book

[Thomas Dowling]

> Lest I'm burned at the stake and/or booted off this list (which I think
is
> very informative and highly instructional on a number of levels, thanks
> for allowing me to participate), I believe I should explain myself
further
> regarding my recommendation of Siegel's book on Web design. 

Kevin--

Don't panic, I don't think you'll get flamed.  But you happened to hit a
recurring, spirited theme among web
designers/authors/creators/whatever-we-are.  

> 
> ...Please note that I also mentioned what are some of his simplest ideas
to
> implement -- the single pixel GIF tricks -- yet sometimes difficult to
> manage when updating frequently.  And I am fully aware that he designs
> primarily for businesses, corporations, and others (some artistic
> types--not to be glib) who need 'full control' of how the page lays out,
> which *will* neglect the needs and preferences of many users, as Mr.
> Dowling rightfully pointed out. 

BTW, there's nothing in any HTML spec that says what a browser is supposed
to do if the WIDTH and HEIGHT attributes in an IMG tag are "wrong": that
is, those attributes are offered as a means of telling a browser how much
space an image actually needs to be displayed correctly.  It's certainly
conceivable that a browser could opt to snap back to an image's correct
dimensions after initially stretching to accomodate false WxH attributes. 
(In fact, I recall an earlier version of MSIE doing that.  Can anyone
confirm?)

Again, I haven't read the Siegel book, so I don't know what caveats he
makes, but most people running around the net with suggestions like the 1x1
GIF don't tell you (and don't seem to know themselves) how closely you need
to predict your users environment in order for the suggestion to work.

BTW, the first public beta of Netscape Navigator 4.0 is due next week. 
Netscape has [belatedly] promised to support the complete Cascading Style
Sheet specification.  If much of that spec makes it into beta 1--especially
personal style sheets--lots and lots of effort toward "presentation" HTML
may go up in flames.

Which will make Christmas just a little merrier for me! ;-)

Thomas "Humbug" Dowling
tdowling at ohiolink.edu