What do you think?
Rate this book
Hardboiled Web Design
If you’ve been working on the web for a while, your bookshelves may already be buckling under the weight of books about HTML and CSS. Do you really need another one?
Hardboiled Web Design is different. It’s for people who want to understand why, when and how to use the latest HTML5 and CSS3 technologies in their everyday work. Not tomorrow or next week, but today. It won’t teach you the basics of writing markup or CSS, but if you’re hungry to learn about how the latest technologies and techniques will make your websites and applications more creative, flexible and adaptable, then this is the book for you.
Are you ready to get hardboiled?
Hardboiled Web Design is different. It’s for people who want to understand why, when and how to use the latest HTML5 and CSS3 technologies in their everyday work. Not tomorrow or next week, but today. It won’t teach you the basics of writing markup or CSS, but if you’re hungry to learn about how the latest technologies and techniques will make your websites and applications more creative, flexible and adaptable, then this is the book for you.
Are you ready to get hardboiled?
420 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2010
40 people are currently reading
525 people want to read
About the author
Andy Clarke
12Ìýbooks5ÌýfollowersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ database. For more information please see Andy Clarke.
Andrew Clarke is an art director and web designer at the UK website design studio ‘Stuff and Nonsense.� There he designs websites and applications for clients from around the world. Based in North Wales, Andrew‘s also the author of two web design books, ‘Transcending CSS� and ‘Hardboiled Web Design� and is well known for his many conference presentations and over ten years of contributions to the web design industry. Jeffrey Zeldman once called him a “triple talented bastard.� If you know of Jeffrey, you’ll know how happy that made him.
Andrew Clarke is an art director and web designer at the UK website design studio ‘Stuff and Nonsense.� There he designs websites and applications for clients from around the world. Based in North Wales, Andrew‘s also the author of two web design books, ‘Transcending CSS� and ‘Hardboiled Web Design� and is well known for his many conference presentations and over ten years of contributions to the web design industry. Jeffrey Zeldman once called him a “triple talented bastard.� If you know of Jeffrey, you’ll know how happy that made him.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
August 31, 2011
Andy Clarke’s long-waited book, Hardboiled Web Design, brings new ideas on website development. It’s packed with HTML5 and CSS3 but with a different take. A hardass approach using the latest, emerging technologies.
I’ve got to admit that I’m a big fan of Andy‘s work. Transcending CSS had a huge impact on my work and the way I used to see markup and styling. And I had the same feeling after reading this book.
Hardboiled
As the book says: “‘Hardboiled� web design is about never compromising on creating the best we can for the web. Hardboiled is about challenging assumptions.�. This is just to give an idea of the tone used by the author throughout the book. Basically, the idea is to use all technologies available to us right now and not letting browser capabilities drag us down.
The Book
Beautifully illustrated and designed, the book itself it’s different than everything you’ll ever see in the category. It’s one of a kind. It’s also a huge book with nearly 400 pages divided into 4 big chapters.
Each segment within these chapters is loaded with HTML5 and CSS3 techniques deeply explained (in a hardboiled way, of course) and exemplified using the book’s case study, plus, the author shows us real websites that are using it and gives us directions if we want further knowledge on the subject.
The book is available at Five Simple Steps.
[Visit my website and read .]
I’ve got to admit that I’m a big fan of Andy‘s work. Transcending CSS had a huge impact on my work and the way I used to see markup and styling. And I had the same feeling after reading this book.
Hardboiled
As the book says: “‘Hardboiled� web design is about never compromising on creating the best we can for the web. Hardboiled is about challenging assumptions.�. This is just to give an idea of the tone used by the author throughout the book. Basically, the idea is to use all technologies available to us right now and not letting browser capabilities drag us down.
The Book
Beautifully illustrated and designed, the book itself it’s different than everything you’ll ever see in the category. It’s one of a kind. It’s also a huge book with nearly 400 pages divided into 4 big chapters.
Each segment within these chapters is loaded with HTML5 and CSS3 techniques deeply explained (in a hardboiled way, of course) and exemplified using the book’s case study, plus, the author shows us real websites that are using it and gives us directions if we want further knowledge on the subject.
The book is available at Five Simple Steps.
[Visit my website and read .]
December 16, 2010
Excellent book on designing modern web experiences. Andy comes from a clear perspective that a site doesn't need to look the same in every browser, and indeed we shouldn't even try. His argument is that it's much better to design for the best browsers first, using HTML5 and CSS3 in as many ways as make sense for your project, and then provide alternate experiences for less capable browsers.
I really like the approach Andy proposes, especially the focus on creating HTML markup that is as semantic as possible and removes so much of the presentational junk info that we generally have to add. This book taught me a lot about microformats as well, which I keep reading about but never get around to implementing (feels good to get that out in the open).
In terms of learning what's capable with CSS3, this book goes into way more depth than CSS3 for Web Designers, though both are excellent.
I really like the approach Andy proposes, especially the focus on creating HTML markup that is as semantic as possible and removes so much of the presentational junk info that we generally have to add. This book taught me a lot about microformats as well, which I keep reading about but never get around to implementing (feels good to get that out in the open).
In terms of learning what's capable with CSS3, this book goes into way more depth than CSS3 for Web Designers, though both are excellent.
August 20, 2012
Una raccolta eccezionale e ben organizzata di "istruzioni per l'uso" dei nuovi CSS3, che non si limita all'uso canonico degli attributi, ma spiega anche come usarli e combinarli per ottenere buoni risultati estetici.
Le stesse informazioni si trovano ormai ovunque in rete, ma qui sono ben organizzate e ben descritte.
Non raggiunge il punteggio pieno perché le prime 100 pagine sono una continua ripetizione del concetto "ignorate i vecchi browser e concentratevi sui nuovi", che dopo un po' diventa pesante.
Le stesse informazioni si trovano ormai ovunque in rete, ma qui sono ben organizzate e ben descritte.
Non raggiunge il punteggio pieno perché le prime 100 pagine sono una continua ripetizione del concetto "ignorate i vecchi browser e concentratevi sui nuovi", che dopo un po' diventa pesante.
January 25, 2011
Whether or not you agree with the "hardboiled" methodology, this book is a good resource on HTML5 markup, ARIA roles, and CSS3, and will make you re-examine conventional web design wisdom.
Personally, I have some reservations about the hardboiled approach, and I wrote up (at long last) a .
Personally, I have some reservations about the hardboiled approach, and I wrote up (at long last) a .
November 16, 2010
Great book outlining best practices and methods for implementing HTML5 and CSS3 design elements into websites.
August 21, 2011
Definitely not for beginners. This is an extremely high-context text. Likely meant for folks who have been doing web design... forever. Since the author is British, I had to make some allowance for the different in tone and register, but the incessant "hardboiled" references gets old after time. He often goes off on long, drawn-out, elaborations on particular design tasks relating to the web site built based upon the tech discussed in the book. It might have been better to start out with a "start" description of a page, describe what is desired, and then go into the discussion. I got lost figuring out what exactly what the author was actually doing and why. It could be I got lost in the technical details, but the minutiae required to get the concept implemented made my head spin. The insets of different designers using the tech discussed, were hard to read at times, since they have odd backgrounds on white text, in stark contrast of the rest of the book. At times, it made total sense, at other times, it was odd and the context-switching may break understanding. Better to get started learning basic HTML, then refer to this after you have a few years of design under your belt. It is a beautiful book,
August 15, 2013
Look, I love James M. Cain and Dashiell Hammet as much as the next film noir fan, but it is really offputting to have such a misogynistic genre lauded in my professional face. I'm really tired of this.
Such a fan of the idea that it is okay for sites to look, possibly even behave, differently according to environment. Alas that it is still such a difficult concept to sell. I do disagree with the idea that you should plan for specific environments -- that's just not realistic in a world with potentially dozens of mobile devices, desktop/laptop configurations, tablets, etc. I'm a "design for biggish, mediumish, and smallish sizes" person, but that's a newer concept, I think.
Such a fan of the idea that it is okay for sites to look, possibly even behave, differently according to environment. Alas that it is still such a difficult concept to sell. I do disagree with the idea that you should plan for specific environments -- that's just not realistic in a world with potentially dozens of mobile devices, desktop/laptop configurations, tablets, etc. I'm a "design for biggish, mediumish, and smallish sizes" person, but that's a newer concept, I think.
December 6, 2016
Hardboiled Web Design is a book that tries to profess a philosophical opinion about how web design should be approached, but then tries to offer plenty of in-depth and deeper than necessary examples on how to implement these ideas. In theory it's a workable approach, but in reality it becomes muddled as while the opinions stay true across the years, the examples are highly time sensitive.
Reading the book requires an approach of absorbing the overall theme while skipping the implementation details, and then going back later to review specific parts when you're working to add that to a site.
Reading the book requires an approach of absorbing the overall theme while skipping the implementation details, and then going back later to review specific parts when you're working to add that to a site.
June 5, 2011
The book has a really good introduction(makes me want to get my own fedora hat, and be a hardboiled detective)although your expectations about this book may be very high, it only introduces you to html5 and css3(IMHO) and how to implement it to your work 'today'(which it does very well) of course it comes with tutorials and html/css files that were used. all in all i think this is a great book for designers, specially if you're just starting out.
March 13, 2011
A book filled with solid advice for any modern web developer or designer. This is a must read for those who are or have been stuck behind a corporate marketing team. The author does a good job at introducing new concepts that help smash the ideas of cross browser "exactness", but lost points for not expanding on common arguments against this approach. A full chapter on this in a second edition would make this an even better read.
January 11, 2011
I bought the printed and digital versions of this book on December. Don't remember exact day but around the second week. I still haven't received my printed version and I already read the digital version. Needed to say that.
Apart of the slow shipping, this is an awesome book. I will read this again to make sure I make the most out of this book. It's really worth to buy it and read it.
Apart of the slow shipping, this is an awesome book. I will read this again to make sure I make the most out of this book. It's really worth to buy it and read it.
August 31, 2011
Thought this was a great review of recent developments in web design. Really like the idea promoted herein that websites a) don't need (and really won't!) render the same in every browser due to the myriad of sizes and platforms the web is accessed from today and b) a smart web designer should look to take full advantage of whatever platform a site/content is accessed from.
May 7, 2014
At first I thought that the book is about detectives, but turned to quite a nice introduction to HTML5/CSS3 and web design in general. I think most of its content may be trivial for seasoned web designers, but Hardboiled Web Design suits best (Even Though the book was published three and half years ago) for a person who knows just the basics of HTML/CSS.
August 26, 2014
This book is one of the best book in the modern day web development. Hardboiled Web Design isn't about making your website pretty or pixel perfect, but about making your website stand the test of time while using tomorrow's standard. Being hardboiled also meant that we develop while regarding device and browser's capability.
May 22, 2011
As usual Andy provides not just trend-setting theories but the practical examples that will make any designer perform just as they should in the age of empowered web technologies. Awesome stuff. Idol envy.
July 10, 2011
I think this is the best book about html/css I've ever read! Truly cutting edge, with in depth examples and explanations. This book is full of great content. I loved the hardboiled approach, I'm already applying it to my websites. Must read for anyone working with html and css today.
December 10, 2010
Practical and modern solutions for Web designers who think IE6 is already dead. A must read.
January 8, 2012
This was really good, though I would suggest it more for anyone that hasn't already dove into using CSS3. I was able to skip big portions of it but there were still some great takeaways.
February 11, 2011
Good info, although the detective trope wore thin by chapter two.
January 16, 2015
beautifully prepared. well worth a read if you're a web designer or developer.
February 23, 2013
Probably should have read this 2 years ago.
October 1, 2011
It was definitely a very good read. I completely subscribed to this philosophy and it is a must read for anyone to live on the edge.
October 13, 2011
Frakking wonderful.
November 19, 2011
Very interesting approach for presenting all the latest features introduced by CSS3, HTML5 and what's currently supported in modern browsers.
June 23, 2013
Nice intro text on css3. Enjoyed the fact that it refers to some real examples. A bit outdated on the micro formats section.
September 8, 2016
Just as good as the first edition. Great updates to where Web technology is today.
October 20, 2010
Awesome
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.