Have you ever wished that you could make your web pages look fantastic and professional, as well as having great functionality? Well, look no further. In this book we take you through the basics of web design, looking at using color effectively on sites, visual elements that work, and how to use text effectively, before going on to show how to put these elements together to make a well designed, brilliantly laid out web page.

We also compare and contrast graphics formats, look at how to optimize your graphics for best site performance, and review the best tools currently available for producing graphics for the Web, and which to choose to suit your needs best.

In this book we cover:

- Effective use of color, visual elements, and text

- Professional web page design and layout

- The ins and outs of bitmaps and vector graphics, including using Flash, SVG and SMIL

- Optimizing web graphics, for better site performance

- Includes tutorials on Photoshop/Image Ready, Paint Shop Pro, and Fireworks MX