Web Design Books

Family Books

Digital Family Album Special Occasions

Digital Family Album Basics

Creating Family Web Sites For Dummies

The Reader's Corner

Looking for templates or graphics for one of our books? Visit our Reader's Corner.

Video Training

Discover the joys of video training for Dreamweaver, Expression Web, Photoshop, Flash, and more!

Free Tutorials

Should you create a Web site with Dreamweaver or a WordPress blog?

Adobe Dreamweaver: learn to use this award-winning Web design program

Expression Web: Introducing Microsoft's new Web program

Reader's Corner

Already have this book?

If you already have a copy of Digital Family Album Basics, you also get free access to our Readers' Corner where you'll find all the templates and artwork featured in the lessons. Just answer a simple question easily found in the book to gain instant password access.

Notes from Readers

“People always thank me when I refer them to your books because they answer all their questions and makes it so easy.”

-- Regina Lynn
columnist, Wired.com

“We’re doing a big family reunion next year with more than 100 people and I keep telling my family we have to create a Web site. I love that this book shows us so many great ways to do it.”

-- Susanna Whitmore
Los Angeles, CA

“My son’s just getting into Web design at school. Thanks to your book we were able to work together to create a valuable project for our family.”

-- Kim Marcille
Miami, FL

"I don't know where to start -- the bottom line is that I wish I had read your book first! You have a real knack of presenting information that makes a lot of sense. Some of these how to books leave the novice back in the dust.”

-- Pete Juliano
Port Townsend, WA

“Thank you for your lovely book. The examples are so inspiring.”

-- Jessica Levy
Houston, TX

The Reader's Corner

If you already have a copy of one of our books or videos, you're welcome to more goodies in our Reader's Corner. Click here and answer a simple question from one of our books to gain instant access.

Digital Family Album Basics

Dedication
Acknowledgements
and Publisher Information

I dedicate this book to the tradition of family storytelling and to all who appreciate the power of shared memories. I hope the lessons and designs in the Digital Family Album books will inspire you to share your pictures, stories, and dreams. And may you always be surrounded by those you love.

Janine's Acknowledgements

Let me start by thanking my husband, David LaFontaine, for his patience, love, and delightful sense of humor. I love you more than anyone and I look forward to creating my own family with you. Your intelligence and creativity inspire me and your love brings me such happiness.

It has been delightful to include so many people in my own family in this book, especially my aunt and uncle, tom (who's preference for lowercase letters is just one of his charming quirks) and his wife Mindy. Both are professional graphic designers and they created many of the lessons and examples in these pages. My Uncle John shared his research into our family ancestry, my father shared his color printer, and my mother contributed some of the exercises.

But it is my sister-in-law Stephanie who deserves credit for inspiring this book and many of the designs in these pages. I can't thank her enough for all of her cards and scrapbooks. Thanks also to my brother Kevin, who has been a solid source of support in my life, and to their three daughters who bring me joy and serve as my favorite models.

Thanks to all four of my fabulous parents, Malinda, Janice, Helen, and Robin. Thanks to my brother Brian, and all of my extended family, which now includes David's large and wonderful collection of relatives -- Gail, Dave, Linda, Beth, Sarah, and everyone else in the LaFontaine, Roos, and other clans.

Throughout these pages you'll find pictures of my family and friends, as well as the work of some outstanding professional photographers, from my friend Zach Goldberg, who's California-based business specializes in weddings and special events (www.frozenphoto.com), to Mary Bortmas in Michigan whom I discovered after my nieces visited her toy-filled studio (www.unforgettablephotos.org), to my friend Ken Riddick, whose SCUBA photos provide the colorful ocean scenes in this book.

Special thanks to all of the beautiful people in these pages. I love looking at your smiles, and your antics bring this book to life. I hope all of you who appear in these designs -- from my three adorable nieces to my friends in Spain, Miami, India, and beyond --appreciate how much you mean to me. Thanks also to the creators of a few featured Web sites: BusyMom.com, TrixieUpdate.com, and the Fleming family (at www.rfleming.net).

Thanks to the entire editorial team at Watson-Guptill, from Victoria Craven, who helped turn this book into a series, to Michelle Bredeson, who reviewed every word and helped create the design, to Pooja Bakri, whose professional eye created the cover and book layouts, and finally to my agent, Margot Maley and her beautiful family.

Over the years, I’ve thanked many people in my books -- friends, teachers, mentors -- but I have been graced by so many wonderful people now that no publisher will give me all the pages I'd need to thank them all. So let me conclude by thanking everyone I've ever known so I can go to sleep tonight and know I haven't forgotten anyone. And then let me thank my lucky stars that this book is finally done. Complete. Finished. This is it. (And don’t even tell me those aren’t complete sentences.)

-- Janine Warner

Tom and Mindy's Acknowledgements

While we both thank our family and friends for being such wonderful sources of inspiration and encouragement, we mostly want to thank niece Janine for the opportunity to coauthor a book with her. Certainly, this collaboration will be among our favorite memories of moments spent with Janine, on a par with the time when she was five years old and she... oh, maybe we should save that story for the next book in the Digital Family Album series.

-- Mindy and tom McCain