I was not as familiar with New Riders books when I picked this up. However, I have been pleasantly surprised. This book shoots for a new area of the computer book fields. It is akin to crossing "For Dummies" with a Que or SAMS technical book. The humor, irreverence and relaxed teaching tone is there, but with a surprising level of depth. Ladka knows his stuff and can translate it to the beginning user. His examples cover both VB.NET and C#, so you not only can see ASP.NET grow in your preferred development language, but you also can get a practical view of the similarities, differences and syntax that each language uses. Another plus if you are getting your feet wet in the .NET development arena. Each chapter the author introduces you to the concept, shows you some of the technical aspects and syntax .NET uses, and then rolls up the sleeves and shows you basic examples of the concept in action. I found myself bookmarking several sections to use for reference as development continues.

Who is this book's target audience? Someone who has some ASP background who is delving into ASP.NET. Someone looking for a chance to jump into some examples and see things in action to choose what you want to pursue in further depth. Most of the examples can be typed into live code should you wish, and downloadable code is available, though you have to search for it. There are so many examples, you are better off reading and following up with live versions of a few items that you wish to explore more. If you need more live handholding, try a "Step by Step" book, or possibly some of the excellent WROX books. Overall this is a very good book to start your journey with.

The author does a great job of explaining in simple language the basics of ASP.Net (and somewhat beyond). He has a pretty good writing style that is full of humor and easy to read (although it does border on corny at times). It covers more than ASP.Net for Dummies and has a lot of good insight for the tips and tricks of writing ASP.Net code. I also like that he provides both VB.Net and C# coding examples. And, I like the professionalism of the book. NewRiders did a great job of keeping out grammar errors and typos which is not the case for some of the WROX books. The one fault I see is bringing in discussion of object-oriented programming in the second chapter. I think for the newbie to ASP.Net, it can be a bit confusing. Finally, I think NewRiders should mention the word "beginner" in the title someplace so someone like me who is looking for a book like this to give them the basics of ASP.Net could find it without having to read through all the ASP.Net books' summary information (which is alot of books). Based upon the title, I was assuming a more advanced and techie book. So, why limit the audience to just Web Designers?

I have been working with ASP for years, and needed something to get me up to speed in ASP.NET. I first bought ASP.NET by Example (Smith). I found that book to be a little too heavy on the explanation of the differences between ASP and ASP.NET. I didn't really get a very good grasp of how this .net stuff works. I then picked up ASP.NET for Web Designers, and immediately things started clicking. The writing is clear, the analogies are useful and relevant, and the author's humor keeps the book interesting through some of the code-heavy sections. And while the humor does occasionally get a little too goofy, it is without a doubt one of the best tech books I have read in a very long time. I was able to down the book in a few days, and by the end had a solid understanding of asp.net fundamentals.

Very Highly Recommended!