Mastering Integrated HTML and CSS by Virginia DeBolt

Order from Amazon

Beginners to CSS have a rough time of it. There's no escaping that tough, frustrating early stage before the light bulb clicks on and CSS becomes the coolest tool in your web kit. But don't despair—grab yourself a copy of Virginia DeBolt's newest book and you'll work your way through the newbie stage in no time at all.

Noted on 24 August 2007 in

Web Standards Creativity by Andy Budd et al.

Order from Amazon

Web Standards Creativity is a fascinating look at how some of the best designers in the business use web standard compliant markup and CSS to take web design to new heights of style and function. Based on actual "case studies," it's also an intriguing look inside these designers heads. The decision-making process they reveal teaches us as much about good design as the methods they're describing.

Noted on 28 May 2007 in

Transcending CSS by Andy Clarke

Order from Amazon

Have you been feeling lately that CSS and web standards are a little gray and fussy? Too much analytical-looking code and not enough va-vavoom? Well, get ready to have your hair blown back and the wind whistle in your ears. Andy Clarke is about to take you on rollickin' good ride.

Noted on 11 April 2007 in

Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet by Kate Hafner and Matthew Lyon

Order from Amazon

It's hard to believe that a history of the early days of computing and (pre-Internet) networks could be exciting. You'd think a book about engineers would be about as thrilling as reading a calculus text. Yet in Where Wizards Stay Up Late, Hafner and Lyon have breathed life into a story about early computer geeks and their vision of a nationwide network.

Noted on 8 September 2005 in

Warnings About Zeldman's Designing with Web Standards

Order from Amazon
  1. Whatever you do, don't make the mistake of using this book as bedtime reading material.

    The other night I couldn't get to sleep, so I thought, I'll start Zeldman's book on web standards, that ought'a knock me out. Wrong. At 4:30 a.m., I looked up and realized dawn wasn't too far off. I didn't care. I finished the chapter I was reading and barely kept myself from starting another.

Noted on 28 May 2005 in

Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook by Dan Cederholm

Order from Amazon

The title of this book is particularly apt because solutions for designing with web standards is exactly what it's about. Beyond that, the book is difficult to define. It's not a sermon on web standards, although almost every example shows the benefits of doing so. On the other hand, it's not just a manual on CSS, although Cederholm shows how to markup and style everything from lists to forms to layouts.

Noted on 18 May 2005 in

The Zen of CSS Design by Dave Shea and Molly Holzschlag

Order from Amazon

It isn't often you can call a technical book lovely, but this one is. The Zen of CSS Design is one of those rare books in which every element seems to come together in perfect balance and harmony. Kind of Zen, actually. In my admittedly inexpert opinion, this is the best book on web design to come out this year. For me personally, it's been the best I've ever read. I don't know if it is the result of a random congruency of time, level of learning and need, but this book has inspired and excited me about web design more than any other.

Noted on 13 May 2005 in

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Order from Amazon

I'll make you bet. I'll bet you that, after finishing Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think, you will have a brief head-scratching moment when you think "Well, yeah. I knew all that. Sheesh. I just blew 35 bucks." A few moments later it will dawn on you that while, yes, you did somehow know most of what Krug says--or at least it seems you must have known it; it was all so obvious--you've never actually done much of what he suggests.

Noted on 29 April 2005 in

The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams

Order from Amazon

I am not a natural-born designer. Growing up in my family, I was the writer--the one who was good with words. It was my younger sister who was the artist, and heaven help us should we try to cross over into the other's territory. So no one was more surprised than me when I went into web design (well, maybe my younger sister.)

Noted on 28 April 2005 in

The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks by Rachel Andrews

Order from Amazon

In the gloom of my CSS agony, a small bright ray of light and comfort has come to cheer me. That ray is Rachel Andrews, and if she were here I'd hug her or make her a pot roast or something.

Noted on 27 April 2005 in

Syndicate content