100 Best Web Design Books of All Time
We've researched and ranked the best web design books in the world, based on recommendations from world experts, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. Learn more
1
Since Don’t Make Me Think was first published in 2000, over 400,000 Web designers and developers have relied on Steve Krug’s guide to help them understand the principles of intuitive navigation and information design.
In this 3rd edition, Steve returns with fresh perspective to reexamine the principles that made Don’t Make Me Think a classic-–with updated examples and a new chapter on mobile usability. And it’s still short, profusely illustrated…and best of all–fun to read.
If you’ve read it before, you’ll rediscover what made Don’t Make Me Think so essential to Web... more
In this 3rd edition, Steve returns with fresh perspective to reexamine the principles that made Don’t Make Me Think a classic-–with updated examples and a new chapter on mobile usability. And it’s still short, profusely illustrated…and best of all–fun to read.
If you’ve read it before, you’ll rediscover what made Don’t Make Me Think so essential to Web... more
Chris GowardHere are some of the books that have been very impactful for me, or taught me a new way of thinking: [...] Don't Make Me Think. (Source)
Nicolae AndronicI’m a technical guy. I studied the IT field and did software development for a long time until I discovered the business world. So the path for me is to slowly adapt from the clear, technical world, to the fuzzy, way more complex, business world. All the books that I recommend help this transition. “Don’t Make Me Think” - Steve Krug: for seeing software with the eyes of the user. (Source)
Nick GanjuAbout usability and making software and user interfaces that are friendly to people. (Source)
2
Every day, more and more people want to learn some HTML and CSS. Joining the professional web designers and programmers are new audiences who need to know a little bit of code at work (update a content management system or e-commerce store) and those who want to make their personal blogs more attractive. Many books teaching HTML and CSS are dry and only written for those who want to become programmers, which is why this book takes an entirely new approach.
• Introduces HTML and CSS in a way that makes them accessible to everyone—hobbyists, students, and professionals—and it’s... more
• Introduces HTML and CSS in a way that makes them accessible to everyone—hobbyists, students, and professionals—and it’s... more
3
Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this ingenious—even liberating—book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary relationships between controls and functions, coupled with a lack of feedback or other assistance and unreasonable demands on memorization. The Design of Everyday Things shows that good, usable... more
Marius Ciuchete Pauneval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'theceolibrary_com-large-mobile-banner-2','ezslot_5',164,'0','1'])); Question: Was there a moment, specifically, when something you read in a book helped you? Answer: Yes there was. In fact, I can remember two separate sentences from two different books: The first one comes from “The Design of Everyday Things” by Don Norman. It says: “great design will help... (Source)
Grey BakerI mainly read to decompress and change my state of mind, so it’s hard to point to an insight I read that helped me. Reading fiction has pulled me out of a bad mood more times than I can count, though, and always reenergises me to attack problems that had stumped me again. That said, I read and loved Norman Norman’s “The Design of Everyday Things”, and it’s helped me think through design problems... (Source)
Kaci LambeThese three books are about how people actually use design in their lives. They helped me understand this very basic idea: There are no dumb users, only bad designers. Take the time to create based on how your design will be interacted with. Test it. Iterate. That's how you become a good designer. (Source)
4
Do you want to build web pages but have no prior experience? This friendly guide is the perfect place to start. You'll begin at square one, learning how the web and web pages work, and then steadily build from there. By the end of the book, you'll have the skills to create a simple site with multicolumn pages that adapt for mobile devices.
Each chapter provides exercises to help you learn various techniques and short quizzes to make sure you understand key concepts.
This thoroughly revised edition is ideal for students and professionals of all backgrounds and skill... more
Each chapter provides exercises to help you learn various techniques and short quizzes to make sure you understand key concepts.
This thoroughly revised edition is ideal for students and professionals of all backgrounds and skill... more
Recommended by Jakob Nielsen, and 1 others. 
6
Learn JavaScript and jQuery a nicer way
This full-color book adopts a visual approach to teaching JavaScript & jQuery, showing you how to make web pages more interactive and interfaces more intuitive through the use of inspiring code examples, infographics, and photography. The content assumes no previous programming experience, other than knowing how to create a basic web page in HTML & CSS. You'll learn how to achieve techniques seen on many popular websites (such as adding animation, tabbed panels, content sliders, form validation, interactive galleries, and sorting... more
This full-color book adopts a visual approach to teaching JavaScript & jQuery, showing you how to make web pages more interactive and interfaces more intuitive through the use of inspiring code examples, infographics, and photography. The content assumes no previous programming experience, other than knowing how to create a basic web page in HTML & CSS. You'll learn how to achieve techniques seen on many popular websites (such as adding animation, tabbed panels, content sliders, form validation, interactive galleries, and sorting... more
7
How do successful companies create products people can’t put down?
Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?
Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without... more
Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?
Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without... more
Matt MullenwegHooked gives you the blueprint for the next generation of products. Read Hooked or the company that replaces you will. (Source)
Tee-Ming ChewHooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal. It changed the way I think about product and helps you to be hyper focused on what matters rather than what is cool for your users. (Source)
Irina MarinescuAlready a classic about how to build successful products. Also, retention is a priority goal for any Product Manager, but you can't have retention if you are not setting a good engagement rate. It was a great starting point for me as part of my first startup and continues to help me today as acquired knowledge about user behavior. (Source)
8
A two-book set for web designers and front-end developers This two-book set combines the titles HTML & CSS: Designing and Building Web Sites and JavaScript & jQuery: Interactive Front-End Development. Together these two books form an ideal platform for anyone who wants to master HTML and CSS before stepping up to JavaScript and jQuery.
HTML & CSS covers structure, text, links, images, tables, forms, useful options, adding style with CSS, fonts, colors, thinking in boxes, styling lists and tables, layouts, grids, and even SEO, Google... more
HTML & CSS covers structure, text, links, images, tables, forms, useful options, adding style with CSS, fonts, colors, thinking in boxes, styling lists and tables, layouts, grids, and even SEO, Google... more
9
Tired of making web sites that work absolutely perfectly but just don't look nice?
If so, then The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is for you. A simple, easy-to-follow guide, illustrated with plenty of full-color examples, this book will lead you through the process of creating great designs from start to finish. Good design principles are not rocket science, and using the information contained in this book will help you create stunning web sites.
Understand the design process, from discovery to implementation Understand what makes "good design" Developing... more
If so, then The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is for you. A simple, easy-to-follow guide, illustrated with plenty of full-color examples, this book will lead you through the process of creating great designs from start to finish. Good design principles are not rocket science, and using the information contained in this book will help you create stunning web sites.
Understand the design process, from discovery to implementation Understand what makes "good design" Developing... more
10
From the moment it was published almost ten years ago, Elements of User Experience became a vital reference for web and interaction designers the world over, and has come to define the core principles of the practice. Now, in this updated, expanded, and full-color new edition, Jesse James Garrett has refined his thinking about the Web, going beyond the desktop to include information that also applies to the sudden proliferation of mobile devices and applications.
Successful interaction design requires more than just creating clean code and sharp graphics. You must also... more
Successful interaction design requires more than just creating clean code and sharp graphics. You must also... more
Recommended by Kaci Lambe Kai, and 1 others. Kaci Lambe KaiThese three books are about how people actually use design in their lives. They helped me understand this very basic idea: There are no dumb users, only bad designers. Take the time to create based on how your design will be interacted with. Test it. Iterate. That's how you become a good designer. (Source)
Don't have time to read the top Web Design books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
11
A lot has happened in the world of digital design since the first edition of this title was published, but one thing remains true: There is an ever-growing number of people attempting to design everything from newsletters to advertisements with no formal training. This book is the one place they can turn to find quick, non-intimidating, excellent design help from trusted design instructor Robin Williams. This revised and expanded classic includes a new chapter on designing with type, more quizzes and exercises, updated projects, and new visual and typographic examples that give the book a... more
Recommended by David Kadavy, and 1 others. 12
It's been known for years that usability testing can dramatically improve products. But with a typical price tag of $5,000 to $10,000 for a usability consultant to conduct each round of tests, it rarely happens.
In this how-to companion to Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, Steve Krug spells out an approach to usability testing that anyone can easily apply to their own web site, application, or other product. (As he said in Don't Make Me Think, "It's not rocket surgery".)
In this new book, Steve explains how to:
more
In this how-to companion to Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, Steve Krug spells out an approach to usability testing that anyone can easily apply to their own web site, application, or other product. (As he said in Don't Make Me Think, "It's not rocket surgery".)
In this new book, Steve explains how to:
more
Recommended by Paul Boag, and 1 others. 13
We design to elicit responses from people. We want them to buy something, read more, or take action of some kind. Designing without understanding what makes people act the way they do is like exploring a new city without a map: results will be haphazard, confusing, and inefficient. This book combines real science and research with practical examples to deliver a guide every designer needs. With it you'll be able to design more intuitive and engaging work for print, websites, applications, and products that matches the way people think, work, and play.
Learn to increase the... more
Learn to increase the... more
Recommended by Jane Pyle, and 1 others. 14
Make your users fall in love with your site via the precepts packed into this brief, charming book by MailChimp user experience design lead Aarron Walter. From classic psychology to case studies, highbrow concepts to common sense, Designing for Emotion demonstrates accessible strategies and memorable methods to help you make a human connection through design. less
15
No matter how visually appealing or content-packed a Web site may be, if it's not adaptable to a variety of situations and reaching the widest possible audience, it isn't really succeeding. In Bulletproof Web Desing, author and Web designer extraordinaire, Dan Cederholm outlines standards-based strategies for building designs that provide flexibility, readability, and user control--key components of every sucessful site. Each chapter starts out with an example of an unbulletproof site one that employs a traditional HTML-based approach which Dan then deconstructs, pointing out its limitations.... more
16
Co-founder of Mule Design and raconteur Mike Monteiro wants to help you do your job better. From contracts to selling design, from working with clients to working with each other, this brief book is packed with knowledge you can’t afford not to know. less
17
You code. And code. And code. You build only to rebuild. You focus on making your site compatible with almost every browser or wireless device ever put out there. Then along comes a new device or a new browser, and you start all over again.
You can get off the merry-go-round.
It's time to stop living in the past and get away from the days of spaghetti code, insanely nested table layouts, tags, and other redundancies that double and triple the bandwidth of even the simplest sites. Instead, it's time for forward compatibility.
Isn't it high time you started... more
You can get off the merry-go-round.
It's time to stop living in the past and get away from the days of spaghetti code, insanely nested table layouts, tags, and other redundancies that double and triple the bandwidth of even the simplest sites. Instead, it's time for forward compatibility.
Isn't it high time you started... more
18
CSS lets you create professional-looking websites, but learning its finer points can be tricky--even for seasoned web developers. This fully updated edition provides the most modern and effective tips, tricks, and tutorial-based instruction on CSS available today. Learn how to use new tools such as Flexbox and Sass to build web pages that look great and run fast on any desktop or mobile device. Ideal for casual and experienced designers alike.
The important stuff you need to know:
Start with the basics. Write CSS-friendly HTML, including the HTML5 tags... more
The important stuff you need to know:
Start with the basics. Write CSS-friendly HTML, including the HTML5 tags... more
19
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... more
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... more
20
Whether a marketing campaign or a museum exhibit, a video game or a complex control system, the design we see is the culmination of many concepts and practices brought together from a variety of disciplines. Because no one can be an expert on everything, designers have always had to scramble to find the information and know-how required to make a design work—until now. Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated is a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary encyclopedia of design. Richly illustrated and easy to navigate, it pairs clear explanations of every design concept with visual... more
Benjamin HumphreyEssentially a reference book for product designers, the universal principles is a smartly curated and neatly presented guide to the key terms you'll come across as a designer, with examples and diagrams. A beautiful book. (Source)
Don't have time to read the top Web Design books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
21
Tired of reading HTML books that only make sense after you're an expert? Then it's about time you picked up Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML and really learned HTML. You want to learn HTML so you can finally create those web pages you've always wanted, so you can communicate more effectively with friends, family, fans, and fanatic customers. You also want to do it right so you can actually maintain and expand your Web pages over time, and so your web pages work in all the browsers and mobile devices out there. Oh, and if you've never heard of CSS, that's okay - we won't tell anyone... more
23
This book is your indispensable guide to cutting-edge CSS developmentall you need to work your way up to CSS professional. You'll learn how to:
- Plan, organize, and maintain your stylesheets more effectively
- Apply the secrets of liquid, elastic, and hybrid layouts
- Create flickr-style image maps, remote rollovers, and other advanced CSS features
- Lay out forms using pure CSS
- Recognize common browser bugs, and how to fix them
While CSS is a relatively simple technology to learn, it is a difficult one to master. When you first start developing... more
- Plan, organize, and maintain your stylesheets more effectively
- Apply the secrets of liquid, elastic, and hybrid layouts
- Create flickr-style image maps, remote rollovers, and other advanced CSS features
- Lay out forms using pure CSS
- Recognize common browser bugs, and how to fix them
While CSS is a relatively simple technology to learn, it is a difficult one to master. When you first start developing... more
24
Web site design and development continues to become more sophisticated. An important part of this maturity originates with well-laid-out and well-written content. Ginny Redish is a world-renowned expert on information design and how to produce clear writing in plain language for the web. All of the invaluable information that she shared in the first edition is included with numerous new examples. New information on content strategy for web sites, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media make this once again the only book you need to own to optimize your writing for the web. less
26
Our all time best selling book is now available in a revised and expanded second edition. Thinking with Type is the definitive guide to using typography in visual communication, from the printed page to the computer screen. This revised edition includes forty-eight pages of new content, including the latest information on style sheets for print and the web, the use of ornaments and captions, lining and non-lining numerals, the use of small caps and enlarged capitals, as well as information on captions, font licensing, mixing typefaces, and hand lettering. Throughout the book, visual... more
Marius Ciuchete PaunQuestion: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path? Answer: “Just My Type” by Simon Garfield “Thinking with Type” by Ellen Lupton “Don't Make Me Think” by Steve Krug “Geometry of Design” by Kimberly Elam “Grid Systems in Graphic Design” by Josef Müller-Brockmann “ReWork” by Jason Fried These titles should be a good start, I think. (Source)
Kimberly Gloria ChoiWhen asked what books she would recommend to youngsters interested in her professional path, Kimberly mentioned Thinking with Type. (Source)
27
Today's web sites have moved far beyond "brochureware." They are larger and more complex, have great strategic value to their sponsors, and their users are busier and less forgiving. Designers, information architects, and web site managers are required to juggle vast amounts of information, frequent changes, new technologies, and sometimes even multiple objectives, making some web sites look like a fast-growing but poorly planned city-roads everywhere, but impossible to navigate. Well-planned information architecture has never been as essential as it is now.
Information... more
Information... more
Recommended by Jakob Nielsen, and 1 others. 28
Achieving a thorough grasp of typography can take a lifetime, but moving beyond the basics is within your reach right now. In this book, we’ll learn how to look at typefaces with a discerning eye, different approaches to typographic planning, how typography impacts the act of reading, and how to choose and combine appropriate typefaces from an aesthetic and technical point of view. Through an understanding of our design tools and how they relate to the web as a medium, we can empower ourselves to use type in meaningful and powerful ways.
This book will be released Summer... more
This book will be released Summer... more
29
Let’s face it: CSS is hard. Our stylesheets are more complex than they used to be, and we’re bending the spec to do as much as it can. Can Sass help?
A reluctant convert to Sass, Dan Cederholm tells how he came around to the popular CSS pre-processor, and shares just what you need to take better control of your stylesheets (all the while working the way you always have). From getting started to advanced techniques, Dan will help you level up your stylesheets and get back to work in no time. less
A reluctant convert to Sass, Dan Cederholm tells how he came around to the popular CSS pre-processor, and shares just what you need to take better control of your stylesheets (all the while working the way you always have). From getting started to advanced techniques, Dan will help you level up your stylesheets and get back to work in no time. less
30
The three editions of "About Face" have shaped and evolved the landscape of interaction design, bringing it from the research labs into every day lexicon and development. The fourth edition of this groundbreaking book will be no less game changing.
The 4th edition of "About Face "is the most significant revision yet, with a new unique design and 4-color interior, dedicated web site, and classroom ancillaries. The revision takes into account the worldwide shift to smartphones and tablets on the consumer and enterprise level and how designing for these devices is not as easy as just... more
The 4th edition of "About Face "is the most significant revision yet, with a new unique design and 4-color interior, dedicated web site, and classroom ancillaries. The revision takes into account the worldwide shift to smartphones and tablets on the consumer and enterprise level and how designing for these devices is not as easy as just... more
Don't have time to read the top Web Design books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
31
If your website content is out of date, off-brand, and out of control, you're missing a huge opportunity to engage, convert, and retain customers online. Redesigning your home page won't help. Investing in a new content management system won't fix it, either. So, where do you start?
Without meaningful content, your website isn't worth much to your key audiences. But creating (and caring for) "meaningful" content is far more complicated than we're often willing to acknowledge. Content Strategy for the Web explains how to create and deliver useful, usable content for your online... more
Without meaningful content, your website isn't worth much to your key audiences. But creating (and caring for) "meaningful" content is far more complicated than we're often willing to acknowledge. Content Strategy for the Web explains how to create and deliver useful, usable content for your online... more
32
Our industry’s long wait for the complete, strategic guide to mobile web design is finally over. Former Yahoo! design architect and co-creator of Bagcheck Luke Wroblewski knows more about mobile experience than the rest of us, and packs all he knows into this entertaining, to-the-point guidebook. Its data-driven strategies and battle tested techniques will make you a master of mobile—and improve your non-mobile design, too! less
33
Content strategy is the web’s hottest new thing. But where did it come from? And why does it matter? And what does the content renaissance mean for you? This brief guide explores content strategy’s roots, and quickly and expertly demonstrates not only how it’s done, but how you can do it well. A compelling read for both experienced content strategists and those making the transition from other fields. less
34
Everything you need to know to create professional web sites is right here. Learning Web Design starts from the beginning -- defining how the Web and web pages work -- and builds from there. By the end of the book, you'll have the skills to create multi-column CSS layouts with optimized graphic files, and you'll know how to get your pages up on the Web.
This thoroughly revised edition teaches you how to build web sites according to modern design practices and professional standards. Learning Web Design explains:
How to create a simple (X)HTML page,... more
This thoroughly revised edition teaches you how to build web sites according to modern design practices and professional standards. Learning Web Design explains:
How to create a simple (X)HTML page,... more
36
Proving once and for all that standards-compliant design does not equal dull design, this inspiring tome uses examples from the landmark CSS Zen Garden site as the foundation for discussions on how to create beautiful, progressive CSS-based Web sites. less
37
Most programming languages contain good and bad parts, but JavaScript has more than its share of the bad, having been developed and released in a hurry before it could be refined. This authoritative book scrapes away these bad features to reveal a subset of JavaScript that's more reliable, readable, and maintainable than the language as a whole--a subset you can use to create truly extensible and efficient code.
Considered the JavaScript expert by many people in the development community, author Douglas Crockford identifies the abundance of good ideas that make JavaScript... more
Considered the JavaScript expert by many people in the development community, author Douglas Crockford identifies the abundance of good ideas that make JavaScript... more
Recommended by Auston Bunsen, and 1 others. Auston BunsenI’m actually a self-taught programmer, so these books have really helped me with practical skills that I could put to use & yield results. The return on investment for these kinds of books is off the charts for me! (Source)
38
Renowned typographer and poet Robert Bringhurst brings clarity to the art of typography with this masterful style guide. Combining the practical, theoretical, and historical, this edition is completely updated, with a thorough revision and updating of the longest chapter, "Prowling the Specimen Books," and many other small but important updates based on things that are continually changing in the field. less
Recommended by David Kadavy, and 1 others. 39
More proof that good things come in small--and sometimes even inexpensive--packages: the "CSS Pocket Reference" has been completely revised and updated to reflect the latest Cascading Style Sheet specifications, CSS2 and CSS2.1.An indispensable reference for web designers and developers, this slim little book covers the essential information needed to effectively implement CSS, with an introduction to the key concepts of CSS and a complete alphabetical reference to the CSS2 and CSS 2.1 properties. And since browser incompatibility is the biggest CSS headache for most developers, it also... more
40
In a complex world, products that are easy to use win favour with consumers. This is the first book on the topic of simplicity aimed specifically at interaction designers. It shows how to drill down and simplify user experiences when designing digital tools and applications. less
Don't have time to read the top Web Design books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
41
"While you're reading Neuro Web Design, you'll probably find yourself thinking 'I already knew that...' a lot. But when you're finished, you'll discover that your ability to create effective web sites has mysteriously improved. A brilliant idea for a book, and very nicely done."
-- Steve Krug, author of Don't Make Me Think!
A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
Why do people decide to buy a product online? Register at your Web site? Trust the information you provide? Neuro Web Design applies the research on motivation, decision making, and neuroscience to the design of... more
-- Steve Krug, author of Don't Make Me Think!
A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
Why do people decide to buy a product online? Register at your Web site? Trust the information you provide? Neuro Web Design applies the research on motivation, decision making, and neuroscience to the design of... more
Recommended by Paul Boag, and 1 others. 42
You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A manifesto for the digital age, Steal Like an Artist is a guide whose positive message, graphic look and illustrations, exercises, and examples will put readers directly in touch with their artistic side. less
Seth GodinBreezy and fun and yes, scary. Scary because it calls your bluff. (Source)
Ryan HolidayPart of ambition is modeling yourself after those you’d like to be like. Austin’s philosophy of ruthlessly stealing and remixing the greats might sound appalling at first but it is actually the essence of art. You learn by stealing, you become creative by stealing, you push yourself to be better by working with these materials. Austin is a fantastic artist, but most importantly he communicates... (Source)
Chase JarvisSuper small, fast read. (Source)
43
Randall Munroe left NASA in 2005 to start up his hugely popular site XKCD 'a web comic of romance, sarcasm, math and language' which offers a witty take on the world of science and geeks. It now has 600,000 to a million page hits daily. Every now and then, Munroe would get emails asking him to arbitrate a science debate. 'My friend and I were arguing about what would happen if a bullet got struck by lightning, and we agreed that you should resolve it . . . ' He liked these questions so much that he started up What If.
If your cells suddenly lost the power to divide, how... more
If your cells suddenly lost the power to divide, how... more
Bill GatesThe subtitle of the book is “Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions,” and that’s exactly what it is. People write Munroe with questions that range over all fields of science: physics, chemistry, biology. Questions like, “From what height would you need to drop a steak for it to be cooked when it hit the ground?” (The answer, it turns out, is “high enough that it would... (Source)
Rhett AllainAlso, this was covered in the @xkcdComic book What If (great book). https://t.co/WmFgsxpszL (Source)
Fabrice GrindaI have lots of books to recommend, but they are not related to my career path. The only one that is remotely related is Peter Thiel’s Zero to One. That said here are books I would recommend. (Source)
44
A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web aims to teach you techniques for designing your website using the principles of graphic design. Featuring five sections, each covering a core aspect of graphic design: Getting Started, Research, Typography, Colour, and Layout. Learn solid graphic design theory that you can simply apply to your designs, making the difference from a good design to a great one.
http://designingfortheweb.co.uk less
http://designingfortheweb.co.uk less
45
In this completely updated and revised edition of "Designing with the Mind in Mind," Jeff Johnson provides you with just enough background in perceptual and cognitive psychology that user interface (UI) design guidelines make intuitive sense rather than being just a list or rules to follow.
Early UI practitioners were trained in cognitive psychology, and developed UI design rules based on it. But as the field has evolved since the first edition of this book, designers enter the field from many disciplines. Practitioners today have enough experience in UI design that they have been... more
Early UI practitioners were trained in cognitive psychology, and developed UI design rules based on it. But as the field has evolved since the first edition of this book, designers enter the field from many disciplines. Practitioners today have enough experience in UI design that they have been... more
Recommended by Jane Pyle, and 1 others. 46
Design research is a hard slog that takes years to learn and time away from the real work of design, right? Wrong.
Good research is about asking more and better questions, and thinking critically about the answers. It’s something every member of your team can and should do, and which everyone can learn, quickly. And done well, it will save you time by reducing unknowns and making sure you're building the right thing, in the best possible way.
In Just Enough Research, co-founder of Mule Design Erika Hall distills her experience into a brief cookbook of research methods.... more
Good research is about asking more and better questions, and thinking critically about the answers. It’s something every member of your team can and should do, and which everyone can learn, quickly. And done well, it will save you time by reducing unknowns and making sure you're building the right thing, in the best possible way.
In Just Enough Research, co-founder of Mule Design Erika Hall distills her experience into a brief cookbook of research methods.... more
Mike MonteiroHello. @mulegirl’s revised, expanded, even more good edition of the world’s best research book, Just Enough Research, dropped today. Buy it for yourself, or buy it for everyone in your company, and you’ll make better things. https://t.co/7U4xcCu2ez (Source)
Daniel BurkaAwesome! @mulegirl's excellent new book, Conversational Design, is now available from @abookapart. My blurb even made it in! "This book cuts through the fluff and buzzwords to get straight to the point..." https://t.co/0oeD5J0OSH (Source)
Tim Kastelle“A large corporation is more like Australia: it’s impossible to see the whole landscape at once and there are so many things capable of maiming or killing you.” Just Enough Research by @mulegirl is a fantastic book - highly recommended. https://t.co/t11yOVeqNc (Source)
47
Suddenly, everyone's talking about HTML5, and ready or not, you need to get acquainted with this powerful new development in web and application design. Some of its new features are already being implemented by existing browsers, and much more is around the corner.
Written by developers who have been using the new language for the past year in their work, this book shows you how to start adapting the language now to realize its benefits on today's browsers. Rather than being just an academic investigation, it concentrates on the practical--the problems HTML5 can solve for you right... more
Written by developers who have been using the new language for the past year in their work, this book shows you how to start adapting the language now to realize its benefits on today's browsers. Rather than being just an academic investigation, it concentrates on the practical--the problems HTML5 can solve for you right... more
48
CSS: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition, provides you with a comprehensive guide to CSS implementation, along with a thorough review of all aspects of CSS 2.1. Updated to cover Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft's vastly improved browser, this new edition includes content on positioning, lists and generated content, table layout, user interface, paged media, and more.
Simply put, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a way to separate a document's structure from its presentation. The benefits of this can be quite profound: CSS allows a much richer document appearance than HTML and... more
Simply put, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a way to separate a document's structure from its presentation. The benefits of this can be quite profound: CSS allows a much richer document appearance than HTML and... more
49
Recommended by Marius Ciuchete Paun, and 1 others. Marius Ciuchete PaunQuestion: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path? Answer: “Just My Type” by Simon Garfield “Thinking with Type” by Ellen Lupton “Don't Make Me Think” by Steve Krug “Geometry of Design” by Kimberly Elam “Grid Systems in Graphic Design” by Josef Müller-Brockmann “ReWork” by Jason Fried These titles should be a good start, I think. (Source)
50
Don't have time to read the top Web Design books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
51
"If you are a young designer entering or contemplating entering the UX field this is a canonical book. If you are an organization that really needs to start grokking UX this book is also for you. " -- Chris Bernard, User Experience Evangelist, Microsoft
User experience design is the discipline of creating a useful and usable Web site or application--one that's easily navigated and meets the needs of both the site owner and its users. But there's a lot more to successful UX design than knowing the latest Web technologies or design trends: It takes diplomacy, project management skills,... more
User experience design is the discipline of creating a useful and usable Web site or application--one that's easily navigated and meets the needs of both the site owner and its users. But there's a lot more to successful UX design than knowing the latest Web technologies or design trends: It takes diplomacy, project management skills,... more
52
Building an elegant, functional website requires more than just knowing how to code. In Adaptive Web Design, Second Edition, you’ll learn how to use progressive enhancement to build websites that won’t break, work anywhere, are accessible by anyone—on any device, and are designed to work well into the future.
Adaptive Web Design, Second Edition goes beyond the first edition to frame even more of the web design process in the lens of progressive enhancement. You will learn how content strategy, UX, HTML, CSS, responsive web design, JavaScript, server-side programming, and... more
Adaptive Web Design, Second Edition goes beyond the first edition to frame even more of the web design process in the lens of progressive enhancement. You will learn how content strategy, UX, HTML, CSS, responsive web design, JavaScript, server-side programming, and... more
Recommended by Veerle Pieters, and 1 others. 53
Most discussion about Web design seems to focus on the creative process, yet turning concept into reality requires a strong set of deliverables--the documentation (concept model, site maps, usability reports, and more) that serves as the primary communication tool between designers and customers. The only guide devoted to just that topic is now bigger and better.
Combining quick tips for improving deliverables with in-depth discussions of presentation and risk mitigation techniques, author Dan Brown shows you how to make the documentation you're required to provide into the most... more
Combining quick tips for improving deliverables with in-depth discussions of presentation and risk mitigation techniques, author Dan Brown shows you how to make the documentation you're required to provide into the most... more
54
As the Web evolves to incorporate new standards and the latest browsers offer new possibilities for creative design, the art of creating Web sites is also changing. Few Web designers are experiences programmers, and as a result, working with semantic markup and CSS can create roadblocks to achieving truly beautiful designs using all the resources available. Add to this the pressures of presenting exceptional design to clients and employers, without compromising efficient workflow, and the challenge deepens for those working in a fast-paced environment. As someone who understands these... more
55
Inspiring Web Design at a Glance
The Web Designer's Idea Book includes more than 700 websites arranged thematically, so you can find inspiration for layout, color, style and more. Author Patrick McNeil has cataloged more than 5,000 sites on his website, and showcased in this book are the very best examples.
Sites are organized by type, design style, theme, color, element and structure. Each chapter is easy to use and reference again and again, whether you're talking with a coworker or discussing website design options with a client. As a handy desk... more
The Web Designer's Idea Book includes more than 700 websites arranged thematically, so you can find inspiration for layout, color, style and more. Author Patrick McNeil has cataloged more than 5,000 sites on his website, and showcased in this book are the very best examples.
Sites are organized by type, design style, theme, color, element and structure. Each chapter is easy to use and reference again and again, whether you're talking with a coworker or discussing website design options with a client. As a handy desk... more
56
What happens when you've built a great website or app, but no one seems to care? How do you get people to stick around long enough to see how your service might be of value? In Seductive Interaction Design, speaker and author Stephen P. Anderson takes a fresh approach to designing sites and interactions based on the stages of seduction. This beautifully designed book examines what motivates people to act.
Topics include:
AESTHETICS, BEAUTY, AND BEHAVIOR: Why do striking visuals grab our attention? And how do emotions affect judgment and behavior?
more
Topics include:
AESTHETICS, BEAUTY, AND BEHAVIOR: Why do striking visuals grab our attention? And how do emotions affect judgment and behavior?
more
57
JavaScript lets you supercharge your HTML with animation, interactivity, and visual effects--but many web designers find the language hard to learn. This easy-to-read guide not only covers JavaScript basics, but also shows you how to save time and effort with the jQuery and jQuery UI libraries of prewritten JavaScript code. You'll build web pages that feel and act like desktop programs--with little or no programming.
The important stuff you need to know: Pull back the curtain on JavaScript. Learn how to build a basic program with this language. Get up to speed on jQuery. Quickly... more
The important stuff you need to know: Pull back the curtain on JavaScript. Learn how to build a basic program with this language. Get up to speed on jQuery. Quickly... more
58
Web designers are no longer just web designers. To create a successful web product that's as large as Etsy, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest-or even as small as a tiny app-you need to know more than just HTML and CSS. You need to understand how to create meaningful online experiences so that users want to come back again and again.
In other words, you have to stop thinking like a web designer or a visual designer or a UX designer or an interaction designer and start thinking like a product designer.
In this breakthrough introduction to modern product design, Etsy Creative... more
In other words, you have to stop thinking like a web designer or a visual designer or a UX designer or an interaction designer and start thinking like a product designer.
In this breakthrough introduction to modern product design, Etsy Creative... more
Recommended by Ron Conway, and 1 others. Ron ConwayUnderstand how to create meaningful online experiences so that users want to come back again and again. (Source)
59
Based on two popular talks from author Lea Verou--including "CSS3 Secrets: 10 things you may not know about CSS"--this practical guide provides intermediate to advanced CSS developers with more than 40 undocumented techniques and tips for using CSS3 to create better websites.
The talks that spawned this book have been top-rated by attendees in every conference they were presented, and praised in industry media such as ."net" magazine.Get information you won't find in any other bookLearn through small, easily digestible chaptersHelps you understand CSS more deeply so you can improve... more
The talks that spawned this book have been top-rated by attendees in every conference they were presented, and praised in industry media such as ."net" magazine.Get information you won't find in any other bookLearn through small, easily digestible chaptersHelps you understand CSS more deeply so you can improve... more
60
Lean UX has become the preferred approach to interaction design, tailor-made for today's agile teams. In the second edition of this award winning book, leading advocates Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden expand on the valuable Lean UX principles, tactics, and techniques covered in the first edition to share how product teams can easily incorporate design, experimentation, iteration, and continuous learning from real users into their Agile process.
Inspired by Lean and Agile development theories, Lean UX lets you focus on the actual experience being designed, rather than... more
Inspired by Lean and Agile development theories, Lean UX lets you focus on the actual experience being designed, rather than... more
Don't have time to read the top Web Design books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
61
This is a different kind of web design book. "Above the Fold" is not about timely design or technology trends; instead, this book is about the timeless fundamentals of effective communication within the context of web design. It is intended to help you, the reader, understand the considerations that web designers make when developing successful websites.
"Above the Fold" is divided into three sections: Design & TypographyPlanning & UsabilityBusiness Value Each section represents a phase in the continuous cycle of web design. It's the balance among design, usability, and... more
"Above the Fold" is divided into three sections: Design & TypographyPlanning & UsabilityBusiness Value Each section represents a phase in the continuous cycle of web design. It's the balance among design, usability, and... more
62
Build interactive, data-driven websites with the potent combination of open source technologies and web standards, even if you have only basic HTML knowledge. In this update to this popular hands-on guide, you’ll tackle dynamic web programming with the latest versions of today’s core technologies: PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, and key jQuery libraries.
Web designers will learn how to use these technologies together and pick up valuable web programming practices along the way—including how to optimize websites for mobile devices. At the end of the book, you’ll put...
63
Responsive design has immeasurably improved multi-device, multi-browser visual layout—but it’s only the first step in building responsively. Learn how to turn a critical eye on your designs as you develop for new contexts (what does mobile really mean?) and screen features, speedy and lagging networks, and truly global audiences. Serve the right content across platforms, and tune for performance. Scott Jehl tackles those topics and more, ensuring that the sites and apps you build today last far into the future. less
Recommended by Veerle Pieters, and 1 others. 64
New devices and platforms emerge daily. Browsers iterate at a remarkable pace. Faced with this volatile landscape we can either struggle for control or we can embrace the inherent flexibility of the web.
Responsive design is not just another technique—it is the beginning of the maturation of a medium and a fundamental shift in the way we think about the web.
Implementing Responsive Design is a discussion about how this affects the way we design, build, and think about our sites. Readers will learn how to:
- Build responsive sites using a combination of fluid... more
Responsive design is not just another technique—it is the beginning of the maturation of a medium and a fundamental shift in the way we think about the web.
Implementing Responsive Design is a discussion about how this affects the way we design, build, and think about our sites. Readers will learn how to:
- Build responsive sites using a combination of fluid... more
65
There's a real connection between craftsmanship and Web design. That's the theme running through Handcrafted CSS: More Bulletproof Web Design, by bestselling author Dan Cederholm, with a chapter contributed by renowned Web designer and developer Ethan Marcotte. This book explores CSS3 that works in today's browsers, and you'll be convinced that now's the time to start experimenting with it.
Whether you're a Web designer, project manager, or a graphic designer wanting to learn more about the fluidity that's required when designing for the Web, you'll discover the tools to... more
Whether you're a Web designer, project manager, or a graphic designer wanting to learn more about the fluidity that's required when designing for the Web, you'll discover the tools to... more
66
The celebrated design professor here tackles the question of how best to communicate real-life experience in a two-degree format, whether on the printed page or the computer screen. The Whole Earth Review called Envisioning Information a "passionate, elegant revelation." less
Kevin RoseThe master when it comes to taking complicated data and turning it into beautiful charts and graphs that are easy to understand. If you’re into graphic design, print design, web design, you name it, you’re going to get some really good information and how tos out of these books. He has a whole series of these books. (Source)
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Web Design Inspiration at a Glance
Volume 2 of The Web Designer's Idea Book includes more than 650 new websites arranged thematically, so you can easily find inspiration for your work. Author Patrick McNeil, creator of the popular web design blog designmeltdown.com and author of the original bestselling Web Designer's Idea Book, has cataloged thousands of sites, and showcases the latest and best examples in this book. The web is the most rapidly changing design medium, and this book offers an organized overview of what's happening right now. Sites are categorized by...
more68
New approaches for crafting effective sites. This book is a tutorial and exposition of the principles of Web site design. It aids users in building web sites that stand out from the noise of the web and bring them to the content in an effective and efficient way. This four-color book gives substantial critiques of existing Web site designs. less
Recommended by Jeff Atwood, and 1 others. 69
Progressive enhancement is an approach to web development that aims to deliver the best possible experience to the widest possible audience, and simplifies coding and testing as well. Whether users are viewing your sites on an iPhone, the latest and greatest high-end system, or even hearing them on a screen-reader, their experience should be easy to understand and use, and as fully-featured and functional as possible.
Designing with Progressive Enhancement will show you how. It's both a practical guide to understanding the principles and benefits of progressive enhancement, and a... more
Designing with Progressive Enhancement will show you how. It's both a practical guide to understanding the principles and benefits of progressive enhancement, and a... more
70
Responsive design is a default these days, but we are all still figuring out just the right process and techniques to better craft responsive websites. That’s why we created a new book — to gather practical techniques and strategies from people who have learned how to get things done right, in actual projects with actual real-world challenges. less
Don't have time to read the top Web Design books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
71
Need to learn HTML fast? This best-selling reference's visual format and step-by-step, task-based instructions will have you up and running with HTML in no time. In this completely updated edition of our best-selling guide to HTML, Web expert and best-selling author Elizabeth Castro uses crystal-clear instructions and friendly prose to introduce you to all of today's HTML and XHTML essentials. Yoursquo;ll learn how to design, structure, and format your Web site. You'll create and use images, links, styles, lists, tables, frames, and forms, and you'll add sound and movies to your site.... more
72
Since 1996, JavaScript: The Definitive Guide has been the bible for JavaScript programmers—a programmer's guide and comprehensive reference to the core language and to the client-side JavaScript APIs defined by web browsers. The 6th edition covers HTML5 and ECMAScript 5, with new chapters on jQuery and server side JavaScript. It's recommended for experienced programmers who want to learn the programming language of the Web, and for current JavaScript programmers who want to master it. less
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A well-designed, easy-to-navigate website is useless if no one can find it. In this book, four experts help you optimize your site for search engine visibility, using proven guidelines and cutting-edge techniques for planning and executing a comprehensive strategy. Much has changed in SEO since the first edition of this book, including new methods for ranking sites based on user engagement with pages and content. Search engines also have improved their ranking results with data from social media. This second edition helps you adjust to these changes with an array of effective tactics, from... more
Tony HsiehSEO expertise is a core need for today’s online businesses. Written by some of the top SEO practitioners out there, this book can teach you what you need to know for your online business. (Source)
74
jQuery: Novice to Ninja is a compilation of best-practice jQuery solutions to meet the most challenging JavaScript problems. In this question-and-answer book on jQuery, you'll find a cookbook of ready-to-go solutions to help breathe life into your web page.
Topics covered include: - Scrolling, Resizing and Animating Webpage elements - Backgrounds, Slideshows, and Crossfaders - Menus, Tabs, and Panels - Buttons, Fields, and Controls - Lists, Trees, and Tables - Frames, Windows, and Dialogs - Adding interactivity with Ajax - Using the jQuery User Interface Themeroller - Writing your... more
Topics covered include: - Scrolling, Resizing and Animating Webpage elements - Backgrounds, Slideshows, and Crossfaders - Menus, Tabs, and Panels - Buttons, Fields, and Controls - Lists, Trees, and Tables - Frames, Windows, and Dialogs - Adding interactivity with Ajax - Using the jQuery User Interface Themeroller - Writing your... more
75
Completely updated and expanded, the second edition of David Airey's "Logo Design Love" contains more of just about everything that made the first edition so great: more case studies, more sketches, more logos, more tips for working with clients, more insider stories, and more practical information for getting the job and getting it done right.
In "Logo Design Love," David shows you how to develop an iconic brand identity from start to finish, using client case studies from renowned designers. In the process, he reveals how designers create effective briefs, generate ideas, charge for... more
In "Logo Design Love," David shows you how to develop an iconic brand identity from start to finish, using client case studies from renowned designers. In the process, he reveals how designers create effective briefs, generate ideas, charge for... more
76
Tired of reading HTML books that only make sense after you're an expert? Then it's about time you picked up Head First HTML and really learned HTML. You want to learn HTML so you can finally create those web pages you've always wanted, so you can communicate more effectively with friends, family, fans, and fanatic customers. You also want to do it right so you can actually maintain and expand your web pages over time so they work in all browsers and mobile devices. Oh, and if you've never heard of CSS, that's okay--we won't tell anyone you're still partying like it's 1999--but if you're going... more
77
If anything, this volume's premise--that the business of Web design is one of constant change-has only proven truer over time. So much so, in fact, that the 12-month design cycles cited in the last edition have shrunk to 6 or even 3 months today. Which is why, more than ever, you need a smart, practical guide that demonstrates how to plan, budget, organize, and manage your Web redesign - or even you initial design - projects from conceptualization to launch. This volume delivers! In these pages Web designer extraordinaire Kelly Goto and coauthor Emily Cotler have... more
78
Discover the techniques behind beautiful design by deconstructing designs to understand them. The term 'hacker' has been redefined to consist of anyone who has an insatiable curiosity as to how things work--and how they can try to make them better. This book is aimed at hackers of all skill levels and explains the classical principles and techniques behind beautiful designs by deconstructing those designs in order to understand what makes them so remarkable. Author and designer David Kadavy provides you with the framework for understanding good design and places a special emphasis on... more
79
Completely revised and updated, this best-selling introduction to programming in JavaScript focuses on writing real applications.
Eloquent JavaScript dives into the JavaScript language to show programmers how to write elegant, effective JavaScript code. Like any good programming book, Eloquent JavaScript begins with fundamentals--variables, control structures, functions, and data structures--then moves on to complex topics like object-oriented programming and regular expressions. This third edition introduces new features covering the 2017 version of... more
Eloquent JavaScript dives into the JavaScript language to show programmers how to write elegant, effective JavaScript code. Like any good programming book, Eloquent JavaScript begins with fundamentals--variables, control structures, functions, and data structures--then moves on to complex topics like object-oriented programming and regular expressions. This third edition introduces new features covering the 2017 version of... more
Don't have time to read the top Web Design books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
81
Master the 3 C's of Head-Turning Design!
Cover your basics with the book that covers everything from typography and color to layout and business issues! Jim Krause, author of the popular Index series, guides you through the understanding and practice of the three elements every successful visual design must have:
Components: Learn how to get the most out of the photos, illustrations, icons, typography, linework, decoration, borders and backgrounds you use within your design.
Composition: Practice combining the components of a... more
Cover your basics with the book that covers everything from typography and color to layout and business issues! Jim Krause, author of the popular Index series, guides you through the understanding and practice of the three elements every successful visual design must have:
Components: Learn how to get the most out of the photos, illustrations, icons, typography, linework, decoration, borders and backgrounds you use within your design.
Composition: Practice combining the components of a... more
82
Many forces affect software today: larger datasets, geographical disparities, complex company structures, and the growing need to be fast and nimble in the face of change.
Proven approaches such as service-oriented and event-driven architectures are joined by newer techniques such as microservices, reactive architectures, DevOps, and stream processing. Many of these patterns are successful by themselves, but as this practical ebook demonstrates, they provide a more holistic and compelling approach when applied together.
Author Ben Stopford explains how service-based... more
Proven approaches such as service-oriented and event-driven architectures are joined by newer techniques such as microservices, reactive architectures, DevOps, and stream processing. Many of these patterns are successful by themselves, but as this practical ebook demonstrates, they provide a more holistic and compelling approach when applied together.
Author Ben Stopford explains how service-based... more
83
This is not another SEO book written for marketing professionals. Between these covers you'll find practical advice and examples for people who build websites aiming to reach their target audience. Each chapter will introduce you to best practices and fresh perspectives on how to accomplish these simple, yet indispensable goals:
Help more people find your site
Help users find content within your site
Encourage return visits The path this book travels through the villages of Web standards, accessibility, and contemporary technologies like Ajax, APIs, Flash, and... more
Help more people find your site
Help users find content within your site
Encourage return visits The path this book travels through the villages of Web standards, accessibility, and contemporary technologies like Ajax, APIs, Flash, and... more
84
Are you still designing web sites like it's 1999? If so, you're in for a surprise. Since the last edition of this book appeared five years ago, there has been a major climate change with regard to web standards. Designers are no longer using (X)HTML as a design tool, but as a means of defining the meaning and structure of content. Cascading Style Sheets are no longer just something interesting to tinker with, but rather a reliable method for handling all matters of presentation, from fonts and colors to the layout of the entire page. In fact, following the standards is now a mandate of... more
85
The grid has long been an invaluable tool for creating order out of chaos for designers of all kinds from city planners to architects to typesetters and graphic artists. In recent years, web designers, too, have come to discover the remarkable power that grid-based design can afford in creating intuitive, immersive, and beautiful user experiences.
"Ordering Disorder" delivers a definitive take on grids and the Web. It provides both the big ideas and the brass-tacks techniques of grid-based design. Readers are sure to come away with a keen understanding of the power of grids, as well as... more
"Ordering Disorder" delivers a definitive take on grids and the Web. It provides both the big ideas and the brass-tacks techniques of grid-based design. Readers are sure to come away with a keen understanding of the power of grids, as well as... more
86
This friendly, comprehensive guide will teach you everything you need to know to create and maintain stylish, effective websites that please clients, customers, viewers, and you. less
87
Cascading Style Sheets enable you to rapidly create web designs that can be shared by hundreds of web pages, accelerating development times and centralizing text and layout information for easy editing and updates. Stylin with CSS teaches you everything you need to know start using CSS in your web development work, from the basics of markup of your content and styling text, through to creating multi-column page layouts without the use of tables. Learn how to create interface components, such as drop-down menus, navigation links, and animated graphical buttons, using only CSS no JavaScript... more
88
Build Your Own Website The Right Way Using HTML & CSS, 2nd Edition teaches web development from scratch, without assuming any previous knowledge of HTML, CSS or web development techniques. This book introduces you to HTML and CSS as you follow along with the author, step-by-step, to build a fully functional web site from the ground up.
However, unlike countless other "learn web design" books, this title concentrates on modern, best-practice techniques from the very beginning, which means you'll get it right the first time. The web sites you'll build will:
more
However, unlike countless other "learn web design" books, this title concentrates on modern, best-practice techniques from the very beginning, which means you'll get it right the first time. The web sites you'll build will:
more
89
The author of A Practical Wedding offers a no-nonsense wedding planner, with all the tools, tips, and strategies to get the celebration you want, on a budget you can actually afford
Whether you're newly engaged or haven't quite made anything official yet, but you know you want to spend your lives together, you're going to need help planning your wedding. When you're ready to take a deep breath and start, this is the book you want--need--to have. From figuring out what you really want--as opposed to what everyone else thinks you should want--to helping you keep an eye... more
Whether you're newly engaged or haven't quite made anything official yet, but you know you want to spend your lives together, you're going to need help planning your wedding. When you're ready to take a deep breath and start, this is the book you want--need--to have. From figuring out what you really want--as opposed to what everyone else thinks you should want--to helping you keep an eye... more
90
Why did we choose to write this book? We're both extremely busy--lecturing bachelor's degree and master's degree interactive design students, maintaining our own practice wo- ing for clients, and furthering our established careers as artists exhibiting internationally--so the idea of a "how to" book for would-be web designers wasn't arrived at lightly. That said, we felt the time was right for this sort of book. There are a lot of excellent books that we point our students toward: Dan Cederholm's inspiring Web Standards Solutions; Paul Haine's meticulous HTML Mastery; and Andy Budd, Cameron... more
Don't have time to read the top Web Design books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
91
Want to learn how to create great user experiences on today's Web? In this book, UI experts Bill Scott and Theresa Neil present more than 75 design patterns for building web interfaces that provide rich interaction. Distilled from the authors' years of experience at Sabre, Yahoo!, and Netflix, these best practices are grouped into six key principles to help you take advantage of the web technologies available today. With an entire section devoted to each design principle, Designing Web Interfaces helps you:
Make It Direct-Edit content in context with... more
Make It Direct-Edit content in context with... more
92
GO BEYOND THE BLOG Smashing WordPress shows you how to utilize the power of the WordPress platform, and provides a creative spark to help you build WordPress-powered sites that go beyond the obvious. You will learn the core concepts used to build just about anything in WordPress, resulting in fast deployments and greater design flexibility.
Inside, WordPress expert Thord Daniel Hedengren takes you beyond the blog and shows you how WordPress can serve as a CMS, a photo gallery, an e-commerce site, and more.
YOU WILL LEARN:
THE... more
Inside, WordPress expert Thord Daniel Hedengren takes you beyond the blog and shows you how WordPress can serve as a CMS, a photo gallery, an e-commerce site, and more.
YOU WILL LEARN:
THE... more
93
Designing a brochure or web site without an art background? Step away from the computer and read this breezy introduction to visual communications first. Written for non-designers, White Space is Not Your Enemy is a practical graphic design and layout text introducing the concepts and practices necessary for producing effective visual communications across a variety of formats, from print to Web.
This beautifully illustrated, full-color book covers the basics to help you develop your eye and produce attractive work. Topics include:
* The basics of effective design... more
This beautifully illustrated, full-color book covers the basics to help you develop your eye and produce attractive work. Topics include:
* The basics of effective design... more
94
With tons of examples from real-world interfaces and a touch of the underlying social psychology theory, Joshua Porter shows you how to design your next great social web application. less
95
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the lingua franca of the Web, and like any language, it's constantly evolving. That's why Elizabeth Castro has written HTML 4 for the World Wide Web, Fourth Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide, an update to her blockbuster guide to HTML 4. You'll find all the concise, practical advice--and fun examples--that made the first edition a worldwide bestseller, plus entirely new coverage of debugging, JavaScript, and using tables for page layout, and an expanded section on Cascading Style Sheets.
Like all the books in the Visual QuickStart series, this one... more
Like all the books in the Visual QuickStart series, this one... more
96
CSS Grid Layout will transform the way the you design and develop for the web—and Rachel Andrew will change the way you grok the spec. Learn to use Grid Layout within a system that includes existing methods to perform the tasks they were designed for—and take advantage of this pivotal moment in the evolution of layout. less
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Fully Revised and Updated-Includes New Refactorings and Code Examples "Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand."
--M. Fowler (1999) For more than twenty years, experienced programmers worldwide have relied on Martin Fowler's Refactoring to improve the design of existing code and to enhance software maintainability, as well as to make existing code easier to understand.
This eagerly awaited new edition has been fully updated to reflect crucial changes in the programming landscape. ... more
--M. Fowler (1999) For more than twenty years, experienced programmers worldwide have relied on Martin Fowler's Refactoring to improve the design of existing code and to enhance software maintainability, as well as to make existing code easier to understand.
This eagerly awaited new edition has been fully updated to reflect crucial changes in the programming landscape. ... more
Recommended by David Heinemeier Hansson, and 1 others. David Heinemeier HanssonThis is next on my list of technical books to read! Refactoring is one of two programming books that I’ve read multiple times (the other is Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns), and I’m due for another reading. What perfect time then to dive into Martin Fowler’s long anticipated 2nd edition, now using JavaScript rather than Java for the code examples. Like the stoic books, I read Refactoring and... (Source)
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HTML5 is more than a markup language—it's a dozen independent web standards all rolled into one. Until now, all it's been missing is a manual. With this thorough, jargon-free guide, you'll learn how to build web apps that include video tools, dynamic drawings, geolocation, offline web apps, drag-and-drop, and many other features. HTML5 is the future of the Web, and with this book you'll reach it quickly.
The important stuff you need to know:
Structure web pages in a new way. Learn how HTML5 helps make web design tools and search engines work... more
The important stuff you need to know:
Structure web pages in a new way. Learn how HTML5 helps make web design tools and search engines work... more
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You're not alone.
At any given moment, somewhere in the world someone struggles with the same software design problems you have. You know you don't want to reinvent the wheel (or worse, a flat tire), so you look to Design Patterns--the lessons learned by those who've faced the same problems. With Design Patterns, you get to take advantage of the best practices and experience of others, so that you can spend your time on...something else. Something more challenging. Something more complex. Something more fun.
You want to learn about the patterns that matter--why to... more
At any given moment, somewhere in the world someone struggles with the same software design problems you have. You know you don't want to reinvent the wheel (or worse, a flat tire), so you look to Design Patterns--the lessons learned by those who've faced the same problems. With Design Patterns, you get to take advantage of the best practices and experience of others, so that you can spend your time on...something else. Something more challenging. Something more complex. Something more fun.
You want to learn about the patterns that matter--why to... more
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Provides a variety of projects that teach you how to use CSS and why particular methods were chosen. This work also features a web site which includes all the files needed to complete the tutorials. less
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