10 excellent books for learning web design
So, you wanna be a web designer? In addition to the long hours, low pay, and diminished social status, you’ll find yourself competing against the likes of “My cousin’s neighbor’s 8th grade daughter is good with computers. Maybe she could do my website?” scenario. She probably would do it. For a Jonas Brothers sticker book. Anyway, as I’m sure you are well aware, you can find tons of resources for learning right here on the interwebs. But let’s harken back to a simpler time. Back when learning materials were printed on pressed wood pulp. So throw off those Hush Puppies, kick back in the Barcalounger, grab a Yoo-Hoo and let’s dive right in to the best books for learning web design (varying degrees of experience levels of course):
Jeffrey Zeldman is The Beatles of web standards. Or maybe the Elvis Presley of web standards. Regardless, Zeldman doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the green mile. He is a tireless promoter and evangelist for standards. This book is intelligent, funny, and entertaining. If you’re looking for an engaging book, go here. If you prefer your web design books on the drier, technical side, look elsewhere. Then again, you probably enjoy reading leases in your spare time.
This book will make more sense when you are in the moderately experienced stage of CSS design. The basic premise is this: The authors have created a web site CSS Zen Garden that uses a static source HTML file. Only the stylesheet changes through user contributions. It’s really an eye-opening example of the power of CSS for presentation. The book has several chapters dedicated to layout, typography and imagery to show you just how much of these individual components can be altered aesthetically with different stylesheets.
O.K., maybe you enjoy reading leases. Not the most entertaining book in the bunch, but that’s not why we like this one. Keep this right next to your laptop (or desktop) as the perfect reference guide. Particularly helpful for the brain-cramp moments when you forget some elemental syntax. Pretty much covers all the bases and part of shallow left-field too.
The Art and Science of CSS can probably be read in an afternoon, but the brevity of the book doesn’t take away it’s usefulness. The book is authored by web professionals Jonathan Snook, Steve Smith, Jina Bolton, Cameron Adams, and David Johnson. They take you through different parts of CSS design like backgrounds, headings, forms and navigation using real world examples from beginning to end. We’ve picked up a few indispensable tips from this one.
If you don’t know even know how to turn on a computer, yet have a savage desire to design for the web, buy this book. It assumes you don’t know a damn thing about HTML or CSS and walks you though the whole process. It’s also charming and funny. Maybe it goes a little overboard with the levity at times, but that’s probably an attempt to make the subject less intimidating for the beginner. It succeeds.
If Jeffrey Zeldman is the Beatles of web standards, that makes Dan Cederholm the Rolling Stones. Or Herman’s Hermits. Or….errr…O.K., scratch that. Web Standards Solutions is applicable for more advanced practitioners of the evil art of web design. This one is perfect if you already have a decent knowledge base. A lot of us have built up bad habits through the years due to lack of experience, unwillingness to change, or just plain laziness. Cederholm helps you break that cycle with practical solutions for doing things the right way.
We highly recommend this book as a neophyte’s guide to CSS. McFarland does a great job at making difficult concepts appear simple. He uses the same example site all throughout the book to keeps thing focused. The chapters on positioning alone make The Missing Manual a must buy.
This little gem came out a few months ago and “little” is the operative word. It only weighs in at a little over 200 pages. The book is more for an intermediate level of proficiency and delves into the little details that make a website shine like the chapter on craftsmanship. The authors go into a few CCS3 techniques like the opacity property that can be implemented right now.
Another great book on doing things the right way. It covers many “best practice” ideas as well as common bug fixes and different browser support issues.(There’s that old bugbear!)
Web Standards Creativity is sure to get you excited and inspired. Written by many of the studs of modern web design, it not only looks pretty but offers tons of practical advice that you can implement in your own designs. I always flip through this book when I feel creatively stagnant. It’s the literary equivalent of a 64oz. Red Bull.
