Useful Books

You may be interested in some of the books listed below either as resources for your individual project or for expanding your Web design skills in a wide variety of directions.

	Speaking in Styles: Fundamentals of CSS for Web Designers Jason Cranford Teague New Riders, 2009 ISBN: 0-321-57416-8 A great overview of the details and techniques of CSS. Some of this book should be review of CS403 material, but it will also be useful to extend beyond what a typical CS403 class covers.
	The Art & Science of CSS: Cameron Adams, Jina Bolton, et al. Sitepoint, 2007 ISBN: 0-9758419-7-1 This is a great book for exploring different applications of CSS.
	Everything You Know About CSS is Wrong! Rachel Andrew & Kevin Yank Sitepoint, 2008 ISBN-13: 978-0-9804552-2-9 This is a great book for exploring the likely features of the future CSS3. Don’t let the title throw you. It might be more accurately titled “Everything you know about CSS is likely to be wrong at some time in the future.”
	The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks Rachel Andrew Sitepoint ISBN: 0-9579218-8-8 A great source for mastering more advanced aspects of CSS. Offers a wide array of useful techniques.
	Eric Meyer on CSS Eric Meyer New Riders ISBN: 0-7357-1245-X Fabulous book on the practical applications of CSS. A great choice once you’ve mastered the basics.
	More Eric Meyer on CSS Eric A. Meyer New Riders ISBN: 0-7357-1425-8 Another fabulous book on the practical applications of CSS. A great choice once you’ve mastered the basics. May be read before, after or without Eric Meyer
	The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web Dave Shea & Molly E. Holzschlag New Riders ISBN: 0-321-30347-4 A relatively advanced analysis of a wide array of CSS techniques based upon deconstructing the work of professional designers.
	Handcrafted CSS: More Bulletproof Web Design Dan Cederholm with Ethan Marcotte New Riders, 2010 ISBN-13: 978-0-321-64338-4 A very useful book that covers how to design and build Web sites that hold up under the widest possible variety of circumstances.
	The Non-Designer’s Design Book 3^rd ed. Robin Williams Peachpit Press ISBN-13: 978-0-321-53404 A good overview of the basic principles of design.
	The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, 2^nd ed. Jason Beaird Sitepoint, 2010 ISBN: 978-0-9805768-9-4 This is a great overview of the theory and practice of Web design.
	Sexy Web Design Elliot Jay Stocks Sitepoint ISBN: 978-0-9804552-3-6 A very readable presentation of a methodology for designing great-looking Web sites from start to finish.
	Fancy Form Design: Jina Bolton, Tim Connell & Derek Featherstone Sitepoint, 2009 ISBN-13: 978-0-9805768-4-9 If you’re tired of boring forms that do not integrate well with your design visions for the rest of your site, this is the book for you.
	Web Style Guide, 3^rd ed. Patrick J. Lynch & Sarah Horton Yale University Press, 2008 ISBN-13: 978-0-300-13737-8 This is an excellent overview of the theory and practice of good Web design.
	Visual Design for the Modern Web Penny McIntire New Riders ISBN: 0-321-51538-2 An excellent soup-to-nuts coverage of the essentials of Web design.
	Designing with Web Standards, 3^rd ed. Jeffrey Zeldman with Ethan Marcotte New Riders, 2010 ISBN-13: 978-0-321-61695-1 If you’re interested in writing long-lived Web pages that perform predictably in all browsers (and who isn’t?), this book is a must read!
	Developing with Web Standards John Allsopp New Riders, 2010 ISBN-13: 978-0-321-64692-7 This is the companion volume to Jeffrey Zeldman’s Designing with Web Standards. It focuses somewhat more on the practice and a bit less on the theory.
	Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook Dan Cederholm Friends of Ed ISBN: 1-59059-381-2 A well-written and highly readable treatment of standards compliant Web design.
	The Truth About Search Engine Optimization Rebecca Lieb FT Press/Pearson Education ISBN: 0-7897-3831-7 A superb overview of the SEO process. A great place to start an exploration of this important topic.
	Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day, 2^nd ed. Jennifer Grappone & Gradiva Couzin Sybex/Wiley ISBN: 978-0-470-22664-3 A practical step-by-step approach to the practice of SEO.
	Search Engine Visibility Shari Thurow New Riders ISBN: 0-7357-1256-5 Most of what you need to know in order to create sites that rank well in search engine results. An excellent choice once you start developing sites you expect to “pay the bills.”
	When Search Meets Web Usability Shari Thurow and Nick Musica New Riders,2009 ISBN: 978-0-321-60589-4 A wonderful examination of the full-scale user experience of your sites, from the search engine that gets the users there to their eventual departure, and how to improve it.
	Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance Jim Thatcher, et al. Friends of Ed ISBN: 1-59059-638-2 Everything you need to know in order to build sites that comply with legal accessibility requirements.
	Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers Sarah Horton New Riders ISBN: 0-321-31140-X Presents a practical design methodology based upon accessibility for all users.
	Designing Web Usability Jakob Nielsen New Riders ISBN: 1-56205-810-X An excellent book on designing sites with an eye toward usability.
	Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems Steve Krug New Riders, 2010 ISBN-13: 978-0-321-65729-9 This is a sequel to Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think that translates the theoretical foundations of that book into practical guidance for determining (and improving) the usability of a Web site.
	The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web Jesse James Garrett AIGA/New Riders ISBN: 0-7357-1202-6 A somewhat theoretical, but systematic, treatment of Web design from the perspective of the users’ experience.
	Undercover User Experience Design: Learn how to do great UX work with tiny budgets, no time, and limited support Cennydd Bowles and James Box New Riders, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-321-71990-4 An excellent guide to introducing UX design practices into your projects incrementally.
	A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making Russ Unger and Carolyn Chandler New Riders, 2009 ISBN: 978-0-321-60737-9 A practical approach to integrating UX practices and principles into your Web project workflow.
	Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web Christina Wodtke New Riders ISBN: 0-7357-1250-6 Highly readable and practical approach to information architecture.
	Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 2^nd ed. Louis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville O’Reilly ISBN: 0-595-00035-9 Excellent book for improving the overall logical structure of your sites. If your site has a deficient architecture, it’s simply not going to work in the long run.
	Practical Information Architecture Eric L. Reiss Addison-Wesley ISBN: 0-201-72590-8 Another great book on information architecture. A bit less thorough, but more practical and readable than Rosenfeld and Morville.
	The Non-Designer’s Web Book, 2^nd ed. Robin Williams & John Tollett Peachpit Press ISBN: 0-201-71038-2 Fun to read and useful. Offers a solid foundation in the basics. Some handy tricks.
	The Non-Designer’s Type Book Robin Williams Peachpit Press ISBN: 0-201-35367-9 A very readable introduction to essential concepts of typography. Virtually guaranteed to improve your sense of typographical design.
	Fluid Web Typography Jason Cranford Teague New Riders, 2010 ISBN-13: 978-0-321-67998-7 An up-to-date and forward looking treatment of typography for the Web.
	Web Anatomy: Interaction Design Frameworks that Work Robert Hoekman, Jr. & Jared Spool New Riders, 2010 ISBN-13: 978-0-321-63502-0 A focused look at how frameworks can be combined with patterns and components to develop a reuse strategy to speed the Web development process.
	Flexible Web Design: Creating Liquid and Elastic Layouts with CSS Zoe Mickley Gillenwater New Riders, 2009 ISBN-13: 978-0-321-55384-3 A focused look at techniques for designing and implementing designs that adapt to the browser’s window size and/or current font size.
	Color for Websites Molly E. Holzschlag Rotovision ISBN: 2-88046-741-1 A beautiful, concise and informative book with excellent coverage of using color and images on the Web.
	Web Color Expert: All That You Need to Create Fantastic Web Color Keith Martin Friedman/Fairfax ISBN: 1-58663-965-X A project-based and application specific guide to Web color and graphics. Light on the theory with lots of practical ideas and tricks.
	Photography for the Web Paul Duncanson Sitepoint, 2010 ISBN: 978-0-9805768-7-0 A great presentation of all that you need to know in order to produce and better manage photographs for your Web sites.
	Artistic Web Design Using Adobe Dreamweaver and Photoshop: An Introduction Vickie Ellen Wolper Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-7637-8594-9 A nice blend of how-to information regarding the use of Dreamweaver and Photoshop and the theoretical aspects of practical Web design.
	Hot Text: Web Writing that Works Jonathan Price & Lisa Price New Riders ISBN: 0-7357-1151-8 Excellent book on writing (and editing) effective content for the Web. A great choice if you are serious about creating sites that convey their message.
	Speed Up Your Site: Web Site Optimization Andrew B. King New Riders ISBN: 0-7357-1324-3 Chock full of insights and advice to help you make your pages download and display as quickly as possible. A great choice once you have mastered the basics.
	Design Basics, 6^th ed. David A. Lauer & Stephen Pentak Thomson/Wadsworth ISBN: 0-534-62559-2 A readable introduction to essential concepts of design. Not specific to the Web but valuable to Web designers.
	Visual Design on the Computer, 2^nd ed. Wucius Wong & Benjamin Wong W. W. Norton & Company ISBN: 0-393-73061-1 Useful coverage of graphical design techniques using computer graphics software. Neither Web-specific nor application-specific, but useful nonetheless.
	Web Applications: Concepts and Real World Design Craig Knuckles & David Yuen John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0-471-20458-7 Excellent coverage of Web applications programming. If you’re interested in server-side programming and already know how to program in general, this is an excellent place to start.

You are not required or expected to purchase any of these recommended texts. This list is provided simply as a resource for students looking for additional sources or alternative treatments of course-related material. There are many, many books available on the open market, and I do not necessarily claim that those listed here are the best. They are, however, the best I have found and the ones I feel comfortable recommending.

Information Technology 502

Intermediate Web Design

Sections 1 & 2, Spring 2012

Useful Books