RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Designing CSS Webpages

by Christopher Schmitt
Paperback - 384 pages 1st edition (September 2002)
New Riders Publishing; ISBN: 0735712638

Go beyond the mechanics of CSS to how to think in the language of web design, and avoid the common pitfalls. Full of examples and deconstruction's to aid in understanding CSS and its application.

Designing Web Usability:
The Practice of Simplicity

by Jakob Nielsen
Paperback - 432 pages 1 edition (December 1999)
New Riders Publishing; ISBN: 156205810X

Covers topics such as cross-platform design, response time considerations, writing for the Web, multimedia implementation, navigation strategies, search boxes, corporate intranet design, accessibility for disabled users, international considerations, and future predictions.

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

by Steve Krug, Roger Black
Paperback - 224 pages 1 edition (October 13, 2000)
Que; ISBN: 0789723107

Usability design is one of the most important -- yet often least attractive -- tasks for a Web developer. In Don't Make Me Think, author Steve Krug lightens up the subject with good humor and excellent, to-the-point examples. This book is a very good and truly common sense guide to the all-important subject of usability.

Web Navigation:
Designing the User Experience

by Jennifer Fleming, Richard Koman (Editor)
Paperback - 253 pp. w/ CD-ROM (September 1998)
O'Reilly & Associates; ISBN: 1565923510

Web Navigation offers the first in-depth look at designing web site navigation. The author offers strategies and methodologies for developing solutions to your unique situation. The accompanying CD-ROM serves as a launchpad to the sites mentioned in the text, and also offers software demos and related web resources. Basic discussion of designing websites with the user in mind - great for novice designers.

Envisioning Information

by Edward R. Tufte
Hardcover (May 1990)
Graphics Press; ISBN: 0961392118

This is a book that explains why it is important to present information clearly, succinctly, and responsibly. It reveals how to transfer three-dimensional experience to two-dimensional media such as print and computer screens. Envisioning Information is itself a testament to Tufte's standards of visual literacy. Tufte presents the basics of designing strategies for reading and presenting information in "flatland" and has become the basic primer for information designers, architects, teachers, technicians, and artists.

The Visual Display of
Quantitative Information

by Edward R. Tufte
Hardcover Reprint edition (February 1992)
Graphics Press; ISBN: 096139210X

A classic in how complex information should be presented graphically. "The Strunk & White of visual design." This book is a basic requirement for anyone trying to understand or depict numerical data graphically. The design of the book is an exemplar of the principles it espouses:  elegant typography and layout, seamless integration of lucid text, and perfectly chosen graphical examples. It's such a useful book we've had to buy several copies - people keep "borrowing" it and we never see it again!

Visual Explanations:
Images and Quantitites,
Evidence and Narrative

by Edward R. Tufte, Bonnie Scranton (Illustrator), Dmitry Krasny (Illustrator)
Hardcover - 156 pages (March 1997)
Graphics Press; ISBN: 0961392126

Describes design strategies - the proper arrangement in space and time of images, words, and numbers - for presenting information about motion, process, mechanism, cause, and effect. Examines the logic of depicting quantitative evidence. This is one of the most beautiful books we have ever read. Visual Explanations is both intellectually stimulating and stunning to behold. Tufte, a self-publisher, takes extraordinary pains with design and production. The book ranges through topics including the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger (which could have been prevented, Tufte argues, by better information display on the part of the rocket's engineers), magic tricks, a cholera epidemic in 19th-century London, and the principle of using "the smallest effective difference" to display distinctions in data. Tufte presents ideas with clarity and illustrates them in exquisitely rendered samples.

MySQL (Other New Riders)

by Paul DuBois
Paperback - 2nd edition

MySQL teaches how to use the tools provided by the MySQL distribution itself, covering installation, setup, daily use, security, optimization, maintenance, and troubleshooting. It also discusses important third-party tools, such as the Perl DBI and Apache/PHP interfaces that provide access to MySQL and are used to tie MySQL to websites.

Database Design for Mere Mortals
A Hands-On Guide to
Relational Database Design

by Michael J. Hernandez
Paperback - 480 pages (January 1997)
Addison-Wesley Pub Co; ISBN: 0201694719

This text is a straightforward, platform-independent introduction to the principles of relational database design for aspiring database developers and professional programmers. The core concepts of design theory and methods are presented without technical jargon, providing readers with a well-illustrated, common-sense design methodology for developing databases that work.