Other Resources
98-130 pulls information from a wide variety of sources. In case you’re particularly interested, this is a list of terrific books whose topics we touch on in this class. Many of these are very seminal works.
Many of these books are available from CMU libraries. Others can be picked up at nearby Pittsburgh libraries, and I’ve got some that you can borrow as well.
Front-end Engineering
- Designing with Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman is a revolutionary book that successfully makes the case for standards-compliant sites.
- Bulletproof Web Design by Dan Cederholm teaches how to ensure that your site is truly robust and flexible.
- Transcending CSS by Andy Clarke teaches a great deal more than CSS; it touches on design inspiration, process, and much more.
- CSS Mastery by Andy Budd, Simon Collison, and Cameron Moll is probably the best resource on CSS-based design out there. Very easy to read.
- The Zen of CSS Design by Dave Shea and Molly Holzschlag is a showcase of some of the best works from the CSS Zen Garden.
- Bulletproof AJAX by Jeremy Keith is a slim, wonderful introduction to AJAX that degrades perfectly when Javascript isn’t available.
- DOM Scripting by Jeremy Keith covers the incredibly useful subject of Javascript DOM manipulation.
Design, Usability, & Interaction
- The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst is a legendary book on the general topic of typography – a must-read for a wide variety of fields.
- Designing Web Interfaces by Bill Scott and Theresa Neil is full of user interface design patterns. What’s the difference between an accordion menu and an expandable menu, for instance, and when should you use one or the other?
- Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug is a classic, thin book on the subject of “common-sense” web usability.
- Prioritizing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen (the father of web usability) describes some of the top mistakes and best ideas in web design.
- The Elements of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett teaches the theory of UX design as applied specifically to the web. A lot of helpful theory.
- Defensive Design by 37signals provides a set of guidelines for designing a site to prevent and handle errors and other worst-case scenarios.
- Information Architecture by Louis Rosenfeld is a great look a huge topic: IA and how to organize the content of large sites.