 | Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug
Buy new: £12.47 / Used from: £13.67 Buy this book if you are involved with designing ANYTHING that humans are expected to use. Brilliantly written, and a pleasure to read.
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 | HTML and XHTML Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly)) by Jennifer Niederst Robbins
Buy new: £5.49 / Used from: £4.28 A small handy reference to xhtml. Very small and very handy.
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 | CSS Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly)) by Eric Meyer
Buy used from: £2.11 A small handy reference to CSS. Written by Eric Meyer. Eric Meyer knows.
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 | CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions by Andy Budd
Buy new: £21.49 / Used from: £5.09 This is a brilliant book that I find myself going back to again and again. A definite buy.
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 | Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design (Voices That Matter) by Andy Clarke
Buy new: £17.99 / Used from: £8.96 Not for the total beginner, but once you've got the swing of xhtml and css, and before you get into all manner of bad habits. DESIGN inspiration that doesn't break the web.
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 | Thinking in type by Alex W. White
Buy new: £19.54 / Used from: £9.89 Involved in design? Using words and letters? Buy this. Easy to read.
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 | Design Basics Index by Jim Krause
Buy new: £8.74 / Used from: £5.00 It's not all code code code. Don't make dog-ugly sites, learn to design.
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 | Web Standards Creativity: Innovations in Web Design with XHTML, CSS, & DOM Scripting: Innovations in Web Design with XHTML, CSS, and DOM Scripting by C et al Adams
Buy new: £26.64 / Used from: £12.00 A follow up to CSS mastery. A very good one at that.
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 | The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher
Buy new: £16.47 / Used from: £14.00 There is a reason this book ends up in all lists on design. Feed your head. The best non-fiction book I own, buy it even if you have no interest in design.
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 | Microformats: Empowering Your Markup for Web 2.0 by John Allsopp
Buy new: £26.99 / Used from: £5.42 With Yahoo! Google, LinkedIn and many others taking an interest this is a very useful technology that looks like it is going to catch on. A fine and comprehensible introduction.
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 | The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
Buy new: £29.45 / Used from: £22.75 A beautifully written book that will make you fall in love with typography Refine your aesthetic sensibilities and learn about clarity of communication.
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 | Grid Systems in Graphic Design: A Handbook for Graphic Artists, Typographers, and Exhibition Designers by Josef Muller-Brockmann
Buy new: £36.37 / Used from: £33.79 The original guide to a well ordered composition from one of my favourite designers
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 | History of the Poster / Geschichte des Plakate / Histoire de l'Affiche by Josef Muller-Brockmann
Buy new: £18.49 / Used from: £14.23 Being greedy now, but give your eyes a treat and inspire yourself with this.
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 | Making and Breaking the Grid: A Layout Design Workshop by Timothy Samara
Buy new: £10.89 / Used from: £9.04 More layout and compositional goodness.
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 | 30 Typefaces for a Lifetime
Buy new: £17.54 / Used from: £14.95 With tens of thousands of fonts available a reminder that mastery of a few can provide superior results. Eye candy and food for thought.
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 | Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual by Timothy Samara
Buy new: £14.48 / Used from: £12.50 A highly practical, digestible and enjoyable guide to the principals of graphic design
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 | Rookledge's Classic International Typefinder by Christopher Perfect
Buy used from: £50.00 Can be used as to identify and select typefaces. Uses an original and highly practical criteria for definition of type.
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 | GUI Design for Dummies by Laura Arlov
Buy used from: £7.39 Despite the age of the book and the 'For dummies' in the title this is an excellent introduction to the world of usability/HCI.
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 | The Design of Everyday Things by DA Norman
Buy new: £9.89 / Used from: £4.40 A superb and thought provoking read. It is almost a more in-depth, less web focussed, 'Don't make me think' (see top of this list).
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 | Joomla! A User's Guide: Building a Successful Joomla! Powered Website by Barrie M. North
Buy new: £21.07 / Used from: £10.81 A practical and readable guide to getting started with, and templating for, one of the worlds most popular Content Management System (CMS).
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 | Satie: Gnossiennes; Gymnopédies; Ogives; Trois Sarabandes; Petite ouverture à danser.
Buy new: £11.98 / Used from: £4.95 I don't know why but when you're wrestling with browser bugs (thanks IE) and planning your stylesheets this just elevates me to a higher plane of thinking.
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 | Web Premium CS3 Student Edition (PC)
Bloated maybe but they are still the essential tools.
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Listmania!
