We've all talked about the best books for learning programming ... but for those of us who are graphically challenged, do any of you have recommendations for books on web design?
Ask HN: Best Books for Learning Web Design?
1–10 of 11 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best Books for Learning Web Design?
#2For HTML/CSS, Bulletproof Web Design is a great book. It doesn't get into graphical design though.
Re: Ask HN: Best Books for Learning Web Design?
#3I don't know about books, but I took an introductory art class at my local junior college and it helped me a lot. Just understanding the basics of color and how artists go about laying out pictures translated a lot to helping me at least understand why designers did things online.
Re: Ask HN: Best Books for Learning Web Design?
#4I'm not quite sure on books, but there are a TON of resources out there to help you get a solid web design foundation.
Here are two resources that I read daily and provide a lot of good juicy material:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/
Re: Ask HN: Best Books for Learning Web Design?
#5I have seen this question come up on HN countless times, but I have yet to see a good answer. Why hasn't anyone written a good web design tutorial/book? I've read quite a few Photoshop/css tutorials, but none of those helped me understand the fundamentals of good design. The only thing that helped me suck less at designing was the "Non-Designer's Design Book", so I suggest reading that for starters.
Re: Ask HN: Best Books for Learning Web Design?
#6I used to respond to book requests so much on hn that I created a website where you can review hacker books and share your list with other folks over here. hn-books.com
For web design, here's my list: http://hn-books.com/#BC=0&E0=2&EC=1&FC=0&Q0=...
Note that if you like, you can sort by knowledge level and book format.
Re: Ask HN: Best Books for Learning Web Design?
#7The ones I've found that are good starting points:
Stylin' with CSS by Charles Wyke-Smith - its mainly a (good) CSS book but gives enough hints at good design so you don't go overboard.
Handcrafted CSS by Dan Cederholm with Ethan Marcotte - again CSS tutorial with emphasis on good design with CSS.
Once you get the handle on those (or before hand) check out the great examples in CSS Zen Garden. ( http://www.csszengarden.com/ ) Something you can pick apart and analyze. The cool thing about ZenGarden is the HTML is always the exact same file it's the CSS and graphics that make the designs different.
Beware web design books that concentrate purely on web design - some of them are trying to be too artsy and cutting edge, look inside the book before buying... also some may be specific for templates in WordPress, Joomla or some other CMS.
Re: Ask HN: Best Books for Learning Web Design?
#8I don't know about books, but I took an introductory art class at my local junior college and it helped me a lot. Just understanding the basics of color and how artists go about laying out pictures translated a lot to helping me at least understand why designers did things online.
I found abstract art to be related to web-design closely, in that a web-page is essentially a piece of abstract art: shapes of various size and color that in conjunction help us navigate to text/content we want.
Re: Ask HN: Best Books for Learning Web Design?
#9Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug
The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
Non-Designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams
Re: Ask HN: Best Books for Learning Web Design?
#10The Success Manual - contains summaries of some useful web design books. http://thesuccessmanual.bighow.com