Hooked on books, pt. 2: The Techie Route
As I said in my first installment of Hooked on Books, I was recently hired by the University of Florida Web masters’ office. They gave me a reading list to get me better acquainted with the skills I would need to perform this job. This is my first opportunity to see Web development and online media from a non-journalism perspective. Some of this stuff will be a repeat from my last post.
My “Level 1 training” includes reading the following:
HTML/CSS
- “Web Standards Solutions” by Dan Cederholm
- “Professional CSS” by Schmitt, Trammell, et al., Chapter 5 (UF chapter)
- “Designing with Web Standards” by Jeffrey Zeldman
- Web Design 101 – Floats – Digital Web Magazine
- XHTML Tutorial – W3C schools
Web usability
- “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krugg
There was also a video list:
HTML/CSS
- CSS Web Site Design with Eric Meyer – Lynda.com
- HTML Essential Training with William Weinman – Lynda.com
Web accessability
I haven’t gotten to all of this stuff yet, but if you’ve read it, seen it or heard of it, tell me what you think.
Nice post, Matthew! I like the list a lot. It’s a good starter list, in my opinion — not too much and not overwhelming, but also serious and substantial. I’m really glad you posted this, because too many people think Web design is something that “just anyone” can go out and do. Anyone can make a Web page, yes. It’s easy. But making a proper, professional page (or site) is something that requires at least as much training and skill as it takes to produce a professional glossy magazine. (Even though you don’t need to know Pantone.)
Mindy McAdams
November 18, 2007 at 2:09 pm
How did you like Professional CSS?
Christopher Schmitt
December 7, 2007 at 8:08 pm
I actually only read the chapter on the University of Florida Web site. That chapter was pretty informative, but it only covered the evolution of the Web site and some simple semantic mark up. I have read some stuff from the other authors though, and most of it is good. So with that in mind, I’d recommend it to others.
magzalez
December 8, 2007 at 2:40 am