Sage's
Webliography: An
Annotated Bibliography of Web Design Resources
With
a Few Comments on Web Design
© Copyright 2005, Henry J. Sage
When the World Wide Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1993, hundreds, then thousands, of people started putting up web pages, the idea being to get material on line so that others could use it. Design issues were not very important. Most web pages had few graphics, simple navigation structures and plain if not completely colorless appearances.
Then an explosion occurred and pages became filled with color, animated graphics and images, sounds, complex navigation systems, and so on. Soon followed even more sophisticated graphics and elaborate decorative schemes, and about that time, 1998 or so, people began to pay much more attention to what worked on the web. Usability became the watchword, and web designers began to understand that less was more, that too much of a good thing, rather than attracting visitors, turned them away. Designers were asked to consider not, “Can you do this?” but “Should you do this?” Rather than filling every inch of a page with content, designers began to think about white space, pacing, making decisions with true design concepts in mind.
Since the web was a new medium, it took some time before those most concerned with design began to revisit older artistic concepts—color theory, contrast, shape and form, what makes the eye move—and it soon became apparent that while not all artistic rules or practices applied to web design, timeless concepts could not be ignored. Somewhere during this evolution web page construction divided into two main categories—web development and web design.
Web developers were primarily concerned with the technology: HTML and related codes such as Java and JavaScript. Developers were concerned about download times, browser considerations, database integration and other technical matters, often addressed on the server side rather than in the user interface. They were the behind-the-scenes people, much of whose work was more or less invisible.
Web designers, on the other hand, while having to understand web development, concentrated their efforts on the look and feel of web pages, rather than on the technology behind them. They had to recognize that technical concerns must be addressed in the design of pages, but their focus was on the artistic side—line, color, shape, form, layout. There work was mostly all visible, and as “competition for eyeballs” become more intense, their work became even more highly valued.
Within the past year (2002-2003) new developments have begun to change the way web pages are built. In earlier versions of HTML, content and presentation—the information contained on web sites and the layout of pages—was integrated. With font and tables tags the structure of the site was integrated with its look and feel. With the introduction of styles sheets, however, presentation could be controlled from outside the document rather than being built in. In other words, content became separated from presentation to a large degree, making the job of both developers and designers simpler, though no less challenging.
At the same time, In order for web sites to be more dynamic, or interactive, HTML needed to evolve, and that has led to the adoption of XHTML, roughly a cross between HTML and XML, or Extensible Markup Language. With XHTML, a kind of hybrid between HTML and XML, pages can use databases to update content, and the use of forms and other communication features has greatly enhanced interactive possibilities. Some earlier HTML components have been deprecated, meaning they are still recognized by browsers but are no longer actively supported. (The font tag is an example.)
In the current stage of web development web page builders still need to be conversant with the worlds of art and technology, but as computer design and software applications become more powerful, designers can concentrate more on their art, since the latest software makes sophisticated but functional designs more and more accessible to both designers and users. For large commercial or institutional web sites, teams of designers and developers must work together to achieve their common goal—attractive functional, easy-to-use web sites that will bring occasional surfers back for return visits and encourage them to stay a while. To produce an entire complex web site is too big a job for any single person, no matter how well trained. There is just too much to know, and too much work involved.
Furthermore, static web sites—those that must be updated regularly, but which require developer action to do the updating, revising, and so on—have been replaced by dynamic sites that use sophisticated protocols to update information through accessing databases, and allowing contributors to update portions of a site directly without having to go through the webmaster, even as the webmaster keeps control of the site design.
As part of this web evolution, older forms are disappearing in response to user needs, especially users with various kinds of disabilities. Early in the life of the web, tables, which were never designed for anything but to contain data, became the foundation for most sites as they allowed precise positioning of objects on the page. Now Cascading Style Sheets and have begun to replace not only tables but many other tags. In addition, XHTML is more demanding than the last version of HTML, requiring, for example, that all tags be closed, even so-called empty tags such as <BR>.
What, then, is the individual web site creator to do? How can one person manage all aspects of web site building without devoting one's entire working life to the job? These questions are especially relevant to educators, who want to tap the power of the web to enhance their ability to teach, both in the classroom and on line, but who also need to remain current in their disciplines, not to mention managing their class loads.
Fortunately, many resources exist to help the designer/developer—and single operators have to be both—learn what is needed to build successful web sites. Taking advantage of them is a time-consuming job, but as with any other worthy endeavor, constant learning and honing of one's skills is necessary. One never “arrives” in the world of web creation, any more than one “arrives” as a singer, artist, actor, architect or surgeon. Certainly one achieves important milestones—a degree or certificate, an appearance at Carnegie Hall, a one-person exhibit—but that is only a step, however rewarding it may be at the time. One must still evolve.
So what is needed in an education environment to move to better teaching-with-technology models?
Just as is true in other professions, ample room exists in the field of web design for amateurs. Although it becomes more challenging all the time, amateurs can and will continue to succeed. All one needs to remember is that the root of the word amateur is “love.” If you love to do it, you will want to do it well.
Below are some resources to help you in your pursuit of good web building.
RESOURCES
Following are some resources selected to help you get where you want to go. The collection is based on one person's experience, but that experience has been shaped by many others. If you would like to contribute your own favorite volumes, please get in touch with the author.
This reference collection will more than get you started. The web is changing as we write and read these words, but it is possible to catch up and keep up as long as one has reasonable goals.
BOOKS: General Technology Issues
Berners-Lee, Tim. Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by Its Inventor. Harper, 1999
This is the real deal. Berners-Lee is still very much involved with the web, and the story of how it came about is fascinating.
Birren, Faber, trans., ed. Itten: The Elements of Color. John Wiley, 1970.
Color Theory is vital to web design because images seen on a computer screen are back lighted and therefore more powerful than on a printed page. Understanding of color theory is essential for any designer, especially for web designers. The theories summarized in this small work are based on the timeless principles of Johannes Itten from his book, Kunst der Farbe (The Art of Color) published by Otto Maier Verlag, Germany, 1960.
Edwards, Betty. Drawing on the Artist Within: An Inspirational and Practical Guide to Increasing Your Creative Powers. Fireside, 1986.
It is said that you don't have to be an artist to be a web designer, but a web designer who doesn't think about creativity or originality is probably not going to produce anything very interesting. Noted for her Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, the author explains how to tap unknown resources within oneself. She argues that anyone can learn to draw, and is very convincing. Much of what she says can be applied to web design.
Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing and Ethical Guidelines. 10 th ed. Graphic Artists Guild, 2001.
Much of the information in this handbook is designed for professional graphic artists and designers, but the copyright, rights and ethics information is something of which anyone posting a web site should have working knowledge.
Kurzweil, Ray. The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence. Viking, 1999.
Kurzweil's vision of the future comes across like wild science fiction, but he has been right about many things and has been involved in some of the most stunning developments of the past decade. This is a fascinating look at where technology is going.
Mulhall, Douglas.
Our Molecular Future: How Nanotechnology, Robotics, Genetics
and Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Our World. Prometheus, 2002.
See also Jack Uldrich, below.
Paul, Gregory S. and Earl D. Cox. Beyond Humanity: CyberEvolution and Future Minds. Charles River, 1996.
The authors hobnob with real futurists such as Clarke and Asimov at places like MIT and Carnegie Mellon. One is tempted to dismiss their wilder suppositions; then again, maybe they're right!
Siegel, David. Successful Web Sites: Project Management on the World Wide Web. New Riders, 1997.
This book is still distributed in web management classes. Just as many design principles are timeless, so are good management principles. This book is about organizing your web team, considering costs and efficiencies, and so on. Even if you work alone, there is much to learn here.
Stoops, Jack and Jerry Samuelson. Design Dialog. Davis Publications, 1990.
This book came out BW—before the web. It is about creative thinking, how all kinds of things are designed, from purely artistic creations to functional devices such as corporate logos, buildings, postage stamps and vehicles. It's about thinking with your eyes, training your mind to think visually. If you want to tap your creative side, this may be helpful.
Thomsett, Michael C. The Little Black Book of Project Management. 2 nd ed. AMACOM, 2002.
Not written for web designers, it's about organizing workflow and managing assets. Even if you work alone, there is some useful content here, especially the sections on designing the project flowchart. It's all about the five P's: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.
Uldrich, Jack and
Deb Newberry. The Next Big Thing Is Really Small: How
Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. Crown, 2003.
If even part of what the nanotechnology gurus areclaiming comes true, this stuff will not be big, it will be huge!
BOOKS: General Web Design and Development
Burns, Joe. HTML Goodies. 2nd ed. Que, 2002
Burns, Joe. Web Site Design Goodies. Que, 2002.
Joe Burns, Ph.D., hosts one of the most popular web sites for web site builders. He has pulled many of his ideas into these two works. One of the most useful features is his reviews of actual web sites, some professional, some amateur. You can learn a lot from these.
Castro, Elizabeth. HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide, 5th Edition, Peachpit Press, 2002.
Yes, you need to know enough about HTML to be able to diagnose and correct problems that can't be addressed in any other way. Relatively few designers hand code any more, but all good designers know what's going on in the code. Update 2003: Now that HTML 4.01 is the end of the line for HTML standards, having been replaced by XHTML, the demands of understanding code have becoming more challenging, just as the rules for using code have become more rigorous. XHTML is much less forgiving of carelessness.
Cohen, June. Unusually Useful Web Book. New Riders, 2003
The author says this: “Whether you're building a web site for a local restaurant, a multinational corporation, or your garden club, This book can help… The principles that help the big dogs stay ahead of the pack can also help the little guy.” The author spoke with 50 top web designers and collected their thoughts—if you only read one design book, this might be the one you want.
Flanders, Vincent and Michael Willis. Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design. Sybex, 1998.
Flanders, Vincent and Dean Peters. Son of Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design. Sybex, 2002.
It's easy for most of us to recognize poorly designed pages. These two books look at some of the more egregious examples (most gone by now) and explain what's so bad about them. Some good teaching/learning points can be found amid the irreverence.
Garrett, Jesse James. The Elements of User Experience: User Centered Design for the Web. American Institute of Graphic Arts/New Riders, 2002.
This book is all about structure. What does your web site need to have in order to create a positive experience for the user? The book started with a diagram and was expanded into this brief but very useful volume.
Hackos, JoAnn T. Content Management for Dynamic Web Delivery. John Wiley, 2002
Content is an equal partner in useful web design—it has to be there and be good.
Krug, Steve. Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Riders, 2000.
Steve Krug's book is on my must-read list, meaning I go back to it often. Yes, it's based on common sense and thus we ought to be able to figure these things out on or own. Unfortunately we often can't or don't use common sense in our designing, and this helps keep us on track.
Nielsen, Jakob. Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. New Riders, 2000.
Everybody has heard of Jakob Nielsen; he usually has the last word in web usability—what makes a web site function well for users. There is much that he doesn't like, and he tends to be dogmatic, and not everyone agrees with everything he says. If you choose not to follow his guidelines, be sure you have a very good reason. Most rules have exceptions, but first you need to know them.
Pearrow, Mark. Web Site Usability Handbook. Charles River, 2000.
A detailed discussion of how to do web site testing, analyze usage statistics and other factors to smooth the kinks out of web sites and make them easier to navigate. Contains useful checklists.
Reiss, Eric. Practical Information Architecture: A Hands-On Approach to Structuring Successful Web Sites. Addison-Wesley, 2000
Another information architecture book. Don't let the clunky term put you off.
Siegel, David. Creating Killer Web Sites. 2 nd Ed., MacMillan, 1997.
“If in about 5-10 years, someone chose to write a book about the development of web design, this book would rank at or near the top. This is probably the book that truly unleashed the so-called second-generation concept of web design on the world.” Quoted from a reviewer at amazon.com.
Weinman, Lynda. Designing Web Graphics: How to Prepare Images and Media for the Web. 3 rd ed. New Riders, 1999.
Lynda Weinman is one of the best-known web gurus out there. Her training manuals are first rate, and she has much to offer in the way of good practice. This book is dated but still useful.
Williams, Robin and John Tollett. The Non-Designer's Web Book: An Easy Guide to Creating, Designing and Posting Your Own Web Site. 2nd Ed. Peachpit, 2000.
Williams, Robin and John Tollett. Robin Williams Design Workshop. Peachpit, 2000.
Robin Williams is another oft-cited guru of web design. We use her Non-Designer's Web Book as a text in our Dogwood course at NVCC. It has been around a while, but the principles are still sound.
Wodtke, Christina. Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web. New Riders, 2003.
When people start using terms like information architecture, you know that the business of web design is getting some heavy duty attention from academics and other professionals. Architecture is about structure and organization, and the author analyzes how a good web site is built by comparing web sites with other structures—shelving in stores, for example. Thoughtful and very useful suggestions.
Wroblewski, Luke. Site Seeing: A Visual Approach to Web Usability. Hungry Minds, 2002.
Recommended to me by one of NVCC's most creative designers, this book opened my eyes to the web in new ways. It's about how to look at a web site—and thus how to create a web site that people will like to look at and therefore revisit and use.
Getting started in Distance Learning
Gilbert, Sara Dulaney. How To Be a Successful Online Student. McGraw-Hill, 2001.
Hanna, Donald E, et. al. 147 Practical Tips for Teaching Online Groups: Essentials of Web-Based Education. Atwood, 2000.
Moore, Gary S., et. al. You Can Teach Online: The McGraw Hill Guide to Building Creative Learning Environments. McGraw-Hill, 2001.
Palloff, Rena M. and Keith Pratt. The Virtual Student: A Profile and Guide to Working with Online Learners. Jossey-Bass, 2003.
Palloff, Rena M. and Keith Pratt. Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom: The Realities of Online Teaching. Jossey-Bass, 2003
Educators can get a free copy of Syllabus Magazine with articles on educational technology.
The League for Innovation in the Community College has many resources for online teaching and learning.
Illinois Central College has a superb faculty development program with many resources for online teachers. See especially their Online Learning page, which includes such materials as “89 Things to Embed in the First 10 Days of an Online Course” and many tips for using Blackboard, etc.
Wisconsin Online is a community college based resource for teachers.
MIT's Open Courseware Initiative is placing hundreds of MIT actual course materials on line.
Resources for Macromedia Studio MX and MX 2004 and Dreamweaver MX and MX 2004.
NOTE: THIS SECTION NEEDS TO BE UPDATED FOR STUDIO 8, WHICH APPEARED IN SEPTEMBER 2005. Many of the titles will be the same with 8 substituted for “MX 2004.” I will get to it soon. Meanwhile, if you can get the titles below, much information is still useful as Macromedia tends to add and improve rather then mess around with what's already there.
Note: Studio MX contains Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Freehand, Cold Fusion and Home Site. If there are no comments under the title, that means the author has not used those products.
Bardzell, Jeffrey. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 with ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP: Training from the Source. Macromedia Press, 2003.
Bardzell, Jeffrey. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX Dynamic Applications: Advanced Training from the Source. Macromedia Press, 2002.
Both of these works take Dreamweaver to the next level from wherever you are. Both are excellent “from the source” books, all of which are produced by experienced, certified Macromedia developers.
Bardzell, Jeffrey. Macromedia MX eLearning: Advanced Training from the Source. Macromedia Press, 2002.
For educators. This book addresses teaching/learning techniques using Macromedia products. For example, it contains instructions on how to create an online test using Flash which gives immediate feedback to students. (The author is still learning this one, but it seems to be much more efficient that Blackboard—and with Macromedia Cold Fusion you can dump results into a database.)
Bruce, Betsy. Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Dreamweaver MX in 24 Hours. Sams, 2002.
Bruce, Betsy. eLearning with Dreamweaver MX: Building Online Learning Applications. Macromedia Press, 2002.
Crook, Robert, Sue Hove and Khristine Annwn Page. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004: Certified Developer Study Guide. Macromedia Press, 2004.
This book is more useful than the title might suggest in that it covers in summary every feature of Dreamweaver MX 2004, as well as basic principles of web design. While it is designed to prepare developers for the certification exam, it offers a survey of everything a developer or designer might want to know. Even if it does not provide full details, it can be used as a guide to point the reader to what he or she might want to learn next.
Crumlish, Christian. Dreamweaver MX/Fireworks MX. Sybex, 2002.
Evans, Joyce J. Dreamweaver MX Complete Course. John Wiley & Sons, 2002
An excellent reference to check on details—not a read-through book.
Evans, Joyce J. Dreamweaver MX 2004 Bible. John Wiley & Sons, 2004. (Not yet available.)
Green, Garo and Abigail Rudner, Dreamweaver MX Hands-On Training, Peachpit Press, 2002.
This comes out of Lynda Weinman's shop. Her H-O-T books are famous. I used versions 3 & 4 and found them both excellent. Used by many training facilities.
Green, Tom, Jordan L. Chilcott & Chris S. Flick. Building Dynamic Web Sites with Macromedia Studio MX 2004. New Riders, 2003.
This timely book integrates information about thre differnt programs in the Macromedia Studio MX 2004, Suite, including Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Cold Fusion and other technologies. Very comprehensive.
Gutman, Laura, Patricia J. Ayers, and Donald S. Booth. Inside Dreamweaver MX. New Riders, 2002
Again, I read the version 4 of this book (i.e. Dreamweaver 4) and came away really understanding the program. I plan to read the MX version soon.
Gutman, Laura. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 Demystified. Macromedia Press/Peachpit, 2004
If you get only one book on Dreamweaver, this is the one. At 1238 pages it covers everything you could want to know about Dreamweaver, from rock-bottom basics to CSS, ASP, JavaScript and everything else. Easy reading, with a web site that has exercise files. $31.50 at Amazon and worth twice the price.
Halstead, Brad, et. al. Dreamweaver MX Magic. New Riders. 2004.
If you want to get fancy, this book and the comparable Fireworks book are the place to go.
Hess, Garin and Steven Hancock. Using Dreamweaver to Create e-Learning: A comprehensive guide to CourseBuilder and Learning Site. Rapid Intake Press, 2001.
Lowery, Joseph W. Dreamweaver MX Bible with CD-ROM. John Wiley & Sons, 2002.
An excellent reference to check on details—not a read-through book. Very detailed.
Lowery, Joseph W. and Angela C. Buraglia. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 Killer Tips. New Riders, 2003.
Page, Khristine Annwn. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX: Training from the Source. Macromedia Press, 2002.
Page, Khristine Annwn. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004: Training from the Source (3rd Edition) Macromedia Press, 2003.
The Macromedia “Training from the Source” volumes are all excellent. No nonsense, straight to the point, an excellent place to start.
Siegel, Kevin A. Essentials of Dreamweaver MX: Skills & Drills. IconLogic, 2001.
Towers, J. Tarin. Dreamweaver MX For Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide. Peachpit Press, 2002.
The Visual QuickStart series is excellent. I have half a dozen or so and use them all.
Warner, Janine, and Ivonne Berkowitz. Dreamweaver MX For Dummies. Hungry Minds, Inc., 2002.
The “for Dummies” series are often better than they sound. Some other references ought to say “For rocket scientists and brain surgeons.”
West, Ray, et. al. Dreamweaver MX: The Complete Reference. McGraw Hill Osborne, 2002.
Cohen Sandee. Macromedia Fireworks MX for Windows and Macintosh: Visual Quickstart Guide. Peachpit Press, 2002.
Again, the “Visual QuickStart” series is excellent.
Lopuck, Lisa. Fireworks MX Magic. New Riders, 2002.
Lowery, Joseph, et. al. Fireworks MX Bible. Hungry Minds, 2002. Includes CD.
Rathgeber, Linda S. and David C. Nicholls, Playing with Fire: Tapping the Power of Macromedia Fireworks 4. Hungry Minds, 2001.
This is a version 4 book, but it has some excellent instructions on how to create some really cool effects using Fireworks.
Schulze, Patti. Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004: Training from the Source. Macromedia Press, 2003.
Again the Macromedia “Training from the Source” volumes are all excellent. This is always the first reference I consult after the Help menu when trying to learn something new.
West, Jackson and Lon Coley. Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Fireworks MX in 24 Hours. Sams, 2002
Wilson, Scott J. and Dan Carr. Fireworks MX: Inside Macromedia. OnWord, 2002.
Resources for Macromedia Flash
Like the other MX products, Flash MX has carried over virtually all its good features from version 5. Thus you can still learn a great deal from Flash 5 instruction manuals.
Bhangal, Sham. Flash MX: Upgrade Essentials. Friends of ED, 2002.
Chun, Russell. Macromedia Flash 5 Advanced for Windows and Macintosh. Peachpit, 2001.
David, Matthew, et. al. Flash MX Magic. 3rd ed. New Riders, 2002.
The “et. al.” here consists of 15 Flash experts, each one of whom contributes a project demonstrating various Flash capabilities. The cool thing is that you can pull these projects apart (from the actual code provided on the CD) and rebuild them for your own material.
deHaan, Jen. Macromedia Flash MX 2004: Training from the Source. Macromedia Press, 2003.
Franklin, Derek, and Brooks Patton. Macromedia Flash 5! Creative Web Animation. Macromedia Press, 2001
I have found virtually all Macromedia Press books excellent. This is no exception.
Stallons, Stallons. Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 Application Development: Training from the Source. Macromedia Press, 2003.
Ulrich, Katherine. Macromedia Flash 5 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide. Peachpit, 2001.
Ulrich, Katherine. Macromedia Flash MX for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide. Peachpit, 2002.
Underdahl, Brian. Macromedia Flash MX: A Beginner's Guide. Osborne, 2002
Weil, Kymberlee and Garo Green. Flash 5 Hands-On-Training. Lynda.com/Peachit, 2002.
Another product of the Lynda Weinman studio of designers. Excellent.
Wilson, Scott J., Shannon Wilder and Chris Volion. Flash 5: Inside Macromedia. OnWord, 2001.
Resources for Macromedia Freehand
Macromedia Freehand has been around a long time—no doubt before Macromedia owned it. It is now in version 11 (the MX version.) Although I have not run into many people who use it, as Illustrator (the comparable Adobe product) seems to be the application of choice, I have discovered that Freehand has many cool features that Illustrator does not have. While I find it harder to use than Illustrator, I also find that it integrates very well with the other Macromedia products. Stay tuned.
Schulze, Patti. Macromedia FreeHand MX: Training from the Source. Macromedia Press, 2003.
Brand new. I have only browsed this so far, but Schulze's other books are excellent.
Cohen, Sandee. Macromedia FreeHand MX for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide. Peachpit Press, 2003.
Another “hot off the press” book. Both the author and the publisher have excellent track records.
Resources for Macromedia Contribute
Negrino, Tom. Macromedia Contribute 2 for Windows and Macintosh (Visual QuickStart Guide). Peachpit Press, 2003.
Note: As Contribute gains popularity, more resources will probably become available.
Adobe PhotoShop and Illustrator Resources
For some reason the Adobe programs have much less in the way of literature. Perhaps that's because they have been around a long time and are well known. Manuals for earlier versions, back to PhotoShop 5.5 and Illustrator 8.0 are still useful as the basic functions of the products have not changed. (In fact, some applications prefer that you save files from these programs in older versions, which is possible.) Another reason for the lack of Adobe books about web use is that most of the PhotoShop books are about the print applications. The Classroom in a Book manuals are also excellent—maybe all you need.
Adobe Press. Adobe PhotoShop 7.0: Classroom in a Book. 2002.
Adobe Press. Adobe Illustrator 10: Classroom in a Book. 2002.
The “Official Training Manuals,” these comes with the program and are excellent.
Kurth, Steve. Illustrator 10 Shop Manual. New Riders, 2002.
A reference guide to just about everything in Illustrator.
Obermeier, Barbara, and Deke McClelland. Photoshop 7 for Dummies. For Dummies, 2002
Gets terrible reviews from users at amazon.com, but who knows? It might be useful.
Castro, Elizabeth. PERL and CGI for the World Wide Web. Visual QuickStart Guide. 2 nd ed., Peachpit, 2001.
Moncur, Michael. SAMS Teach Yourself Java Script in 24 Hours. 2nd ed. SAMS, 2000.
Negrino, Tom and Dori Smith. JavaScript for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide. 4th ed., 2001.
Teague, Jason Cranford. DHTML and CSS for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide. 2nd ed. Peachpit, 2001.
Weil, Bob and Chris Baron. Drag ‘n' Drop CGI: Enhance Your Web Site Without Programming. Addison-Wesley, 1997.
WEB SITES FOR PRODUCTS AND TUTORIALS
| Amazon: http://www.amazon.com. You will find all the works listed above at Amazon.com. They also sell all the software, but you will want to find one of the education resellers below, or go direct to the Macromedia or other software company home page and look for education pricing. |
Macromedia: http://www.macromedia.com.
After you have registered your products, sign up for the Macromedia Edge Newsletter. They don't sell email addresses or bombard you with stuff. They will notify you of updates, etc. Their web site also has excellent technical support, forums, tutorials, and just about anything you could need on line for assistance. Macromedia gives direct educational pricing if you claim to be an educator.
The Macromedia site has a list of all academic resellers, including Campus Tech (below.) If you need to save a few extra bucks, you might want to shop around. They also give education prices on their web site. Fill and a form that includes permission for them to check with your college and they will give you their education pricing without further ado.
An upgrade for Dreamweaver MX is available at macromedia.com.
Academic Superstore. http://www.academicsuperstore.com/
These prices compare favorably with some other academic discounters as they have free shipping. They also have a large collection of books, such as many of those above. Photo ID and letter required.
Adobe: http://www.adobe.com
Like the Macromedia site, Adobe has a multitude of online resources—educator deals, tutorials, references, site demonstrations, and so on. The two companies are very similar in their approaches to design tools and training, not surprising since many employees have worked for both.
Campus Tech: http://www.campustech.com Educational Discount Software:
Campus Tech requires verification of eligibility—fax them a letter with a copy of your NVCC ID.
CDWG: http://www.cdwg.com A large online software and hardware sales center. Virginia has a contract for educational pricing and we are supposed to be able to order direct. I'd check with our IT or Media folks first.
Tutorials and other Web Assistance
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Updated October 4, 2006
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