Archive for the 'Books' Category
Learn Ruby on Rails with the help of sitepoint
At an event apart this summer in Seattle, one of the best speaker was Tim Bray from Sun Microsystems. He urged web designers to pick up a Ruby on Rails and start learning this new technology right away. I’ve yet to pick up my book, because as everyone else, I too busy. However, this morning I just learned from the folks at sitepoint that they are giving away their book for FREE. This is just the incentive that I needed.
Their book will be available for FREE until the end of October. Get your copy today.
Forget Innovation! Solve Problems Instead.
I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Scott Berkun at a VanUE event this week. In his often hilarious, entertaining presentation, Scott discussed some of the topics covered in his new book “The Myths of Innovation”. His discussion focused mostly on the perceptions of innovation (eureka moment) versus the historical reality (lots of sweat, hard work, and collaboration).
During the Q&A period, people were obviously engrossed in his ideas and wanted to know more about how to be innovative and how to reach the Eureka moment. Scott provided us with the best advice I’ve heard for a long time.
Forget about innovation. Don’t use the word innovation.
Heck don’t use the word design. Solve problems.
You have a problem? Fix it.
Your client has a problem? Fix it.
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
I recently purchased a copy of Jason Beaird’s book “The Principles of Beautiful Web Design“. I must admit that I was skeptical when I purchased it. Unfortunately I’m one of those people who are influenced greatly by design. and thus tend to judge my books by their cover. Having just finished reading “Transcending CSS” which was exceptional, beautifully laid out and with a great looking cover, I didn’t think that a book which such a boring looking one would be very interesting. And the sentence “You don’t need to go to art school to design great looking web sites!” on the back also didn’t make me feel at ease. I know quite a few graphic designers whose face turns purple just hearing that kind of statement.
Thus I had very low expectations for this book and yet I would recommend it to anyone. The book is extremely informative, full of great images and resources and Jason does deliver what he promises. A simple, easy-to-follow guide illustrated with plenty of full-colour examples. This book is ideal for people who are just starting to get into web design, programmers who routinely build “somewhat dull” looking web applications or people like me who have been designing for years. I didn’t go to art school and so don’t know the fundamentals of design. I learned everything from the seat of my pants. I sure wish I had read this book years ago.