CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions, Second Edition, by Andy Budd, Simon Collison and Cameron Moll
Andy Budd, the first author of CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions, is renowned in the web development community as one of the foremost proponents of web standard in Great Britain. 
This is a 300 page book, very hands on, which demonstrate what CSS can achieve. It is a hands-on learning tool rather than a reference text. It has lots of code examples, is good when it comes to discussing cross-browser support, has some discussion of CSS3, as well as CSS3 examples, showing new CSS3 features, and CSS3 equivalents to tried and tested CSS2 techniques.
The book starts off with a discussion of CSS and its basics. Then we immediately delve deeper into the use of it – visual formatting with CSS, positioning, design effects, and so on. The focus is more on design issues than with the coding itself. Chapters 6 and 7 focus on efficient layouts.
The book is good at conveying best practice concepts in CSS design, as well as solutions to some tricky problems in CSS (two chapters are devoted to this). The section on dealing with browser bugs is very good.
This is not a book for beginners. It is more advanced and more design oriented. There are lots of discussions of fairly advanced techniques, which makes the book useful for more experienced designers. I would say it is an intermediate level book.
One problem with this book needs to be mentioned: It has a lot of typos and errors. The list of errors (available online) is now more than 11 pages long. If you can live with that – personally I don’t much like books with typos and errors – then this is a good book to learn from.
and amazon UK
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Cascading Style Sheets – The Definitive Guide, by Eric A. Meyer
Eric A. Meyer is a well-known and much respected expert on the subject of CSS. In this book he uses his trademark wit and humor to explore all the properties of CSS. The book covers CSS2 and CSS2.1, as well 
I really enjoyed this book. It is very solid and an excellent reference for anything CSS. But it is presented in a precise and concise manner with a huge smile. Eric Meyer seems to have enjoyed writing the book. And that actually makes the book more intesting. The examples – of which there are many – are sometimes funny, and his comments interesting.
Don’t get me wrong – this is a great reference book. And all reference books are to some extent boring – because they cover so much, and always deal with a lot you already know. And this book does all that. But Meyer shows that it is possible to liven up even boring books a little here and there.
CSS: The Definitive Guide details the ins and outs of the CSS specification. It has numerous easy to follow examples. The illustrations are invaluable as they allow you to easily compare the markup, the applied style sheets, and the results. It is very comprehensive and virtually leaves no stone unturned.
If you want to learn more about the newer versions of CSS or you want to have a few really good in-depth reference books on CSS around, then this is a book I strongly recommend. One of the top books on CSS. Really a Definite Guide!
PHP Objects, Patterns, and Practice (Second Edition), by Matt Zandstra
Matt Zandstra is a Web programmer, works for Yahoo! in London, and has also been a writer for a decade. He knows his subject well and he is a good teacher and writer. Object oriented programming is one of his big interests.
PHP Objects, Patterns, and Practice, Second Edition is for 
This book deals with issues like working with static methods and properties, abstract classes, interfaces, design patterns, exception handling, and more. You’ll also be exposed to key tools such as PEAR, CVS, Phing, and phpDocumentor and more. The emphasis is on:
- Writing solid, maintainable code by embracing object–oriented techniques and design patterns.
- Creating detailed, versatile documentation using the powerful phpDocumentor automated documentation system.
- Gaining new flexibility during the development process by managing your code within a CVS repository and using the Phing build system.
- Capitalizing upon the quality code of others by using the PEAR package management solution.
I like PHP Objects, Patterns, and Practice a lot. It is a great reference on techniques and showed a lot of correct and efficient ways of doing some things I needed to get done. And I would think most PHP programmers and developers that want to embrace sound, scalable development techniques such as object–orientation, design patterns, testing, and documentation will find this book interesting and benefit from it.
Bulletproof Web Design: Improving flexibility and protecting against worst-case scenarios with XHTML and CSS (2nd Edition), by Dan Cederholm
Dan Cederholm is one of the smartest minds in CSS and HTML. He is internationally known as a deep and innovative coder. He has been working on real-world sites for no-nonsense businesses like Google, ESPN, and Fast Company, Inc. He embraces flexible, adaptable design using 
In this book Cederholm examines a number of the real world challenges that Web designs are exposed to, and seeks to show how designs can be coded using CSS so that they become “bulletproof”.
And Bulletproof Web Design does an incredible job of teaching that – step-by-step, by showing you how to make your website `Bulletproof.’ Cederholm introduces the book by defining what it means to have a bulletproof website. He uses the example of a police officer wearing a bulletproof vest. No, it is not 100% protection against a bullet – but it decreases the chances and gives extra protection. When applied to a website, this means that your website can handle the `bullets’ being thrown at it. These are things like text resizing, use of assistive devices, no CSS, no images, and a few other examples.
This is a wonderful book, where Cederholm deals with coding and design problems all the way from multi-column layouts that stay crispy in milk, to maintaining fine control of web fonts and sizes without alienating users. I have just finished reading it, and I liked it a lot. It is very useful and practically oriented. Just about every problem a modern web designer faces is examined, with solutions ranging from good to better to best.
Cederholm’s point is that no matter how visually appealing or content-packed a Web site may be; if it’s not adaptable to a variety of situations and reaching the widest possible audience, it isn’t really succeeding. So he outlines standards-based strategies for building designs that provide flexibility, readability, and user control – key components of every successful site. Each chapter starts out with an example of a good looking, great site – that employs a traditional HTML-based approach and is not bulletproof. Then Dan then deconstructs it, pointing out its limitations. He then gives the site a make-over using XHTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), so you can see how to replace bloated code with lean markup and CSS for fast-loading sites that are accessible to all users.
Finally, in the last part of the book, he covers several popular fluid and elastic-width layout techniques and pieces together all of the page components discussed in prior chapters into a single-page template.
Bulletproof Web Design is a nice, useful reference as well as a great source for inspiration.
Hidden marketing in Wordpress plugins – Wordpress should clean up their act
I am getting increasingly annoyed by Wordpress plugins that pretend to be free, but that in reality are commercial. Is Wordpress really going to permit that kind of hidden marketing on their sites and via their blogs? Do they get paid for it? Are they unable to distinguish between free plugins and commercial products?
In many countries around the world, for instance in the Scandinavian countries, one of which I come from, some of the types of marketing used here are actually illegal. Does Wordpress want to permit marketing that is illegal in some of the markets they apply to, and which are very borderline even in the US and the UK?
Look for instance at “All in one SEO” and “WP Ajax Edit Comments” plugins. One pushes you to look at their offerings every time you upgrade, the other one forces you to register on their site and promotes a “professional version” there.
In my opinion these and similar plugins should be banned from marketing via the Wordpress channels, or at the very least be marked clearly as “for pay” or “commercial products” or something of this kind. I am strongly against marketing where things are presented as free which when they are not!
Please nuke the owner of spe.atdmt.com
I don’t quite know what “spe.atdmt.com” is. I think it is an adserver of some sort. I don’t know who owns it (if you are the owner or works in the company or a company running it – please report to me), but I intend to find out.
This adserver is completely mucking up my internet use. Time after time I see my machine not moving on to the next site I have clicked because it is waiting for “spe.atdmt.com”.
And recently I was completely unable to go back to the previous page while surfing on amazon.com. I read about a particular book and wanted to go back. Several times I was unable to do it, and had to first reload the page I was on and the quickly press back, and then it worked. But then, in the end, even this little trick stopped working, and I had to leave amazon entirely.
So nuke the bastards that slow down my browsing and probabaly that of millions of other people. I hope Amazon, Google and other corporations do something about this – this can’t be in their interest either.
spe.atdmt.com – you suck! Big time!
PS: There are hundreds of people complaining about spe.atdmt.com on the net. robtex.com has a little info about it:
Summary
spe.atdmt.com.edgesuite.net has two IP numbers. They are on the same IP network. spe.atdmt.com cnames to this hostname. This hostname cnames to a1521.x.akamai.net. fr.bebo.com, blogs.abc.es, www.bebo.com, www.esri.com, rmd.atdmt.com and at least 100 other hosts point to the same IP. spe.atdmt.com.edgesuite.net is hosted on two servers in United States.
The Art of SEO (Theory in Practice), by Eric Enge, Stephan Spencer, Rand Fishkin, Jessie Stricchiola
This is a newly published book about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which brings you state-of-the-art knowledge and
The Art of SEO (Theory in Practice) is written by four of the most noted experts in the field of search engine optimization (SEO). Here they provide you with proven guidelines and cutting-edge techniques for planning and executing a comprehensive SEO strategy.
There are many misconceptions and misunderstanding about SEO, and the authors know and tell a lot about those too, along with the fundamentals of good SEO. The book actually more or less gives you an education in SEO. It also addresses effectively working SEO tactics and provides you with a complete reference to SEO best practices. Some topics addressed in The Art of SEO are:
- Explore the underlying theory behind SEO and how search engines work
- Learn the steps you need to prepare for, execute, and evaluate SEO initiatives
- Examine a number of advanced strategies and tactics
- Understand the intricacies involved in managing complex SEO projects
- Learn what’s necessary to build a competent SEO team with defined roles
- Glimpse the future of search and what lies ahead for the SEO industry
Here is the chapter by chapter content of the book:
Ch 1: The Search Engines: Reflecting Consciousness and Connecting Commerce
Ch 2: Search Engine Basics
Ch 3: Determining Your SEO Objectives and Defining Your Site’s Audience
Ch 4: First Stages of SEO
Ch 5: Keyword Research
Ch 6: Developing an SEO-Friendly Website
Ch 7: Creating Link-Worthy Content and Link Marketing
Ch 8: Optimizing for Vertical Search
Ch 9: Tracking Results and Measuring Success
Ch 10: Domain Changes, Post-SEO Redesigns, and Troubleshooting
Ch 11: Honing the Craft: SEO Research and Study
Ch 12: Build an In-House SEO Team, Outsource It, or Both?
Ch 13: An Evolving Art Form: The Future of SEO
If you want to learn more about SEO, this is one of the best books for it. No major topic has been left out. SEO has so many components, and this book helps you see how they come together in bringing traffic to your site. A great investment!
, and 
.Landing Page Optimization, by Tim Ash
Landing pages are pages designed specifically to make people land on your site – mostly from search results pages. But getting them there – creating a page with good SEO 
that makes your page and your site visible to the search engines is only half the job. Once they arrive, the page must also be good enough and interesting enough to make them want to stay a little, and perhaps even visit other pages on your site.
Tim Ash’s book teaches you some basic skills to achieve this. As a matter of fact, it is one of the better guides around that gives a step-by-step, comprehensive guide that imparets to you the skills necessary to improve your bottom line. And, for most of us, that’s something that matters a little, isn’t it?
So this neat guide teaches you to identify mission critical parts of your website and their true economic value, to define visitor classes and key conversion tasks, how to gain an understanding on customer decision-making, and other related tasks. It tells you about some common pitfalls – ones that I certainly have been unaware of – and how to awoid them. The book also includes a companion website and a detailed review of the Google Website Optimizer tool.
That’s a lot of crucially important information in a little package for people concerned about making visitors come, turnings visitors into customers, and improving the bottom line!
.Search Engine Optimization All-in-one Desk Reference for Dummies, by Bruce Clay and Susan Esparza
If you want your Web site to show up quickly when people search, Search Engine Optimization All–in–One For Dummies has the whole story on how to build a site
The book has chapters covering how search engines work, keyword strategy, competitive positioning, SEO Web design, content creation, linking, optimizing the foundations, analyzing results, international SEO, and search marketing. It even gives you some ok information about geeky things like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, so that you can improve you ability to match metatags and keywords to page content.
- How search engines work and which ones offer the best exposure
- How to develop a keyword strategy and be competitive
- Designing an SEO–friendly site
- How to line up relevant links for better search showing
- How to get more from your server and CMS
- How to measure your success
- How to globalize your success
- Using SEO to build your brand
A good alternative to this book, equally good, is Search Engine Optimization For Dummies
, amazon US
, amazon CA
, and Suchmaschinen-Optimierung für Dummies (Fur Dummies)
.CSS: The Missing Manual, by David McFarland
This is a CSS-bible you will probably sooner or later need. You may as well get it now! It has 500 pages of CSS help, with more than 100 pages of 
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is here to stay. But CSS isn’t just a tool to pretty up your site; it’s a reliable method for handling all kinds of presentational issues on your site: from fonts and colors to page layout. CSS: The Missing Manual explains this powerful design language in a clear, logical, easy to grasp manner, and shows how you can use it to build sparklingly new Web sites or refurbish old sites that are ready for an upgrade.
Author David McFarland (who is also the bestselling author of O’Reilly’s Dreamweaver CS4: The Missing Manual
- Create HTML that’s simpler and is search-engine friendly
- Turn HTML links into complex and attractive navigation bars
- Style images to create effective photo galleries and special effects
- Make HTML forms look great
- Overcome browser bugs
- Create complex layouts using CSS
A wonderful book, and a great reference manual!
Nordic bookblog- The Devil’s Star, by Jo Nesbo
- Postcard Killers, by James Patterson and Liza Marklund
- Lisbeth Salander – The Dragon Tattoo Girl – Coming soon to a theater near you!
- The Stonecutter, by Camilla Läckberg
- Henning Mankell, Kurt Wallander and Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo
- Yrsa Sigurdardottir – about My Soul To Take
- Stieg Larsson hot on the bestseller lists in the US
- Coming attractions – new crime fiction authors from Sweden
- Bestselling authors in Europe, 2009
- Who wrote the Millennium trilogy?