Aarron Walter

To celebrate the release of my new book Building Findable Websites: Web Standards SEO and Beyond, I’m giving away an autographed copy to one lucky winner.

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At SXSW last year I met Michael Nolan - senior acquisitions editor for Peachpit Press - and pitched him my idea for the book Building Findable Websites. Almost one year later the book is in print and on its way to a bookstore near you. (more…)

As I have been wrapping up the final chapters of the book, some really kind support has been coming in from some folks I hold in high esteem. When conceptualizing Building Findable Web Sites: Web Standards SEO and Beyond I had hoped to create a natural continuation of Peter Morville’s Ambient Findability and Jeffrey Zeldman’s Designing With Web Standards with plenty of practical, real-world-ready examples to illustrate what it takes to make web sites more findable using web standards best practices. (more…)

As I’ve mentioned previously on this blog, I’m currently working on a book to be published by New Riders called Building Findable Web Sites: Web Standards SEO and Beyond. I’ve been teaching a course at The Art Institute of Atlanta called Findability, which teaches students practical solutions for creating findable web content that draws in viewers, and encourages repeat traffic. While researching and developing the course I realized that most of the conversation around the topic is either very theory focused with little practical advice or very SEO/marketing focused appealing to business-minded readers with little knowledge of the way web sites are planned and built. (more…)

Although I have compiled a bookshelf of web design and development references, a short list of the essentials might be useful to the web designer on a budget. If I had to choose just a few, here are the books I’d place on my shelf for quick reference:

• The Elements of Typographic Style (alternatively, go with Ellen Lupton’s Thinking with Type if you are new to the subject)
• Universal Principles of Design
• Bulletproof Web Design
• Designing with Web Standards (2nd Edition)
• DOM Scripting
• Designing Interfaces
• Don’t Make Me Think or The Design of Everyday Things
• The PHP Anthology: Object Oriented PHP Solution, Volume 1
• AIGA Professional Practices in Graphic Design
• Information Architecture for the World Wide Web

With this little library, you’ll be able to plan, design, and build a professional web site from start to finish. The basic principles of design, typography, interaction design, Information Architecture, Usability, Web Standards development, and operating as a freelancer are covered in detail in these books. Anything more you might need to know can probably be found online for free.