Readings on XHTML

• Chapters 5-8 of Designing With Web Standards (page 141-210)

Basic XHTML should have been covered in your 320 class. These chapters will provide a refresher on basic XHTML, as well as a more extensive explanation of its importance. (We'll go back and cover chapters 1-4 next week for the discussion on web standards.)

Readings on Weblogs and CMS

• Wikipedia entries on blogs, wikis, and content management systems.
• Chapter 2: The Read-Write Web (PDF) from Dan Gillmor's book We, the Media
• Blogs open doors for developers (ZDNet)
• Why Content Management Fails

Readings on Web Standards

• Part I of Designing With Web Standards (pages 1-137)
• Fix Your Site With the Right DOCTYPE
• Why We Won't Help You
• Semantic Obsolescence
• The Business Benefits of Web Standards

Optional (added late):

• Better Living Through XHTML

Readings on Typography and CSS Formatting

• Chapters 9 and 13 of Designing With Web Standards (pages 211-233 and 299-326)
• Web Page Design for Designers: Typography
• A List Apart: Typography Matters
• A List Apart: The Trouble With EM 'n EN (and Other Shady Characters)
• The Noodle Incident: Sane Text Sizing

And a how-to for CSS text properties:

• CSS Guide: CSS Properties

Readings on CSS Positioning

• Chapters 10-12 of Designing With Web Standards (pages 235-297)
• Bill Merikallio: Why Tables for Layout is Stupid
• Brainjar: CSS Positioning
• a list apart: Flexible Layouts with CSS Positioning
• Webreference.com: Advanced CSS Layouts, Step-by-Step
• The Noodle Incident: CSS Box Lessons

Readings on Visual Design

• Boxes & Arrows: Visible Narratives: Understanding Visual Organization
• Web Page Design for Designers: Taming the Electronic Page

Useful color tools:

• Man In Blue: Technicolor Tool
• Hex Color Chart: Visibone
• Colour Tools Roundup

Readings on Accessibility

• Chapter 14 from Designing With Web Standards (pages 327-360)
• Dive Into Accessibility (30 Days to a More Accessible Web Site)
• CNN Article on Web Accessibility

Readings on Usability

• "How we really use the Web," a chapter from Steve Krug's wonderful book, Don't Make Me Think!
• Jakob Nielsen's "Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003" and "Ten Most Violated Homepage Design Guidelines"
• Jeff Lash's Information Architecture is not Usability
• Lane Becker's 90% of All Usability Testing is Useless

Readings on Information Architecture

• Information Architecture is not Usability, from Digital Web Magazine
• Webmonkey's Information Architecture Tutorial
• Information Architecture the Adaptive Path Way: An Interview with Indi Young
• Web Site Architecture 101
• The Glass Wall, an internal document from a corporate web redesign project (download the 7.9MB PDF file from myCourses)

Readings on DOM and Basic Javascript

• Thau's JavaScript Tutorial, Lessons 1-3
• Chapter 15 of Designing With Web Standards (pages 361-381)

Readings and Exercises for DHTML

In class, we'll be working through the "Revenge of the Menu Bar" DHTML tutorial on BrainJar. This is one of a number of excellent tutorials on the site.

As your CSS becomes more complex, you may find this CSS Selectors guide useful. There's also this CSS Hacks page.

I've also linked to a number of DHTML and Javascript resources over on del.icio.us.

Useful Resources for Web Server Operation

• Web-Sniffer - Allows you to see HTTP request and response headers for any web page.
• Comprehensive guide to .htaccess
• WWW FAQs: What are MIME types?