Here is a list of books I have read in my commuting trips and free time:

Stunning CSS3 by Zoe Mickley Gillenwater covers new CSS features, such as gradient, transition, rounded borders, through project-based demonstration. The last two chapters, “Different Screen Size, Different Design” and “Flexing Your Layout Muscles,” are particularly useful for those who would like to learn responsive web design.

HTML5: Up and Running by Mark Pilgrim is a short and concise read that gets you up and running with new markups in no time. Pilgrim’s Dive Into HTML5 is also a great resource.

Pro HTML5 Programming by Peter Lubbers, Brian Albers, Frank Salim takes you beyond the basic HTML5 markups and shows you the power of APIs including WebSockets, Geolocation and Web Storage, to create robust web applications.

Now that GW has announced the move toward Drupal as the University’s CMS, I am starting to read up on the open source system to get a feel for it. I installed Drupal 6 in the past and played around with it, but didn’t get very far because I didn’t have a real project to work with. I actually want to read up on Drupal 7, but haven’t founs a good book yet since the latest version came out not too long ago. Using Drupal by Angela Byron et al. published three years ago, but it is still a good read to see what you can do with Drupal without programming skills. Using existing modules and themes alone could get you up and running complex sites like job posting board, product reviews and Wiki.

For front-end developers and designers, Front End Drupal by Emma Hogbin Konstantin Kafer is very informative in learning how to customize the look and feel of Drupal. The thing to note about Drupal is that upgrading from version 6 to 7 is not as easy as clicking a button like WordPress, one of the features I live about WordPress. Themes are specific for each version.

Create Stunning HTML Email That Just Works by Mathew Patterson is what I needed when I had to create some HTML email templates for the School of Business. I have to admit that designing an HTML email was quite a challenge. In fact, I was struggling with it. I had to forget everything I have learned about HTML and CSS for the past ten years in order to make the design looked correct in mail applications. Patterson sounds convincing about the opportunities for web designers as he points out, “email is a low-cost, high-return medium that appeals to businesses.” I had clients who requested HTML newsletter design and I hesitated to take on. It’s really a pain, but I am changing my mind after reading this book.

Giles Colborne’s Simple and Usable is irresistible, specially for a minimalist like myself. Colborne argues, “When something is simple, it looks effortless.” He gives examples of Flip video camera and Apple products and explains how simple user experience makes them stand out.

After setting out a vision for why we should design for mainstreamers rather than expert customers, Colborne lays out four key strategies for simplicity: remove, organize, hide and displace. He uses a DVD remote control to illustrate how an over-complicated gadget could be simplified as he points out, “The secret to creating a simple user experience is to shift complexity into the right place, so that each moment feels simple.”

For anyone who looks into creating user-focused experiences for web, mobile and interactive platforms, Simple and Usable is a must read.

In retrospect, I have spent more than a decade building my online portfolio. Visualgui.com has evolved over the years, but the primary goal remains the same: to showcase my work. This site played an important role in my career and landed 95% of my client projects. For web designers, an online portfolio is a requirement. For beginners, creating an online presence could be a daunting task. If you’re in that situation and don’t know where to begin, Ian Clazie’s Creating Your Digital Portfolio is for you. With practical tips and professional examples, this book is an invaluable guide for creating an effective online portfolio. In addition to the book’s advice on the visual design, I strongly recommend that you pay attention to the codes as well. Particularly for web designers, clean, well-structured markups under the hood are as important as the striking display.

Any CSS book written by Eric Meyer is worth a read. Smashing CSS is no exception. Meyer’s expertise in CSS and clear explanation help clear up technical obscure of CSS selectors like specificity, the order of multiple classes, ID vs. class, outline vs. borders and substring attribute selection. Smashing CSS is not for beginners. Most of the tips assumed that readers are already familiar with CSS and HTML.

With the growing popularity of CSS3, I am a bit surprised that Meyer still covers techniques like CSS Sprites, Sliding Doors, Complexspiral, Pre-CSS3 Rounded Corners, Faux Columns and One True Layout. I was hoping that he would delve more into the new CSS3 techniques. Nevertheless, I have learned things that I haven’t realized before like ideas for using attribute selectors to style types of links.

With deep knowledge and a light sense of humor, Bruce Lawson and Remy Sharp have done an excellent job of Introducing HTML5. To help readers understand how to apply the new structures, the authors use real case studies such as The Guardian newspaper and a WordPress comment form. In addition, the book delves into web development including data storage, offline web applications, drag and drop and geolocation API. Introducing HTML5 is a solid guide for making intelligent, accessible web sites using the new language.

Kristofer Layon’s The Web Designer’s Guide to iOS Apps is an informative intro to create an app with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript using NimbleKit, the Objective-C framework. From installing the iOS SDK to creating contents to marketing and distributing your app, Layon demonstrates how web designers could pull together an app without knowing how to program. While the book helps readers get started, it doesn’t take them further than creating a simple web page for an app. I was expecting something more dynamic like how to pull in an RSS feed or hook up an API.

Released in July last year, Matthew David’s HTML5: Designing Rich Internet Applications seems to be rushed to catch the new HTML5 wave. The contents are poorly edited. The sample codes are inconsistent and choked full of obvious errors. The author goes as far as using inline CSS to float elements rather than calling external file or in the page header. This method of coding reminds me of workarounds I have to do inside a CMS, which is not fun at all.

If you’re interested in learning HTML5, Jeremy Keith’s HTML5 for Web Designers is still highly recommended. It’s a concise read, but I return to it again and again. If you want more details with broader topics including HTML5, CSS3, DOM, Microformats and best practices, John Allsopp’s Developing with Web Standards is still an indispensable read.

With over 400 type specimens and diagrams, Designing Type examines each letter in great details. From serif to san serif and from capital to lower case, Karen Cheng discusses the nuances and the characteristics in a font. Her technical knowledge on typography makes this book an indispensable read. Designing Type requires tremendous patience and many re-reads, but without a doubt a must-have text for anyone who is interested in type design.

If I were to teach web design, Brian Miller’s Above the Fold: Understanding the Principles of Successful Web Site Design would be my choice for textbook. You won’t learn HTML5, CSS3 or jQuery in this book, but you’ll learn about whitespace, grid, typography and design elements for the web. Miller also provides great screenshots of web sites to illustrate his points. For instance, Apple’s homepage is a perfect example of showcasing products above the fold, which according to Jakob Nielson is where users spend 80% of their time looking for information.

Unlike his previous Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, which was all over the place, Thord Daniel Hedengren’s Smashing WordPress Themes: Making WordPress Beautiful focuses mainly on theme development.

To help readers understand how theming works, Hedengren deconstructs WordPress’s default Twenty Ten. He then explains the concept of child theme and how quickly one can build his own based on a parent theme or a framework. The selling point of this book is obviously how to build one’s own theme and Hedengren has done a great job of walking readers through three different sites: semi-static (for small, corporation site), media (for portfolio site) and magazine. He also covers briefly on BuddyPress, a plugin that adds social-networking features to WordPress-powered site.

Because of its flexibility and easy-to-use admin interface, WordPress is a perfect tool for clients who would like to update contents themselves. Smashing WordPress Themes is an excellent guide for web designers who would like to build sites using WordPress as a content management system.