Readings on Usability (10 September 2009)
- "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"
- Lane Becker's 90% of All Usability Testing is Useless
- 37 Signals: The Long Road to Simple
Readings on UNIX Basics (17 September 2009)
Readings on Unix Paths and Permissions
- RIT's "Digital Unix Paths" document
- "Enough Unix for Your Resume: Permissions", from Webmonkey
- Chapter 3 - Working with Files and Directories from UNIX: The Complete Reference, Second Edition
Readings for Basic HTML I (22 September 2009)
- Chapters 1-8 of HTML, XHTML, and CSS Bible, Fourth Edition by Steven M. Schafer (available via RIT's subscription to Books 24x7 on the library website).
Readings on CSS Positioning ( 6 October 2009)
- David Siegel: The Web Is Ruined and I Ruined It
- Bill Merikallio: Why Tables for Layout is Stupid
- Brainjar: CSS Positioning
- Relatively Absolute @ The Autistic Cuckoo - a very clear explanation of the difference between relative and absolute positioning, as well as the default (static) positioning and use of float properties.
- a list apart: In Search of the Holy Grail
- a list apart: CSS Design: Going to Print
Readings on Visual Design ( 8 October 2009)
- Boxes & Arrows: Visible Narratives: Understanding Visual Organization
- Web Page Design for Designers: Taming the Electronic Page
Useful color tools:
Readings on HTML Forms (15 October 2009)
- W3Schools HTML Forms and Input
- Simon Willison's Simple Tricks for More Usable Forms
- The Man in Blue's Accessible, Stylish Form Layout
- Enhancing Forms - Unobtrusive Javascript
Readings on DOM and Basic Javascript (20 October 2009)
- Thau's JavaScript Tutorial, Lessons 1-3
- Brainjar Introduction to the DOM (try some of the examples on your own pages)
Reference Sources:
Readings for Javascript Libraries (27 October 2009)
There are lots of great sites on javascript, both tutorials and repositories.
I've collected a number of useful links at http://del.icio.us/mamamusings/javascript/.
In particular, take a look at:
- Unobtrusive Javascript
- Brainjar's Revenge of the Menu Bar
Readings on Web 2.0 and AJAX (29 October 2009)
- AJAX: A New Approach to Web Applications (this is the article that started it all)
- Executive Brief on AJAX (a PDF, suitable for non-techie types)
- Unlocking the Promise of Web 2.0
- Web 2.0: Principles and Best Practices (PDF can be found in MyCourses)
- Time's Person of the Year: You
- AJAX UI frameworks: Script.aculo.us and Yahoo! UI
- Cheatsheet for Scriptaculous Effects
- Introduction to Scriptaculous Effects
- Scriptaculous Slider Demos
- Yahoo! Design Patterns Library
Readings on Web Server Operation ( 3 November 2009)
- 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?
Readings for Basic PHP (10 November 2009)
- PHP Pocket Reference
- PHP Basic Syntax (from Builder.com)
- Webmonkye's PHP From the Ground Up (PHP3 compatible)
