My online nii-san1 , Mark, has lent me his books since he figured I may need them for my line of work. And I must say, they are indeed very very helpful.
One is Web Standards Solution by Dan Cederholm. I initially thought it will be a handy dandy markup and style reference book, but it’s also a how-to book. A handbook for a web designer indeed.
This is where I learned that you can’t escape tables, and they are still semantic. Besides, floating rows and rows of tabular data (calendars, spreadsheets, charts and schedules) with CSS is very dodgy.
The second one is another book by Dan Cederholm, Bulletproof Web Design. It gives tips and techniques on how to make a bulletproof design that will stand against accessibility, usability and browser compatibility issues, and other worst-case scenarios. Am planning to use what I have learned so far from this book to Sugoi Stuff’s redesign.
The other one is really cool. The Zen of CSS Design by Dave Shea and Molly E. Holzschlag. It is a compilation of several beautiful and usable submissions to the CSS Zen Garden project2 with notable techniques and tips on how they did it. So much eyecandy!
They are indeed very helpful to a lowly web designer such as I. And I believe, these are still very helpful for successful designers as well.Now, if there is only a cheaper alternative to buying these imported books. Until then…
Mark, can I return these books to you next year? 
- Japanese term for older brother. Why I call him that when we’re not even blood related, is a long story ↩
- It is a collaborative demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based design. You can learn more about it at their website. I’ve been wanting to create a layout to submit to them for a long time already. ↩
