I recently finished reading the book, Designing Interfaces by Jenifer Tidwell. This is hands down one of the best books I’ve ever picked up. The book has come in handy more than once, both at home and work.

If you design any type of software or application, this book will have something for you. The book is well written and makes use of great screenshots as examples of some of the best designed applications out there. The book does a great job of presenting the when’s, why’s and how’s of using interface features.

Some of the topics covered are:

• Navigation
• Page layout
• Forms
• Color, typography, and look-and-feel

Soon after picking this book up, it’ll become a valuable resource for any developer, designer, or architect.

It’s like Christmas around here when that big box from Amazon arrives. I know how I’ll be spending my weekend.

Bulletproof Web Design
Dan Cederholm

His newest book. For anyone who has read Mr. Cederholm’s first book, this is a must have in your collection.

No matter how visually appealing or packed with content your Web site is, it isn’t succeeding if it’s not reaching the widest possible audience. If you get this guide, you can be assured it will! By deconstructing a series of real-world Web sites, author and Web designer extraordinaire Dan Cederholm outlines 10 strategies for creating standards-based designs that provide flexibility, readability, and user control—key components of every successful Web site. Each chapter starts out with an example of what Dan refers to as an “unbulletproof” concept—an existing site that employs a traditional approach and its associated pitfalls. Dan then deconstructs that approach, noting its downsides and then making the site over using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

Maximum Accessibility
Making Your Web Site More Usable for Everyone
John Slatin and Sharron Rush

John Slatin and Sharron Rush lay a very strong background in understanding the need for accessibility and building your business cases. A distinctive feature of this book is a series of “User Experience Narratives” that describe what is like for a person with disabilities to use certain sites. These narratives and follow-on interactions with some of the site owners are thoroughly engaging, excellent object lessons in how to improve sites.