"Web Design in a NutShell - A Desktop Quick Reference"

This book is an excellent summary of information needed by all web designers, beginning and advanced. You will find me recommending a number of books from O'Reilly and Associates ... for good reason, they are simply the best overall series of technical reference books available.

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"HTML & XHTML - The Definitive Guide"

The O'Reilly series of books is the best overall value we have found for information accuracy and clarity of presentation. This is the updated version of the original "Definitive Guide" on HTML which now includes XHTML. If you can only buy one book, this should be the one.

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"HTML for Dummies"

OK ... before you start laughing too hard, this is a good starting point for those who need to get the basics without a presumption of technical knowledge by the author. I have never been fond of the "Dummies" classification of a book's readers but this series is popular because of their content and presentation. If you need a primer, the cost is very reasonable for the benefits to be obtained by starting here.

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Dreamweaver

This program from Macromedia remains highly recommended for its capabilities and flexibility. It is not a beginner's tool BUT a beginner that takes the time to work with Dreamweaver by starting with the basics first will be well ahead of the game down the road. There are many features that assist with shared authoring (even Mac and PC users working on the same site) and Javascript coding for the standard rollovers and much more. To the claim by many "web pros" that the only way to be a real web designer is to hand code the pages I reply ... blow it out your nose ring. You cannot beat a decent visual editor to help layout complex pages and make a statement. And most important, the Internet is a publishing medium for everyone, not just the elite with special programming skills. The use of a good visual editor improves the overall quality of the work on the Internet. And Dreamweaver has a decent text editor built in so you can learn why and how the work you do in the visual editor works!

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BBEdit

This is the best text editor made by anyone for any computer! Sorry PC users, this is one thing that Mac users have over you. Thanks you Bare Bones Software for making software that "still doesn't suck!". In fact, this is likely the most useful software I own and would never think of letting an upgrade slip past without buying it. This is not limited to writing code or fixing code that a visual editor (yes, even Dreamweaver) hasn't done it the way you want it, this text editor can do so many things. Just as one example ... ever copied information from a website, maybe table based data, and found lots of spaces and strange line breaks when you pasted it into your word processor? I use the great find and replace tools in BBEdit to fix virtually any mess that text can get in to. Even preparing data to go into a spreadsheet or a database ... BBEdit just plain kick's ass!

Quick note: this is a text editor, not a word processor! It is not for writing fancy letters with formatted text, it is for working with text and writing code.

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Photoshop

I wouldn't waste your time telling you about Photoshop if I weren't afraid (by experience) that some people would try to get away without having decent image software. Maybe think they can make great images with PaintShop pro ... I don't think so! This is the de facto standard for producing and enhancing bitmap images so if you plan to be forcing us to look at your stuff on the web, please drop the bucks and learn how to do it properly! I don't care how many years you have worked with this application, there are always new techniques to learn. It isn't a piece of cake to learn from scratch but it is still the best there is.

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Flash

This is a very challenging piece of software for someone new to motion graphics and timeline based animation, not to mention interactive rich media production. But this is the standard for interactive media on the Internet. The new version, MX (let's call it version 6 OK) has been improved considerably to make it much more effective for designers and it is a recommended upgrade for design-based users of version 5.

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