10 Best Web Design Books Ever Written

Web design books are the greatest resource for anyone seeking to learn web design or further develop their skills. It’s more detailed, and it’s cheaper than taking specialist web design courses. But trying to get good web design books might be a bit difficult, given that there are about 33,000 web design books on Amazon alone. We’ve taken the liberty of doing all the work for you by going through and reviewing tons of web design books, to compile this list of the absolute best web design books ever written. 

From the classics that hold core web designing principles and rules to the new books which hold practical value in today’s workplace, we’ve made sure to cover all bases to make sure only the best website designing books are put on this list. Ready? Let’s get down to brass tacks. 

Don’t Make Me Think – Steve Krug

Some authors outsource their books to essay writers, but when it comes to technical books, it’s always better when it’s written by someone who has an in-depth knowledge of what they’re talking about. This is one of those books where it’s apparent that the author knows what they’re talking about. An incredibly succinct and educative book, this book focuses on UX(user experience) and how to make websites user-friendly for visitors. Steve Krug focuses more on the interaction between humans and computers, and how to tweak your site to improve usability and make it more welcoming and easier to use for visitors. It’s packed with useful tips and tricks and is an invaluable resource for website design for beginners.

Steal Like An Artist – Austin Kleon

A very short but power-packed book, this book deals with creativity and how to get your creative juices going when designing. It brings a new theory of creativity that has absolutely nothing to do with originality. Austin Kleon talks about how modern-day creativity doesn’t necessarily mean making brand new ideas, but bringing other people’s ideas together and mixing it up till you come up with something satisfying. It’s a book for everyone on the web designer tier, from pros to beginners.

JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development – Jon Duckett

If you’re just learning webdesign, this book is definitely for you. The only blot on it is that it does not come with practical exercises. It’s not a deal breaker though, as you can always get resources to practice elsewhere. However, the imagery and work the author put in makes it one of the very best web design books ever written. The author himself is renowned in the industry and is a guru in frontend development. It’s a good book for intermediate level web designers, but pros might be bored because this book breaks things down quite simply to make it super understandable, and they might not be comfortable with the slow pace. 

Html And Css: Design And Build Websites – Jon Duckett

Jon Duckett appears on this list again, firmly stamping his status as a web design guru with yet another in-depth book. He has written many website designing books but this book is considered by many as his best. It’s useful to people of all skill levels, but it is – and this cannot be stressed enough – absolutely essential to beginners. The only drawback to this book is it was written when HTML5 was still in development, and so it doesn’t exactly cover every single part of it. However, it covers the core areas of HTML5 decently and is invaluable to web designers.

Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click? – Susan Weinschenk

This book is a refreshing take on web design. It approaches the subject from a copywriting point of view, to enhance the productivity of a website. It takes a peek into the mind of the website visitor, and the things they see that they like. A lot of pro web designers love this book because the results of implementing the ideas here have a direct effect on their site conversions.

Javascript: The Definitive Guide: Activate Your Web Pages – David Flanagan

Arguably one of the greatest web design books, this book was written in 2011, and it goes into great detail in explaining the secrets of javascript and ES5. It explains the fundamentals and builds the foundation, and  the fact that it was written by a very good writer is a huge plus. The only drawback is that it may be a little outdated in 2020.

Web Design Playground: Html & Css The Interactive Way

This is one of the best web design books in 2020 and is hailed as the best modern web design book. It starts from the basics and teaches up to advanced levels. It’s interesting, interactive, and it carries you along from start to finish. It has a 4.4 rating on Amazon and is recommended as one of the best resources for website design for beginners, pros, and everyone in between.

Learning Php, Mysql & Javascript: 5 With Jquery, Css & Html5

This book is for people who already have a grip on programming languages. In essence, it’s not exactly for beginners. It’s a great resource that strengthens your knowledge and web design skills and enables you to build and design future proof websites.

Responsive Web Design (Brief Books For People Who Make Websites) – Ethan Marcotte

This book is also not for beginners. In the ever-changing world of web design, this book helps readers build a responsive website that can keep up with the changes around us. The principles in this book have helped developers design reactive applications across web and mobile. 

Css: The Missing Manual – David Sawyer Mcfarland

To put it simply, this book was written with the average person in mind. It combines quality, with clarity and simplicity alongside easy-to-understand examples to produce one of the greatest web design books ever written. 

Conclusion

The beauty of these books is that the principle written in them rings true and will last forever. Web design might be a difficult nut to crack but these books succinctly explain it in a way that everyone can understand, even if you’ve never touched code before. These put together, are the best web design books ever written. 

 James Baxter is professional writer and blogger, who loves sharing his experience and knowledge with readers. He is especially interested in marketing, blogging and IT. James is always happy to visit different places and meet new people there.