This is a snippet of what is inside the blog design gallery here and what is to come. In the future, the gallery will feature not only more great blog designs, but blog design elements as well. Enjoy!

1. 5Thirtyone

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1. Weblog Usability - Top Ten Design Mistakes

Jakob Nielsen gives us the run down of the top 10 blog design mistakes. When Jakob talks, I listen… sometimes. I can’t help it, he has a lot to say. But his breakdown of the top 10 design mistakes is quick to the point so give it a read.

2. 13 Blog Cliches

Cliches suck, here are 13 of them for blogs. Yes, the calendar is one of them! Get rid of them please, they clutter blog designs and serve no real purpose.

3. 10 Principles of effective web design

Smashing Magazine does an excellent job of breaking down 10 important principles when it comes to web design, which also applies to blog design. Go read and learn.
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Anyone who has spent any amount of time on the internet will quickly come to the realization that it is full of spam, people wanting to sell you something, and just downright bad information. In all that junk though, there are gold nuggets of information that can help you become better or solve a problem you have. In order for you to separate the best resources from the bad ones, you would have to get waist deep into that stuff to sort it out. Or you could just rely on lists.

The problem with relying on lists

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When I get passionate about a topic, I tend to search for the best material I can find on it in order to expand my knowledge further. Web design is no exception and this list represents the books I have found to be very useful. These are all books that I have actually read and most of which are sitting on my bookshelf right now. This list is a follow up to my article “Buy, Borrow, or Steal the Best Books to Get Ahead.”

The links lead to the book’s amazon page and they have my associate id attached to them. Because I don’t have ads on this site I have to ask that if you like this list and decide to buy a book from amazon, please use my links as it would be helpful in paying for my coffee, book addiction, and future contests. Enjoy!

Typography

1. The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst

This is one of those books a lot of people with a background in graphics design loves. I think the language is way too exaggerated for a person without a graphics design background. I only include it in this list, because some of you might find that you like it since it has withstood the test of times, but I don’t recommend it for your first book on typography. Richard Rutter at webtypography.net took the elements in this book and applied it to the web very well. The site is a must read.

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• 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
• 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
• 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
• 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
• 57 percent of new books are not read to completion. (1)

Of those who did read books, most read fiction strictly for pleasure. And the #1 selling book genre is “Romance,” which was read by 64.6 million Americans in 2005. (2)

Books + Online Resources > Online Resources

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