Resources

People

Over the years I've worked in web publishing, there are a number of writers and developers whose work and opinions I've grown to respect. I don't always agree with them, but they always give me something to think about.

• Gerry McGovern was the first writer to bring home to me that running a website—particularly a business website—is a publishing task. Content must be developed, edited and organised is the way which makes most sense to your customers. Once published, it must be maintained: an editorial function which is too often assigned to people with design or development skills.
• Jakob Neilsen is perhaps the best-known usability expert in the world. He sets a benchmark for others by carrying out well-designed, credible studies of large numbers of websites so that the rest of us don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. Perhaps my favourite quote: ‘Expensive though they may be, editors are always worth the cost.’ (10 High-Profit Redesign Priorities, Alertbox March 12, 2007)
• But you don't need a usability lab with one-way glass and eye-tracking software to carry out usability testing. Steve Krug's book Don't make me think! describes how to carry out effective tests with no more than two people and a computer (a video camera is handy, but not essential) plus a handful of representative users.
• Roger Johansson is a Swedish web professional with particular interests in standards and universal accessibility. His site is one I go to when I need to check whether particular code choices will create barriers for potential visitors.

Places

• css Zen Garden is a site I visit for inspiration, and one I recommend to anyone who suggests that standards-compliant design has to be boring. It is home to a huge range of beautiful (and crazy) creative designs all based on a single HTML file.
• A list apart is on online magazine with articles on a wide range of topics ranging from web standards (coding languages) through typography and visual contrast to navigation and information design.
• Another online magazine, Boxes and arrows, has a particular focus on information architecture, which is the art of dividing up and labelling information so that people can find it. It's closer to editing than you might think!
• The Guild of Accessible Web Designers is a group of people and organisations committed to practising and promoting accessible design.

• Content
• Structure
• Standards