Matt Heerema

My Winter Reading List

I have a shelf that contains my physical “to read” pile. I also have a proverbial “to read” list that contains books I may or may not own yet. This shelf has been quite packed all year though I am making good progress.

I came to the realization today that I have 10 books on my “to read immediately” list. The set of books which, after I finish one, I have a hard time picking from to be my next read. I was asked to share this list, so here it is.

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Phil Coffman Reviews Foundation Fireworks CS4

Phil Coffman, a great designer and Photoshop master, kindly reviewed our book over at his blog a few days ago.

Thanks for the honesty, objectivity, and kind words.

So I wrote a book…

Well, co-wrote. That’s a different animal.

I’m pretty excited about Foundation Fireworks CS4 by Grant Hinkson, Craig Erskine, Chuck Mallott, Matthew Keefe, Hugh Griffith, and Myself.

I have been using Fireworks my entire career as a Web designer. It is by far my design tool of choice. I’ve followed it from it’s earliest versions through nearly every major revision and currently love CS4. Foundation Fireworks CS4 was written with the intention of helping those unfamiliar with the software to become acquainted with the workflow and breadth of features available in the software. It is an excellent guide if you are familiar with Photoshop and are considering moving over.

HTML Mastery – Semantics, Standards and Styling by Paul Haine

The Internet is awash with great Web design books these days. The one I’ve become aware of most recently is HTML Mastery – Semantics, Standards and Styling by Paul Haine, the follow up to CSS Mastery.

it’s aimed at web designers and developers who have already mastered the basics of HTML and web design, but want to take their markup further, making it leaner and more semantically rich, for a more efficient, more usable/accessible web site.

Bulletproof Web Design

Bulletproof Web Design by Dan Cedarholm

Cedarholm’s book Web Standards Solutions has become a primer text of sorts in our office for anyone who does Web design. This one is just as excellent.