Are you interested in mastering the art of web design in 2023? Here is our ultimate list of the best web design books to read this year.
Good web design is more critical than ever in today’s digital age. Not only does it help create visually appealing websites, but it also improves website functionality, enhances user experience, and increases website traffic. Therefore, whether you are a website owner or a web designer, learning web design skills can immensely benefit your business or online presence.
Learning web design skills is essential for anyone who wants to build and maintain a website, reflect their brand’s values, and attract potential customers. Web designers, on the other hand, can improve their craft and enhance their career prospects by learning new design trends, technologies, and techniques. They can use the skills to build a career as a freelancer, a consultant, or an in-house designer.
The book list below includes top selections for 2023 for beginners and advanced web designers and the best books on WordPress, Wix, and Shopify. Whether you are new to web design or a seasoned professional, our book list has something for everyone. By reading these books, you can learn how to create websites that are good-looking, functional, user-friendly, and optimized for search engines.
So, check out our recommended books below, and take the first step towards excelling in web designing in 2023. Click on the book titles for more details and reviews at Amazon.
22 Best Web Design Books for 2023
1. The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
by Jason Beaird, Alex Walker, & James George
What you will learn from this book:
- Understand what makes “good design” and implement it
- Develop color schemes and create a color palette
- Create layouts using grids, the rule of thirds, and symmetry
- Use textures such as lines, points, shapes, volumes, and depth
- Apply typography to enhance the design
Choose, edit, and position effective imagery- Incorporate responsive web design techniques
- Utilize pattern libraries and modern app development workflows
- Recognize common user-interface patterns and resources.
2. Web Design with HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery Set
by Jon Duckett
What you will learn from this book:
- HTML and CSS, including structure, text, links, images, tables, forms, and adding style with CSS
- How to work with fonts, colors, layouts, grids, and SEO
- JavaScript and jQuery, including a clear and simple visual approach with diagrams, infographics, and photographs
- How to combine HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery for interactive front-end development
- A highly visual format and accessible language to make learning effective
- Perfect for beginning web designers and front-end developers.
3. $1,000,000 Web Designer Guide
by Rob Anthony O’Rourke
What you will learn from this book:
- Clear steps to becoming a more profitable web designer
- The big lessons that make a big difference in web design
- How to avoid burnout by working smarter, not harder
- An overall innovative approach to having a great business that supports a great life
- How to set yourself up for success in web design.
4. Web Design Playground: HTML & CSS the Interactive Way
by Paul McFedries
What you will learn from this book:
- A step-by-step guide to creating web pages using HTML and CSS
- Use of a custom online workspace to design websites, product pages, and photo galleries
- Core skills such as adding images and video and laying out the page
- Learning typography, responsive design, and other web design tools
- Coverage of HTML elements, color, typography, and advanced CSS selectors
- Full-color illustrations throughout the book.
5. PHP & MySQL: Server-side Web Development
by Jon Duckett
What you will learn from this book:
- Learn PHP, the programming language used to build sites like Facebook, Wikipedia, and WordPress
- Learn how to work with databases using MySQL and how to use databases to create web pages
- The book is full of inspiring code examples, infographics, and photography
- Practical techniques for building web applications with features such as user registration, article creation, image/file uploads, email notifications, and social network-like interactions
- Build a complete content management system to apply the skills
- The book uses a unique visual approach, with step-by-step instructions, practical code examples, and pro tips to teach modern, database-driven web development using PHP.
6. Making Your Website Work: 100 Copy & Design Tweaks for Smart Business Owners
by Gill Andrews
What you will learn from this book:
- Practical tips for applying to your website to increase clients and sales
- How to identify and fix vague and self-centered copy
- Techniques to establish trustworthiness without testimonials
- Strategies to structure the homepage for a clear message
- Reasons to remove Testimonials and FAQ Pages
- Placement options for call-to-action buttons to increase clicks
- Common design mistakes that can hinder the message of the website.
7. Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (3rd Edition)
by Steve Krug
What you will learn from this book:
- How to make websites easy to navigate
- How to make websites easy to use
- How to design websites that are intuitive
- How to create websites that are user-friendly
- How to improve website usability
8. Designing for Performance: Weighing Aesthetics and Speed
by Lara Callender Hogan
What you will learn from this book:
- How to approach web design projects with page speed in mind
- The impact of page load time on site performance, brand, and user experience
- Basic principles of page speed, including how browsers retrieve and render content
- Best practices for optimizing and loading images to improve page speed
- Techniques for cleaning up HTML and CSS and optimizing web fonts
- Designing with a mobile-first approach, with performance goals set for each breakpoint
- Using tools to measure performance as the site evolves
- Strategies for shaping an organization’s performance culture to prioritize website speed and user experience.
9. Web Animation using JavaScript: Develop & Design
by Julian Shapiro
What you will learn from this book:
- Technical foundation to implement animation in a visually stunning and programmatically maintainable way
- Designing loading sequences to keep users engaged
- Using simple physics principles to make apps respond naturally to users’ input
- Exploiting CSS transforms to create rich depth in animations
- Leveraging JavaScript animation libraries like Velocity.js to streamline animation programming
- Covers animation performance and theory to become a professional web animator
- Suitable for novice and experienced web developers
Best Web Design Books for Beginners
10. Learning Web Design: A Beginner’s Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics 5th Edition
by Jennifer Robbins
What you will learn from this book:
- Learn how the web and web pages work
- Create HTML pages with text, links, images, tables, and forms
- Use style sheets (CSS) for colors, backgrounds, formatting text, and page layout
- Learn how JavaScript works and its importance in web design
- Create and optimize web images for quick download
- Use CSS Flexbox and Grid for page layout
- Learn Responsive Web Design for cross-device compatibility
- Become familiar with command line, Git, and other web developer tools
- Learn about SVG graphics and their capabilities.
11. HTML and CSS QuickStart Guide
by David DuRocher
What you will learn from this book:
- Learn HTML5 and CSS3 fundamentals in manageable, practical, and engaging segments
- Start designing from the very first chapter without enduring an avalanche of boring jargon or dry technobabble
- Use the bonus digital assets to go beyond the book with hands-on projects, GitHub code repository, online tools, resources, and more
- Create attractive, responsive, and modern websites with no prior experience needed
- Increase the value of your resume and skillset as a job seeker
- Customize web presence for artists, bloggers, and digital entrepreneurs
- Tweak templates for WordPress, Shopify, and Squarespace users.
12. Building Websites All-in-One For Dummies 3rd Edition
by David Karlins & Doug Sahlin
What you will learn from this book:
- How to plan, design, construct, and manage a website for personal or professional use
- The latest trends and tools in web design, including HTML5 and social media integration
- How to create web graphics and multimedia elements and add interactive features to a site
- Form management and site maintenance skills
- Essential technologies for web development, such as Dreamweaver, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.
13. Full Stack Web Development For Beginners
by Riaz Ahmed
What you will learn from this book:
- HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap, JavaScript, MySQL, and PHP fundamentals for full-stack web development
- How to set up a complete development environment on your PC
- Focus on practical aspects of web technologies
- Hands-on exercises and illustrations to teach web application development
- Gradual progression from creating an HTML file to deploying a professional e-commerce website
- A complete resource for absolute beginners who want to become full-stack web application developers.
Best Responsive Web Design Books
14. Responsive Web Design with HTML5 and CSS 4th Edition
by Ben Frain
What you will learn from this book:
- Latest HTML5 and CSS techniques for responsive web design
- Uses and benefits of new HTML elements and attributes
- CSS layout with Grid and Subgrid, CSS Cascade Layers, Wide Gamut colors, and CSS Functions
- Tips and approaches for front-end development
- Use of media queries, HTML semantics, SVGs, CSS custom properties, and CSS features such as filters, shadows, and animations
- No JavaScript knowledge needed.
15. Responsive Web Design with HTML 5 & CSS 9th Edition
by Jessica Minnick
What you will learn from this book:
- Learn step-by-step how to design professional quality websites that adapt to different devices
- Gain a solid foundation in HTML, CSS, and responsive web design best practices
- Create websites that automatically adapt to mobile, tablet, laptop, desktop, and large monitors
- Code webpages to make phone calls from mobile devices, embed maps, use custom fonts, and create shortcut navigation menus
- Integrate social media to promote a business
- Use the popular web framework Bootstrap to create a webpage.
16. Responsive Web Design by Example 3rd edition
by Frahaan Hussain
What you will learn from this book:
- Understand the importance of responsive web design
- Learn how to use responsive design frameworks like Responsive Grid System and Bootstrap
- Build adaptable templates for future projects
- Create a semantic website structure using HTML5
- Determine a responsive website persona using CSS3
- Choose the best framework for a project
- Implement Bootstrap features in websites
- Build a blog page, portfolio site, social networking page, and photo gallery
- Gain practical skills to build real-world, professional, and creative responsive websites.
Best Web Design Books for Top Platforms
17. Design Your Own Website With WordPress
by Narayan Kumar
What you will learn from this book:
- How to build a professional website from scratch using WordPress and Elementor
- How to buy a domain name and hosting for your website
- How to design and create a Home, About, Contact, Services/Products, and optional Blog page
- How to add additional pages, such as Testimonials, Team, and Projects pages
- How to align text, choose fonts and colors, and find royalty-free images
- How to create a site-wide header and footer, stylize buttons, and add social media links
- How to insert videos and optimize images for the web
- How to enable appointments on your site and install plugins for site safety, speed, and backups
- How to test your website for speed and ensure it loads fast.
18. WordPress Website Design Basics
by Jason Huerta
What you will learn from this book:
- How to design and build a website using WordPress Content Management System
- Different types of websites and their functions
- Creating navigation menu items with various background designs
- Making pages and adding a logo, website title, and description
- Creating slides on a website using WordPress
- Making social media links and RSS feeds
- 187 clear screen captures to guide the website design process.
19. 1-Hour WordPress 2023: A visual step-by-step guide to building WordPress websites in one hour or less!
by Dr. Andy Williams
What you will learn from this book:
- How to build a fully functional WordPress website in an hour or less
- How to set up a domain registrar and host and install WordPress
- How to navigate the WordPress dashboard and explore demo content
- How to plan a website before working in WordPress
- How to set up a website for success through important settings
- The difference between posts and pages and when to use them
- How to use the WYSIWYG and Gutenberg editors to add content
- How to add navigation and custom menus to a website
- How to use widgets to add new features to web pages
- How to customize the look and feel of a site with WordPress themes
- How to use the Full Site Editing feature in WordPress
- How to make money with a website by adding affiliate programs and Google Adsense
- Instructions and videos on implementing business, blog, and niche site models in WordPress
- How to keep WordPress and plugins up to date
- A link to an updates page and access to a blogging course for readers in 2023
20. Wix Made Easy: Professional Websites Created in Minutes
by James Bernstein
What you will learn from this book:
- An overview of Wix and how to sign up
- How to navigate the Wix interface
- How to create a new website with Wix
- How to add design elements to their website
- How to add pages to their website
- Advanced features available in Wix
- Tools and settings to customize their website
- How to publish their website
21. Wix Website Design & Logo Maker
by Patrick Ejeke
What you will learn from this book:
- Learn how to create a professional website using Wix.
- The book covers Wix pricing plans, signing up, and the Wix interface.
- Learn how to add design elements, pages and use advanced features.
- The book also covers tools, settings, and how to publish the website.
- Additional content on the Wix logo maker and tips and advice throughout the book.
- Readers will receive a bonus book on TikTok marketing.
22. The Definitive Guide to Shopify Themes: Master the Design Skills to Build World-Class Ecommerce Sites
by Gavin Ballard
What you will learn from this book:
- Learn to master Shopify themes and Liquid templating language
- Apply appropriate Shopify principles for designing ecommerce sites
- Employ strategies and technical skills to maximize the potential of a Shopify theme
- Examine advanced workflow and deployment techniques for delivering Shopify themes
- Suitable for those with web development skills but have yet to gain prior knowledge of Shopify themes, as well as those with experience in Shopify themes looking to advance their skills.
Conclusion:
Poorly designed websites and blogs can have significant downsides, such as low user engagement, high bounce rates, and lost sales opportunities. Web design skills are essential as you need to stand out and create a positive user experience. If you work with freelancing, you can offer services to your clients or company, increase your earning potential, and build world-class ecommerce sites or professional websites quickly and easily.
We recommend checking out some of the books on this list to gain the benefits of mastering web design skills. With dedication and the right resources, anyone can become proficient in web design and create functional and visually appealing websites. So, explore these books and take the first step towards becoming a web design pro!
Useful Resources:
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Ibochouba Singh is a content writer and reviewer with a passion for writing about digital marketing and tech gadgets, including software tools and new tech gadgets. He has over 15 years of experience writing for several consumers and clients, including tech startups, marketing agencies, and software companies. He is writing many articles and product reviews for many websites, including nigcworld.com, buywin.in, medium.com, and quora.com.
