10 Free EBooks for Web Designers
Several weeks ago we published a post that told you about 10 free online books for web designers. We received lots of positive feedback from many of our readers who appreciated the great information, but one common question was, “Is there a PDF version?”. It turns out people really like their PDF’s, but unfortunately, that group of free books only had online HTML versions. So I set out on a quest to find more free books for web designers, but this time I made sure each had a PDF version.
The following ten books contain a wide variety of valuable information for web designers, ranging from HTML5 to a guide for managing your time. There’s plenty here to keep you busy reading for a while. Enjoy!
Introduction to Good Usability
This guide is especially handy if you haven’t done a lot of webdesign yet or if you are involved in webdesign but don’t do any of the real work. I hope to shed some light on some common interface elements and mistakes people often make with them.
How To Be Creative
If you’ve ever felt the draw to do something creative but just haven’t been able to pull it together, you’ll love this manifesto. Hugh MacLeod, an advertising executive and popular blogger with a flair for the creative, gives his 26 tried-and-true tips for being truly creative. Each point illustrated by a cartoon drawn by the author himself.
Why design?
What designers offer to clients is a way of thinking. The “Why design?” booklet outlines the role of design in business strategy. It seeks a common framework for why design adds value to clients’ interests.
The Design Funnel: A Manifesto for Meaningful Design
Would you like a process which would help translate the often vague, unclear wishes of your clients (and yourself, for that matter) into a clear and solid basis for your design? This manifesto will show you how.
HTML5 Quick Learning Guide
This guide introduces you to just the main elements of HTML5 that you’ll probably want to use right away. This guide is for those who want to get the basics figured out first, and worry about the finer details later on.
Time Management for Creative People
Written by Mark McGuinness, this e-book serves as a guide for creative people to help them be more productive and better manage their time.
The Woork Handbook
The Woork Handbook is a free eBook about CSS, HTML, Ajax, web programming, Mootools, Scriptaculous and other topics about web design… directly from Woork!
Eloquent JavaScript
Eloquent JavaScript is a digital book providing a comprehensive introduction (tutorial) to the JavaScript programming language. Apart from a bookful of text, it contains plenty of example programs, and an environment to try them out and play with them.
A Concise Guide to Archiving for Designers
This guide provides designers with the proper ways to store and describe their collections in 10 short chapters. The author, Karin van der Heiden, provided the translation.
Type Classification
This book has been made to help you learn the 10 broad classifications of type. These are the basic foundations of what you need to learn to learn typography and it is essential for any designer to know how to classify type.
Related Posts
Here's some other articles that you will definitely find useful.
7 Design Related Books you Should Check Out
8 Books Every Designer Should Read
20 Design Blogs Worth Reading
10 Free Online Books for Web Designers
Turn Off Your Computer and Go Read a Book
46 comments
Mario
September 16, 2010cool stuff.. thanks for sharing this.
Tony
September 16, 2010So much for buying design books on Amazon!
Nikunj
September 16, 2010Wow Good resource did not know we could get such good design ebooks for free
Thanks for sharing
Win Htoo
September 16, 2010Wow!! Thanks alot for sharing. Will download it one by one.
Warren Jerzyszek
September 16, 2010Hey, thanks for taking the time to find these ebooks out and share them with us! I’ve been looking for a good book on HTML5 for some time and hopefully I don’t need to look anymore. I cant wait to get stuck in and get up to speed with the not to distant future for web designers/developers. Thanks once again for sharing.
AnthonyE
September 16, 2010Yes….agreed same here. Thanks for the share!
Chepi
September 16, 2010Great list! Already RTed it. Thanks for sharing!
Taufiq Pmreload
September 16, 2010Gut!
Sourav Agarwal, Senior content writer
September 16, 2010A great help for web designers from across the globe………..
Camille
September 16, 2010Great collection! I checked out the previous list “10 Free Online Books” as well. Weird that it’s so timely. Just this morning, I was trying to think of ways I can buy a book on web design. This solves it.
Dzinepress
September 16, 2010useful ebooks.
Greg Babula
September 16, 2010Great list, thanks!
Codeorama
September 16, 2010Very good, thanks!
Allen
September 16, 2010Thanks for the share! I’ll be sure to read up on some of these ebooks on my spare time.
Franco
September 16, 2010Great post, I hope I can make some time to read the all!
Ian Parker
September 16, 2010A great selection of useful e-books. Thankyou.
Koren Berman
September 16, 2010Thank you for sharing this fantastic list. So very useful, I’m definitely going to look into them.
Tyler Dow
September 16, 2010Great list! Now to find enough time to read all of them… Thank you!
Zaeem Mirza
September 16, 2010Awesome!
Web Designer, Leicester
September 16, 2010The HTML 5 e-book is great, i’ve been meaning to learn the HTML5 basics for a while.
GradeAWebsites
September 16, 2010Awesome list, thanks so much.
Spokane Web Designer
September 16, 2010Great set of e-books, thanks for posting them. Time management always a problem for me.
BLU:72 Creative
September 16, 2010Brilliant, some really good links there!
Youngstream
September 17, 2010I’ll give the HTML 5 one a go!
div
September 17, 2010Thanks a ton………… Hope to C many more additions to this post.
stoimen
September 17, 2010wow! great collections thanks
Confused
September 17, 2010What’s so great about the HTML5 book. It’s 6 pages long, which in my opinion, doesn’t qualify as a “book”. It doesn’t say much at all. I just don’t get why others are saying this is great.
ddeja
September 17, 2010Thanks so much.
My choice for today is: HTML5 Quick Learning Guide.
I think it’s going to be a good way, to see what all that html5 is about.
Cheers.
Lakeside Techies
September 17, 2010Nice one, these books are really helpful… downloaded woork’s ebook now.
Jen
September 17, 2010Great post,
Check out my site, pdfgallery.net for more free pdf ebooks for creatives.
Vincent Hadi Wijaya
September 18, 2010Thanks for sharing. It’s free and great!
Aneslin
September 18, 2010many thanks for these books, gonna get print and start read. useful for biginers
Emerge Online
September 18, 2010This stuff is gold.
The only one i have already is the woork handbook. If the rest as as good as that i will be very happy.
Downloading now
Arun
September 19, 2010Thanks a lot for info about these free ebooks. Keep up the good work!
Craig
September 19, 2010Wow! Great collection covering very important areas of Web Design, and free to boot, Thanks!
wm
September 19, 2010Thanks for the tips.
Sharing is Caring
Lisa Thomason
September 20, 2010Fantastic collection of Ebooks for web designers! Will be looking at Eloquent JavaScript first, Thank you!
Arturo
September 21, 2010Thanks! great good stuff!
rodrigo
September 21, 2010Great list, thanks![+1]
Theo
September 22, 2010Thanks for this ebook collection !
Jeff Jones
September 22, 2010Heard about the 10 free ebooks, so had to check them out and I’m extremely impressed, Great collection! Cheers!
rob t
September 28, 2010What an awesome post, thanks so much. Going to check a few of these out
Chris Hollands
October 4, 2010Sweeeet, some epic links there! Does anyone know any good SEO Ebooks?
peace
Vijay S Paul
February 8, 2011Real Real Real good stuff…. Exactly what i was looking for… thanks
Dataca
September 21, 2011Found the html5 and time management the most useful.
Digital Marketing Consultant
March 13, 2012Time Management for Creative People – this suggests I am not the only one that is looking into project managing my creativity! A good start.
Already reading the section on Prioritise ‘important but not urgent’ work.
I’ll be interested to learn about how to select which priority is the priority.