Books on Web Design

Using a real-life design example, the author starts with a discussion of layout and color theory. You see his thought process on picking out six colors for his color scheme.

If you are a programmer who have not had the formal training in art and design, this books is a great crash course. It covers all the basic principles including the user of images, typography, texture, and Web 2.0 style.

Editorial and Customer Reviews on Sitepoint

This book will teach you how to lay out your web pages and its navigational elements. It covers the Gestalt principles of proximity, similarity, and continuity.

Page 200-201 talks about the pros and cons of fixed width versus variable with layouts.

Page 257 gives you a writing guidelines checklist.