Smashing Magazine - we smash you with the information that will make your life easier. really.

As you may or may not know, we like to smash things. Apart from releasing free icons, themes and wallpapers, every now and again we pick a dozen of professional design and web-development-books, buy them and give them away to our readers — for free, of course. We genuinely appreciate our community and respect our readers for reading us, and now we are giving something back.

In this post we are giving away 10 professional web design-related books — the books cover the topics CSS, usability, user interface design, innovation, web navigation, web form design and JavaScript programming. Hopefully, the winners of the books will be able to widen their horizon in web development and create more effective, more user-friendly and more beautiful web designs.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed — more giveaways are planned in the near future.

How can I participate?

To participate, you have to

1. choose one book in the table below which you like most,
2. write something nice in the comment to this post (one word is enough) and write the number of the book on the next line.

Please notice that

• participants can post comments until the 13th of October 2008. The comments will be closed on the 13th of June at 00:01 CET.
• the winners will be determined by a random generator; for each book only the group of visitors who’d like to have the same book will be considered,
• only participants who’ve selected one book can participate
• make sure that you fill your e-mail in the comment field correctly, so we can contact you afterwards.

Books You Can Win

#	Cover	Title by Author	Description
1		Ajax: The Definitive Guide by Anthony Holdener	This book explains how to use JavaScript, XML, CSS, and XHTML, along with the XMLHttpRequest object, to build browser-based web applications that function like desktop programs.
2		Pro JavaScript Techniques by John Resig	This book focuses on fundamental, vital topics – what modern JavaScripting is (and isn’t), the current state of browser support, and pitfalls to be wary of.
3		Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton	This book provides clear and concise guidance for anyone learning or brushing up on their typographic skills.
4		Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition by Kimberley Elam	Takes a close look at a broad range of 20th-century examples of design, architecture and illustration, revealing underlying geometric structures in their compositions.
5		Photoshop CS3 Bible by Laurie Ulrich Fuller, Robert C. Fuller	An international bestseller in which the authors show you how to master every aspect of Photoshop.
6		Letterhead and Logo Design: v. 9 by Mine	Logos, labels, business cards, envelopes, the creative techniques: all around the logo design.
7		Designing Web Navigation by James Kalbach	Offers a fresh look at a fundamental topic of web site development: navigation design.
8		The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks and Hacks by Rachel Andrew	Shows how to apply CSS to solve over 101 common Web Development challenges.
9		Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop’s Most Powerful Feature by Matt Kloskowski	If you want to finally understand layers in Photoshop, this book is the one you’ve been waiting for.
10		Bierut: 79 Short Essays on Design by Michael Bierut	Some insightful design considerations from the editor of Design Observer.

1. Ajax: The Definitive Guide

Ajax: The Definitive Guide by Anthony T. Holdener

Ajax builds on older technologies and techniques but reaches a tipping point where the results are new. This book gives you a boost to this next stage of web application development, teaching you how tried-and-true web standards not only make Ajax possible, but why developing with them is faster, easier and cheaper. Learn to build browser-based applications that function like desktop programs.

This book explains how to use JavaScript, XML, CSS, and XHTML, along with the XMLHttpRequest object, to build browser-based web applications that function like desktop programs. You get a complete background on what goes into today’s web sites and applications, and learn to leverage these tools along with Ajax for advanced browser searching, web services, mashups, and more. You discover how to turn a web browser and web site into a true application, and why developing with Ajax is faster, easier and cheaper.

2. Pro JavaScript Techniques

Pro JavaScript Techniques by John Resig

The book is organized into four sections: Modern JavaScript development – using JavaScript the object-oriented way, creating reusable code, plus testing and debugging DOM scripting – updating content and styles, plus events, and effect and event libraries Ajax – how Ajax works, overcoming problems, and using libraries to speed up development of Ajax applications The future of JavaScript – looking at cutting edge topics like JSON, HTML 5, and more.

All concepts are backed up by real-world examples and case studies, and John provides numerous reusable functions and classes to save you time in your development. There are also up-to-date reference appendixes for the DOM, events, browser support (including IE7), and frameworks – so you can look up specific details quickly and easily.

3. Thinking with Type

Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton

The organization of letters on a blank sheet — or screen — is the most basic challenge facing anyone who practices design. What type of font to use? How big? How should those letters, words, and paragraphs be aligned, spaced, ordered, shaped, and otherwise manipulated? In this book Ellen Lupton provides clear and concise guidance for anyone learning or brushing up on their typographic skills.

The book is divided into three sections: letter, text, and grid. Each section begins with an easy-to-grasp essay that reviews historical, technological, and theoretical concepts, and is then followed by a set of practical exercises that bring the material covered to life. Sections conclude with examples of work by leading practitioners that demonstrate creative possibilities (along with some classic no-no’s to avoid).

4. Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition

Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition by Kimberly Elam

This book presents a mathematical explanation of how art works presented in a manner we can all understand. Kimberly Elam takes the reader on a geometrical journey, lending insight and coherence to the design process by exploring the visual relationships that have foundations in mathematics as well as the essential qualities of life. The book takes a close look at a broad range of twentieth-century examples of design, architecture, and illustration (from the Barcelona chair to the Musica Viva poster, from the Braun handblender to the Conico kettle), revealing underlying geometric structures in their compositions.

Explanations and techniques of visual analysis make the inherent mathematical relationships evident and a must-have for anyone involved in graphic arts. The book focuses not only on the classic systems of proportioning, such as the golden section and root rectangles, but also on less well known proportioning systems such as the Fibonacci Series. Through detailed diagrams these geometric systems are brought to life giving an effective insight into the design process.

5. Photoshop CS3 Bible

Photoshop CS3 Bible by Laurie Ulrich Fuller, Robert C. Fuller

This practicual guide is supposed to help you to master Adobe Photoshop CS3. You’ll learn to work with the CS3 interface and many new and improved commands — including enhanced selection tools, a more powerful Clone Stamp, new Vanishing Point capabilities, and added Animation and Timeline features.

You’ll also discover how to create super special effects, build great composite images, and perform true miracles with your digital and 3D images, whether they’re bound for print, the Web, or handheld devices. Learn how to master the new workspace, from the toolbox to the palettes to the Bridge, correct color and lighting, restore damaged images of all kinds, take control of your images with selections, masks, and filters, bring words into your pictures and make text flow along a path and explore advanced topics, tricks, and specialized techniques.

6. Letterhead and Logo Design: v. 9

Letterhead and Logo Design: v. 9 by Mine

No. 9 of the best-selling “Letterhead and Logo Design” series features the most creative and inspiring work in the field from well-known design leaders, new design firms, and cutting-edge artists. It includes everything identity, from logos to labels, business cards to envelopes, and the creative techniques and full-colour images portrayed in this broad range of work will inspire new design solutions for age-old challenges that beg for a fresh approach.

7. Designing Web Navigation

Designing Web Navigation: Optimizing the User Experience by James Kalbach

Thoroughly rewritten for today’s web environment, this book offers a fresh look at a fundamental topic of site navigation design. Amid all the changes to the Web in the past decade, the basic problems of creating a good web navigation system remain. Designing Web Navigation demonstrates that good navigation is not about technology — it’s about the ways people find information, and how you guide them.

8. The CSS Anthology

The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks by Rachel Andrew

The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks is a compilation of best practice solutions to the most challenging CSS problems. The second edition of this best-selling book, now in full color, has been completely revised and updated to cover the latest techniques and newer browsers, including Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 7.

It’s the most complete question-and-answer book on CSS, with over 100 tutorials that’ll show you how to gain more control over the appearance of your web page, create sophisticated Web page navigation controls, design for today’s alternative browsing devices including phones and screen readers, and much more.

9. Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop’s Most Powerful Feature

Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop’s Most Powerful Feature by Matt Kloskowski

Layers are the key to understanding Adobe Photoshop and this book shows you exactly how you can use them in your works. You’ll learn about working with and managing multiple layers, building multiple layered images, blending layers together, exactly which of the 25+ Blend Modes you need to worry about (there’s just a few), Layer Masking and just how easy it is, using layers to enhance and retouch your photos and all of the tips and tricks that make using layers a breeze.

10. Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design

Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design by Michael Bierut

The 272-page hardcover book brings together twenty years of essays on subjects that range from New York’s faulty “Push for Walk Signal” buttons, to the disappearance of the AT&T logo, to the implications of Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire for interaction designers.

Many of the pieces first appeared on Design Observer, the popular blog that Michael edits with Jessica Helfand and Bill Drenttel, including “Designing Under the Influence,” “I Hate ITC Garamond,” and “The Road to Hell: Now Paved with Innovation!” Seventy-nine Essays also includes pieces that appeared elsewhere and pieces that have never been published in other collections, like “Waiting for Permission,” “How to Become Famous” and “Ten Footnotes on a Manifesto.”