a. The look: the graphic design of the page.
b. The interaction: Usability and UX
c. Designing and coding with good software design principles.
d. Some thing else?
I can point you to some good books for b. or c., however a. is the holy grail. I have never found a good book on web design from a graphic design perspective. That said Ill share with you what I would consider the closest I have found.
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a. (Web site Graphic Design)
* The non Designer's design book - http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Robin-Willia...
* Visual Language for Designers - http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Language-Designers-Principles-U...
* Tuft's Envisioning Information - http://www.amazon.com/Envisioning-Information-Edward-R-Tufte...
* I have found some good online articles http://delicious.com/csmeder/ux
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b. (Usability and UX)
* Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks - http://www.lukew.com/resources/web_form_design.asp
* The Design of Sites: Patterns for Creating Winning Web Sites - http://www.amazon.com/Design-Sites-Patterns-Creating-Winning...
* And again Tuft's Envisioning Information - http://www.amazon.com/Envisioning-Information-Edward-R-Tufte...
* Information Design Workbook http://www.amazon.com/Information-Design-Workbook-approaches...
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c. (software design and coding)
* Bulletproof Web Design - http://www.amazon.com/Bulletproof-Web-Design-flexibility-pro...
* Handcrafted CSS - http://www.amazon.com/Handcrafted-CSS-More-Bulletproof-Desig...
* jQuery in Action - http://www.amazon.com/jQuery-Action-Second-Bear-Bibeault/dp/...
http://eloquentjavascript.net/ http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockfor...
2. Learn jQuery (a JavaScript library)
http://jquery.com/ http://www.amazon.com/jQuery-Action-Second-Bear-Bibeault/dp/...
3. Learn SQL (the language)
http://www.amazon.com/Sams-Teach-Yourself-SQL-Minutes/dp/067...
4. Pick an implementation
MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle
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After that, most application development languages are just syntax. Pick what feels best.
Learn how to use Ajax to tie client-side requests to server-side requests and you're marketable.