Without a doubt, the best CSS / XHTML training you can give yourself is pick up any of these books to learn about front end web development.

Most of the books involve learning and adapting web pages using CSS based layouts. Some are new, some are classics. I have learnt valuable tips on working practices for CSS management, color palette selection, and also layouts using CSS3.

Books like ‘Don’t make me think, and ‘Bulletproof..’ make you question ‘Why should I do it this way..?’. Then they cover alternatives you may not have considered. Some of these books are in their Second edition, a testament to how well they are written and deservedly gaining a place on any discerning geeks bookshelf.

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Having del.icio.us‘d this, I thought it would be good to highlight the number of tools to make your management of CSS easier.

A selection of tools to help you clean up your CSS and optimize it by reducing the number of empty lines in the code. However, bear in mind, this may make it very hard to follow when doing future updates to your CSS files.

One that I found useful is the CSS Redundancy Checker for checking larger CSS files and large web sites, it looks at any redundant code and repetitive code you may have. Especially if dealing with a large site that has code from previous layouts and styles. Again cleaning up the files, making leaner and cleaner.
Check them all out at: http://mashable.com/2007/09/25/css-toolbox/

Just a quick note to say that if you made it to FOWA07, or even if you didnt, the presentations and notes are available on www.futureofwebapps.com

.. and useful web services in a web 2.0 environment

want some quick tips on how to increase your productivity? Want to save less time trying to find the information you ‘filed’ last week?

Some are free, some are a few pounds, all well worth checking out to see of they can help you, like they have with me.

They are all about sharing, storing and using information efficiently:

• basecamp – without a doubt, essential tool from 37signals- let your clients know at what stage you are with that all important project.. this is a lifesaver.. should of been using it earlier!
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In a sort of convoluted way I have just registered for the WebDD (Web Designer Developer Event) being held tomorrow at the Microsoft headquaters in Reading.

Fellow web developer/programmer Glenn Jones is presenting a session on microformats, and Patrick Lauke is their on behalf of web standards.

More info on the event at upcoming

http://upcoming.org/event/138978/

Following on from some good resources from Dave Child, I thought it would help to have a handy reference guide of shortcuts currently used for Gmail.

I know there are older versions on the web, however there are a few new shortcuts included here.

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Let me give you a best of three tools for analysing server log files.

One of these would definately suit your needs:

1. www.analog.cx – analog cx
2. www.mrunix.net/webalizer/ – webalizer
3. www.weblogexpert.com/lite.htm – weblogexpert

All tools are free, small programs, yet give good results and are FREE!..

A good online version of web analytics covering most of the functions covered by the tools above is statcounter.com

Of course you can use subscription based tools to give you more comprehensive web analytics, like Mint and MeasureMap (for your blog). And if you are patient enough a Google analytics account.

We will have to see if some nice Ajaxy type control panels come along to make the task of analysing results less tricky.