Recently I just finished reading “Adaptive Web Design” by Aaron Gustafson.  The focus of the book is on progressive enhancement.  It is a short read at a little over 120 pages.  The book is well organized with clear explanations of core concepts. 

The key thing about this book is that I feel it is geared more for the beginner or intermediate designer/developer.  Many of the techniques and examples are common knowledge to experienced developers, but even then they are good reminders.  No matter how long you have been doing something you can always learn by looking back and reminding yourself.

The sections cover progressive enhancement with markup, CSS, and JavaScript. As well as a section on Accessibility, which I don’t usually have to deal with day to day (which was good for me).

The book covers unobtrusive use of JavaScript, as well as the importance of properly structured markup and the purpose of semantics.  There are also easy to follow examples of using CSS Media Queries and some nice tips and tricks on getting bad browsers to behave nicely.

My favorite nugget was the shout out to Steve Champeon with Hesketh , a firm right here in Raleigh NC!

Overall I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars as it hits the target, and it does it without being a tome of a read.  Get this book in the hands of new front-enders and even a non-dev type working with the web.