Today is the fourth annual Blue Beanie Day. For the uninitiated, that stands for support of Web standards – a set of best practices for designing bulletproof, highly usable Web sites and Web applications, as well as ensuring open, affordable access to Web technologies.

The original preacher of Web standards was Jeffrey Zeldman, in his book, Designing with Web Standards. He wore a blue beanie on the cover, and the rest is history.

So if you see someone proudly wearing an indigo toque around Portland today, it could mean they are a Web designer who’s hip to the standards. Or, maybe their ears are chilly (it is Maine, you know).

So this seems like a good time to rededicate this blog to two individuals who have been influential in bringing it into being.

The first is Jeffrey Zeldman. As the author of Designing with Web Standards, publisher of A List Apart and one of the most important voices on best practices in Web design, I’d been an admirer for some time. Then I had the opportunity to meet him at South By Southwest in March 2007. I mentioned how I felt my business was ‘stuck in neutral’ and seemed to be adrift after some early success.

“Do you have a blog?” Zeldman asked me.

“No,” I replied, “I’m not sure I have anything original to say.”

“Don’t worry about that,” he told me. “Just say what you think needs to be said. And, after all, it’s searchable.”

So, I jumped on the blogging bandwagon, after arriving fairly late to the game, and though I’m usually skeptical of the intrinsic value of new trends like Twitter and Facebook, I’ve made a more concerted effort to be an early adopter and figure out how new Web technologies will affect how we interact.

My second rededication is for Zack Gaulkin. I worked with Zack at MaineToday.com back in the early naughties when sock puppets ruled the Earth and people still used the phrase “New Economy” to describe what was happening online. The Web was a creative free-for-all, and I would love to brainstorm with Zack, and we’d come up with all kinds of whacky ideas – and could try them out. The whole Web was our laboratory.

I’ve mentioned Zack before on this blog. He’s passed on, and I miss his creative energy and playful spirit.

In many ways, these are two people worth emulating. If I remember to ask myself “WWZD?” (“What Would Zack – or Zeldman – Do?”) I’ll probably be able to stay on the right track.

Here’s a list of some of the books that I’ve read and referred to over the years that have been invaluable resources for Web design:

Don’t Make Me Think – Steve Krug. Steve shows how people surf the Web, and that should affect how you build Web sites

The Design of Everyday Things – Don Norman. How people use a tool, a door, a switch, a Web site depends upon how it’s built (see affordance).

Designing with Web Standards – Jeffrey Zeldman. What it means to design with Web Standards, and why that’s better.

Bulletproof Web Design – Dan Cederholm. Why it’s smarter to lay out sites with CSS, rather than using <table>.

Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design – Andy Clarke. A great read from one of the world’s most talented Web designers. Andy explains how to use CSS to render your design visions beautifully and accessibly.

The Inmates are Running the Asylum – Alan Cooper. Explains why you want an Interaction Designer – not a programmer or a graphic designer – to build your Web site.

Designing Web Usability – Jakob Nielsen. An oldie but goodie. How to make Web sites easy to use.

Defensive Design for the Web – 37 Signals. Another book that’s been around for awhile, from one of the Web’s premiere usability consulting groups. The principles they espouse are timeless.

What’s funny is that lately I read fewer books and follow more blogs (that’ll be the subject of a future post).

Do you Web designers out there have any essential reads that have helped you over the years and that we should recommend to Jordan? (We know our short list above is far from complete) If so, please let us know in the comments.

South by Southwest, the annual Super Bowl of Web design, is underway in Austin, Texas this week. If you dropped a bomb on the convention center you’d likely vaporize 80% of the world’s top Web design talent.

It’s a great place to meet the cream o’ the crop. I attended “South By” in 2007 and 2008 and had the chance to meet and converse with Jeffrey Zeldman, Dan Cederholm, Andy Clarke and Ryan Carson, among others. I also kindled new friendships with other designers from the New England region with whom I’ve often been able to bounce ideas around from time to time.

You always hear about the latest and greatest at SXSW. I first heard about Twitter, which has exploded into the mainstream in the last three months or so, at the 2007 event, just a few months after it had launched.

That’s usually how it is with SXSW. One year it’s blogs, the next, online video, then social networking. What’ll be the new wave in 2009? I recommend keeping an eye on innovations involving the mobile Web.

This year I opted to do other things, but now, as I follow the Tweets (SXSW has been the most-popular-tweeted-topic for the last several days), I’m wishing I was there.