Whether or not who knows you is more important than who you know, what you know settles everything, and we at TalentNation.net are passionate about learning continually. This abbreviated list includes only a sampling of some of the most noteworthy titles in our holdings.

CASCADING STYLE SHEETS (CSS), XHTML, AND RICH CONTENT (AJAX)

CSS-based tableless web designs, valid and fast-loading XHTML, and asynchronous JavaScript—all mean best practices, especially when done by the book. The titles referenced on these subjects are by some of the same authors as those behind the very W3 specification itself.

LAYOUT AND GRAPHIC DESIGN

Your layout or graphic designs benefit not only from TalentNation.net’s cognizance of knowing where the eye goes upon seeing a visual or how color influences behavior, but, moreover, from strategic leveraging of that knowledge.

MANAGEMENT

Working smart, not just hard, benefits everyone involved when standard operating procedures arise from concepts proven by sought-after consultants, such as Tom Peters, Steven Covey, Julie Morganstern, or John Maxwell.

MARKETING

Every reader asks (perhaps unknowingly) the questions, “Who cares?” “So what?” and “What’s in it for me?” Likewise, the reader expects to find (1) a promise (pitch), (2) proof (testimonials), and (3) price. Fundamentals, true, and then consider affiliate marketing and “guerrilla marketing.”

PERIODICALS

Reading magazines and blogs constantly to help try to satiate the hunger for knowledge of how to make or save you money. New ideas and best practices change incessantly. That fact will never change.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) AND SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (SEM)

Masters Bruce Clay, Robin Nobles, John Alexander, SEMPO, Viney, Beal, Callen, and more speak; we listen; and ultimately you benefit from the hard and smart work necessary to achieve organic search nirvana (read profits).

TRANSLATING

Dictionaries, specialized references (grammar, usage, colloquial language, idioms), literary works, and periodicals ranging from computer terms to music. Languages include Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French (continental, Canadian, and Caribbean), French-Creole, Portuguese-Crioulo, German, and Mandarin Chinese. The most authoritative references, however, lie within the Talent-Nation.net translators, all of whom are native speakers of their respective target languages.

WEB 2.0 AND SOCIAL MARKETING

Del.icio.us, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Orkut, Squidoo, Technorati, Twitter, YouTube, Short Messaging Service (SMS) for the mobile market, affiliate marketing, and the list goes on. The line blurs between the desktop, the web, and beyond. TalentNation.net leverages web 2.0 knowledge to help you leverage these exciting technologies. Why? To make or save you money.

WEBSITE DESIGN AND USABILITY

Simple and functional designs are the most elegant, regardless of whether you are a designer, programmer, or manager. Certain approaches work as intended every time. Others do not. No wheel reinventing allowed here.

WRITING

Criteria of style, grammar, punctuation, clarity, and conciseness—each exceeds the standards detailed in the pages of the de facto desktop references Handbook of Technical Writing and The Elements of Style. Shipley and Associates guides writing processes, as does On Writing Well. You, the client, benefit from the constructive abuse that we of TalentNation.net subject ourselves to at the hands of the curmudgeonly, yet beloved Herschell Gordon Lewis.