The Design of everyday things [1] (Found on Coding Horror's recommended reading [2]) was crucial in understanding how people intuitively interact with the world around them - including your web application - based on the visual cue's you provide.
While this article provides some metaphorical fish - I found the Design of everyday things helps you become a fisherman.
Your reference [1] confused me because most of the books I saw were about code and design patterns, or books by Tufte. I also didn't realize what DoET meant, on first glance.