TechTraction’s Friday Finds for 11/16/2007 - Lynda.com
The Internet has a wealth of technical information for the self-taught learners. If you can read, comprehend, and apply the vast amounts of information freely available, you can become proficient in nearly any technology you choose. Unfortunately, not everything out there is well written and not everyone excels in the self-taught learning style needed to take full advantage of the wealth of technical articles and books. Some people still prefer instructor led classroom learning. Unfortunately, classroom training is expensive and there is no guarantee that the instructor is worth the money.
If you’re someone that prefers instructor led technical training, but don’t feel like paying thousands of dollars for a single class, then Lynda.com is well worth a look. Lynda.com offers video based learning on a wide range of topics for a wide audience of students. You can purchase a single course on DVD or sign up for an online training subscription. They also offer previews of their courses through iTunes as a free podcast and I think you can also demo the training at their web site.
I’m actually very comfortable with teaching myself from books; however, the lessons at Lynda.com are fantastic. I love how I can open up a course and jump straight to a lesson on a specific topic. The lessons are fairly short but just long enough to do a good job on a topic without dragging on. For example, I wanted to learn a little more about negative margins in CSS. I logged into my account, searched for courses on CSS (they have 4), selected a course and found a lesson specifically on negative margins. 7 minutes and 19 seconds later I got just what I wanted.
If you work for a company that says they pay for technical training as a perk, then for less than the cost of one typical classroom led course, you can get a subscription to Lynda.com. A worthwhile investment.
Note: Lynda.com does not offer an affiliate program that I am aware. Therefore my plug for them in this post gains me absolutely nothing. 
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I think Lynda.com is actually cheaper than going out and getting training books (unless you use the library). The subscription fee is only $25/mos - a pretty good value that gives you great access to a pile of concentrated knowledge. They need to expand their subject base though.