References

Philip ArdaghThe Hieroglyphs Handbook, London, 1999
Maria Carmela Betro Hieroglyphics The Writings of Ancient Egypt, New York, 1996
Ronald L. Bonewitz Hieroglyphics, London, 2001
Gardiner A.H Egyptian grammar, Oxford, 1957
Barbara Mertz Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs, New York, 1964
Andrew Robinson The Story of Writing, London, 1995
Barbara Watson Introducing Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Edinburgh, 1993
Hilary Wilson Understanding Hieroglyphs, London, 1995
Penelope Wilson Hieroglyphs A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, 2003
Karl-Theodor Zauzich Discovering Egyptian Hieroglyphs, London, 1992

The recommended introductory text is Professor Zauzich's. Accessible and clear.
The standard is Gardiner. It assumes a certain level of linguistic knowledge and it's size makes it ideal for the coffee table.
Betro's wonderfully produced Writings of Ancient Egypt may be considered an ideal present for those who are not on a budget.
Mertz's Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs is simply great fun.

Details of the official common standard system for the encoding of hieroglyphic texts on computer, the Manuel_de_Codage, may be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_de_Codage

Further details are also available from http://www.catchpenny.org/codage.