Creating Web Sites Bible, Second Edition [Paperback]

David A. Crowder (Author), Andrew Bailey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0764574981 | ISBN-13: 978-0764574986 | Edition: 2

• Jam-packed with more than 800 pages of expert advice and hands-on guidance, this book has everything readers need to build their own cutting-edge Web sites
• A one-stop resource that delivers the scoop on everything from HTML, tables, and forms to JavaScript and Flash
• Brand-new chapters cover getting attention with Google AdWords, building Yahoo! and Amazon.com stores, creating great eBay auctions, and getting paid with PayPal
• Includes new information on designing with cascading style sheets, syndicating a site with RSS, building a blog, and more

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Everything you need to build a great Web site ...

Whether you want to start an online store, establish a Web presence for a brick-and-mortar business, or just

show off your family album, this book shows you how. Even if you're fairly new to the Web world, you'll soon learn both the aesthetic and technical aspects of Web design. From basic HTML to the secrets of JavaScript programmers and Flash wizards, this comprehensive, updated guidebook helps you use the latest tools, techniques, and standards to build great sites that get noticed.

Inside, you'll find everything you need to know to create a Web site

• Learn basic HTML, plan your site, organize your pages coherently, and get them on the Web
• Use text, color, and images effectively
• Discover the latest advances in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and how to control page layout with layers
• Enhance your pages with interactive features using Flash, forms, animation, sound, and video
• Use JavaScript for both animation and site navigation
• Set up an e-commerce site, find out how to accept credit card payment, and get acquainted with affiliate programs
• Find out how to maintain your site, keeping it fresh, interesting, and up-to-date
• Design with XML and give your site mobility with WAP/WML

About the Author

David A. Crowder has authored o coauthored more than 20 books, including popular bestsellers such as Building a Web Site For Dummies and Cliffs Notes Getting on the Internet. He was selling hypertext systems back in the days when you had to explain to people what the word meant. He has been involved in the online community since its inception and is the recipient of several awards for his work, including the NetGuide Magazine Gold Site Award. When he is not writing, he spends his time with his wife Angela, wandering through villages in the Andes or frolicking in the Caribbean Surf.

Andrew Bailey was born in England where he studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University. He worked for Cray Research as as systems analyst from 1989 to 1992. Then he moved to Colombia, South America. At the present moment he is the Head of Investigation in Computer Sciences at the San Buena Ventura University in Medellín where he also teaches Distributed Computing and the Design of Web Applications.
He owns HazloRealidad.com, a company dedicated to the design and hosting of Web sites and the development of custom-built software based on open standards and freely licensed or open source software. HazloRealidad is Spanish for "make it real," which according to Andrew, "refers to making your dreams come true, well at least the ones related to software". To contact him send an email to [e-mail].

Product Details

• Paperback: 960 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (October 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764574981
• ISBN-13: 978-0764574986
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.2 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,473,934 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 2nd edition is much improved..., October 30, 2004

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creating Web Sites Bible, Second Edition (Paperback)

(...) The 1st edition apparently had some significant issues based on reviews at Amazon, the 2nd edition seems to be much improved.

Chapter list: Planning Your Web Pages; Promoting Your Site; Basic HTML Building Blocks; Organizing Your Site; Putting It on the Web; Getting Fancy with Text; Finding Images; Blending Images into Your Pages; Creating and Enhancing Images; Adding Color Throughout Your Site; Harnessing the Power of Tables; Organizing Your Site with Frames; Styling Web Pages with Cascading Style Sheets; Positioning Elements with DIVs; Getting Input with Forms; Making Dynamic Pages with JavaScript; Navigating Your Web Site; Adding Dynamic Page Elements with DHTML; Animating with Macromedia Flash; Adding Multimedia and Other Objects; Blogging; Setting Up Your Store; Selling on eBay; Getting Paid; Using Advertising; Covering All the Bases; Maintaining Your Site; Designing with XML; Making Your Site Mobile with WAP/WML; HTML 4.01 Specs; XHTML 1.0, Second Edition specs; XML 1.0, Third Edition Specs; WML 2.0 Specs; JavaScript Reference; Glossary; Index

This is one of those books that I personally like, but I don't know if it's right for what I think is the intended audience. I've been doing application development for a long time, and some of that time has been spent doing web development. While I wouldn't grab this book to find an answer to an HTML or JavaScript question, I would use it to understand graphical composition, navigation, and more of the site structure thoughts. There's always new stuff to learn, and it helps to get new ideas from others in that area. And if you've seen my (lack of) graphical ability, you'd understand. Die-hard web designers will also squawk about the reliance on tables and frames for design. I'd tend to agree with them, but I'm also not as dogmatic about the whole issue.

If you're a casual computer use who thinks they have a great idea for a web site, and if you think you could build that site on your own, you'd probably gravitate to a book like this. To be sure, everything you absolutely need to know is in here. But I think you could quickly find yourself overwhelmed with everything you need to learn to set the site up. And when you start talking about setting up an online store and shopping carts, you could end up making mistakes that could cost you dearly in security and fraud.

So is it a good book? In my opinion, yes. It's well-written and there is a lot of valuable information in it. I just tend to think it serves developers with some prior background knowledge better than it would serve a complete newbie.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fix a few things for the next edition., October 27, 2002

By 

Michael J Woznicki "Michael J Woznicki" (Holland, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creating Web Pages Bible (Paperback)

I have been teaching HTML and web design classes for over 4 years and I am always looking for new ideas and techniques and this book certainly has that. There is an abundance of information contained within the 700 plus pages.

The book has you working with HTML, CSS, Java Scripting, DHTML and XHTML. You get to try out and design frames pages, tables, forms, multimedia pages and cascading style sheets. Overall everything you need to become a very good designer is in this book including an excellent layout of the HTML 4.01 tags.

The cd included has a number of utilities, most of which can be found just about anywhere on the web. Also included is trial version of Flash 5, DreamWeaver 4 and HomeSite 4.5 all of which have newer version out, so the next edition should have this included.

Aside from those minor things, the files you are supposed to be able to use for some of the exercises weren't on my cd and I was unable to find them anywhere on the website so I think this needs to be fixed. Other than those fixes the book is very accurate and detailed with plenty of information for everyone

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Promising so far, March 21, 2002

By 

"millamonster" (Oslo, Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating Web Pages Bible (Paperback)

I just got this book and I must say I think it looks very promising. I felt I had to write a review, seeing how I disagree with the only other review written here.

I am a beginner and I think the book has a easy-to-understand approach. Also, the cd with the book contains a lot of trial versions, among other things flash5, which I can't wait to test out. (and yes, I checked: all the things that are supposed to be on the cd are there... :) )

So all in all.. this looks very good so far.