Customer Reviews

HTML Goodies (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I am someone who researched a BUNCH of books on HTML, not knowing if any of them were going to be what I was looking for - I've NEVER written a webpage, (and still haven't) - but after reading this book, I know I can. It's great, because the author answers any questions that he may raise as you would think of them! This is a great book that introduces anyone to HTML, and leaves out NOTHING. It also goes into the higher levels of HTML too, for fast learners (like you and me). It's not written in a hard to understand technical manner, but a very real-world straightforward approach. (It's like having a friend over who knows how to write webpages). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if you're wanting a point to start learning about HTML, and a great reference to come back to for anybody, experienced or not.

Website programming has become a fun, exciting, and highly profitable experience for many people. Whether someone is a seasoned pro working for a large Web development firm or just doing it for fun and pleasure, it offers something for everyone. Joe Burns has written HTML Goodies to provide a storehouse of cool programming features that will help anyone's site get noticed big time!

This 527-page book is loaded with basic and advanced Website features that are accompanied by printed HTML coding as well as live viewable examples online at its accompanying Website. Readers have many cool features to choose from at their fingertips such as various design options (frames, tables, menus, style sheets, guest books), using audio and video clips, graphic images, creating links, altering text (size, color, font, and placement), and much much more. All of the Web pages, scripts, and graphics used in the book are available online - free for the taking!

Another neat feature of this book is that readers are able to pick and choose what they want to incorporate into their own Websites and then allow Joe to show them how it's done. Plenty of FAQ's (frequently asked questions), and the answers are provided throughout the book to aid in the learning process. Students and budding entrepreneurs should have no trouble incorporating these features into their Websites. They will look sharp online and no one will need to know who the teacher was!

This is one of the better HTML help books available today. It's packed, easy to follow, and the author has gone to great lengths to help his readers catch on. In short time they can pick up the programming skills they need to become successful. It will be a real boost to their confidence! Perhaps one day they will be able to pass along much needed helpful advice to others! Highly recommended!

I discovered Joe Burns, Ph.D. and his online references years ago. Generally I like his stuff a lot, mainly because Joe has a real advantage over most people who write computer books - He is NOT a computer professional! His Ph.D. is in Communications!

That means Joe excels at explaining the way things work, but he is not always as good at writing good code. I actually tried to use his JavaScript book for an introductory JavaScript class I teach. Unfortunately, there were so many errors in his syntax that I never used that text in class again.

In spite of the above comments, if you need a "how to" book to get you started in HTML, this is not a bad reference to begin with. The lessons will lead you step-by-step through core aspects of HTML and will introduce you to many *concepts* of web design in general. Just don't take Joe's word as gospel when it comes to the gritty details.

After you get a feel for HTML, I recommend that you get O'Reilly's "HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide". The O'Reilly text WILL give you the correct (and definitive!) nitty-gritty details, but it is NOT for beginners. Think it as you would a dictionary. Use Joe's book to learn the how and why, then polish your HTML knowledge and skill with the Definitive Guide.

Have fun!

I bought this book, and it's sister publication, JavascriptGoodies, sight unseen! The site was soincredible, I knew I had to support the guy and buy his book(s).

As it turned out, this book was even better than I had anticipated. A lot of the stuff was on the website, but now I had a reference I could carry around with me AND that I could look at while programming, rather than switch back and forth between web pages.

Probably the best asset is the author's writing style. It's in an everyday how-do-you-do-plain-English style. You can tell he's a very well liked professor at the college he teaches at.

When Dr. Burns tells you how to do something, he also tells you WHY you'd want to do that way, as well as other ways you could do it.

This book is just fantastic. Visit the website, and come back here and buy it. END

Joe Burns' easy-reading style will keep learning HTML interesting and fun for any beginner. If you're clueless about HTML, this is where to go. You start at the very beginning and end up at some fairly advanced techniques.

If you want to get a taste of his teaching style, check out The Basic Primers at www.htmlgoodies.com.

People will say to just use the website and not read the book, but I disagree with that for a number of reasons:

1) You can make notes to yourself in the book

2) You can access the information in the book anywhere, not just at a computer.

3) Using the book will force you to type out the HTML (and thus greatly aid you in learning) rather than be tempted to copy and paste source code given at the website.

4) The book is a steal at $16. It has MUCH more value and is way more effective than those $40 and $50 monsters out there.

So if you wanna give making your own webpages a shot, you've found the right place to start.

I wish that I'd bought this book first. Dr. Burns explains, in a conversational tone, very complex HTML techniques. Along with reading the book I visit the companion website almost daily. It is constantly being updated. I also subscribe to his e-newsletter. The best I've seen.

Look no further than this book if you are serious about creating a quality webpage.

This book has enhanced my career, plain and simple!

The strength of this book is the way it focuses on how to create commonly used web page elements. It is excellent for beginners because it assumes that the reader has absolutely no experience with HTML or related technologies. Those with HTML or related experience may find the book's approach a bit tedious and may want to look for more of a heavyweight book.

The book is not useful as a reference, in my opinion, because it does not detail all of the possible options for the various commands. But, it was clearly not the author's intention to write a complete reference manual. For this, I would recommend "HTML The Definitive Guide."

The book's low price makes it an excellent value for the amount if helpful information you will find in it--especially for beginners.

Joe Burns is a genious at explaining HTML! I knew nothing about HTML before I read this book. Now I am able to make professional looking websites with ease. The best thing about this book is how easy it is to understand. Mr. Burns can explain things in a way that anyone can understand. If you nothing about HTML and want to learn it, this is the book for you.

When I was 10 years old I stumbled upon Joe Burns' web page while looking for help to build a Pokemon site. It really helped me learn HTML. As soon as the book came out, I grabbed it and read it. It was a great reference, but basically the same thing as his webpage. He also has special pages for his readers. Thanks to Dr. Burns for getting me started in HTML and inspiring me to explore other programming languages. I am now 12 years old and thanks to Dr. Burns' book and webpage I now know other languages such as Javascript, Visual Basic, XML, and C++. Dr. Burns book which simply teaches you HTML and a little Javascript can lead to more compicated things. I reccomend this book to all who'd like to get started in computer programming. Lastly, I wouldn't reccomend this if your not out of high school. He makes a lot of analogies with that and it confuses me, having never gone to high school. But after I got my mom to explain them I could understand.

Anyhow, great book! Good job Dr. Burns! By the way, you SHOULD DEFENIATELY BUY THIS!!

- Thomas

This book is full of HTML tips and hints, but you can find the same tutorials at the website of the same name. This book is a great thing to have sitting next to you when you're working on a website, because it will help you understand what kind of HTML to use and when. Of course, it also stresses that you shouldn't over do it with different kind of HTML goodies, because that can create annoying website.

This book is definitely a must-have for those of us who like to sit around and make websites.