Customer Reviews

HTML, XHTML, and CSS All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is difficult to find one book that takes you from nothing to standards-compliant web sites. It's even more difficult to find books that don't recommend paying insane amounts of money for programs like Dreamweaver. The author provides lots of alternative choices to the big name software and uses this software throughout his examples. I am very grateful that I picked up this book and think that I could probably actually start a web design business after reading it. A million thank-yous to the authors!

I have been out of web design for years. In fact the last time I built a web page I was still using a single html doc and usually some images with hotspots. This book got me back in the saddle and quickly had me building great looking and functional web pages and sites.

This book covers everything from basic html to css to MySQL and PHP. There is really no other book you could get that will help you build a more complete website at this level.

I'd recommend this book to anyone wanting to start their own web pages.

HTML, XHTML, and CSS All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

A Great book! It answers all of my questions relating to all of the several web page languages that I have only partially understood. I now have a solid foundation for going onto more complex programming material and for developing great web applications. The recommendations for free software are terrific. Free works for me. I now have all of the tools I need on my lap top,including my own Apache server running MYSQL. Thank you Andy and Chris.

I failed my college web design course. I should have bought this book first. Within a couple days, I had created a page that would have gotten me an A in the class. This book is easy to use, and has a lot of great examples. It even comes with all of the software you will need. If you're considering having your own website, even if you are using site builder or a template program, you should buy this book. You never know when you will need to edit the coding to fix something, or add in a new feature. I definitely recommend this book. A++

I've been bodging and hacking my way through all sorts of Web-based projects for years, and had only recently begun to progress beyond hacking other people's code. This is an awesome primer for someone who wants to get a grounding in a wide variety of Web technologies. However, don't expect detailed how-tos on more advanced stuff (for example- styling dropdown menus with CSS.) What you will get is enough solid info to supercharge your further efforts down the line. This is the book for learning to walk before you can run.

There is enough material in this book for two college courses. It is written by a very good teacher. The Dummies editors forced him to call it a desk reference, but it is also a great tutorial. Even though Wiley wasn't interested in the University environment, I used it very successfully this summer (2009) in a web development course for non-science (computer or otherwise) students.

All the code in the book validates to the XHTML 1.0 Strict DTD. I found this commitment actually made the learning easier. And, as a bonus, if you want to learn XML later, it will be a breeze. Another terrific bonus is all the free software. All the software tools in the book are available online for free!!! That, and the very reasonable price, combine to make this book an outstanding value.

The title points to only the material in the first three minibooks. But the remaining five minibooks cover JavaScript, PHP, MySQL, AJAX and CMS (content management systems). XAMPP is a free download to turn your computer into a server on which you can practice all the issues in web development.

Our success with the book this summer has led me to adopt it this fall for 9 sections of the course! I highly recommend this book.

This is an excellent book on Web programming. Don't let the title fool you, this book covers programming concepts far beyond HTML and CSS. Before I read it, I was confused by the dizzying array of web languages out there. Why in the world would a website use five different languages? This book brings clarity to the issue, explaining the purpose of each language and how to use it.

I have only one problem with the book. There are two full "programming" languages taught: JavaScript and PHP. The PHP section seems to be written for someone learning their first programming language, with concepts explained thoroughly and plenty of analogies. The JavaScript section, while teaching the same concepts but in JavaScript, seems to assume a basic understanding of programming. Here's the problem: The Javascript section is first. I didn't care because I understood programming basics before reading the book, but I can see how someone else would be confused. The whole book holds your hand, you don't need any prior knowledge, until the JavaScript section where you seem to be thrown in the deep end. Then the later PHP section goes back and gently eases you into programming. It's quite odd.

But the book as a whole is fantastic.

Gives you a good basic overview of the subject matter. What I didn't like was the "See http://hostname.xxx/whatever.xxx for more details." I bought the book for the information, not for references on the web to find the information. Heck I can find that myself without a book to tell me where to search and find it.

I can finally clean my desk and throw everything away. Except for this book. It contains all the info I need - well organised and well explained. Finally I will stop collecting pieces and bites from different sources. Many thanks to Andy and Chris :) Great Job!

With experience in old-style HTML (hand) coding, I wanted to get myself up-to-date with what's happening in web design and implementation. And man, this book by Andy and Chris delivered. The author has a pleasant, breezy style that's informative and easy to read. And the accompanying CD is loaded with lots of cool stuff in addition to sample code. My only complaint is that at 900 pages I had trouble holding the thing while I was reading in bed! [kidding] This is a super book. 5-Stars baby!