Mastering Integrated HTML and CSS [Paperback]

Virginia DeBolt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 047009754X | ISBN-13: 978-0470097540 | Publication Date: February 20, 2007

This unique approach to learning HTML and CSS simultaneously shows you how to save time and be more productive by learning to structure your (X) HTML content for best effect with CSS styles. You’ll discover how to create websites that are accessible to the widest range of visitors, build CSS for print and handheld devices, and work with a variety of CSS-based layouts. Using the latest standards, best practices, and real-world examples, this book offers you with a thorough grounding in the basics and also includes advanced techniques.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A Unique Approach to Learning HTML and CSS Simultaneously.

Master Hpertext (or Extensible Hypertext) Markup Language (HTML/XHTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and You're well on your way to creating modern, accessible Websites. This comprehensive guide offers integrated instruction in both. You'll save time and get more productive by learning to structure your (X) HTML content for best effect with CSS styles, from the start.

Using the latest standards, best practices, and real-world examples, web expert Virginia DeBolt offers a thorough grounding in the basics plus advanced techniques for those who want to improve their current skills or learn more modern ways of working. You'll find out how to create websites that are accessible to the widest range o visitors, learn the latest specs, build CSS for print and handheld devices, and work with a variety of CSS-based layouts.

COVERAGE INCLUDES:

• Writing XHTML and CSS using correct syntax
• Working with fixed and fluid two- and three-column layouts
• Styling links as CSS popups
• Creating and applying styles to make an accessible form
• Mastering hierarchy, alignment, focal point, and other design concepts
• publishing and testing your pages
• Working bloat-free with CSS in Dreamweaver®
• Weaning yourself from table-based layouts and out-of-date coding

FEATURED ON THE CD
The companion CD includes all the materials you need to work through each chapter, as well as sample site materials, Style Me test pages, bonus color palettes, and trial software.

• A Complete Solution for Integrating (X) HTML and CSS from the Start
• Covers the Latest Standards from the World Wide Web Consortium
• Full Coverage for Users of All Skill Levels
• Classroom Ready! Full Courseware and Instructor Support Materials Included
• Gain Inspiration from Top-notch Examples of Real Websites Built Using CSS

About the Author

Virginia DeBolt grew up in southern Colorado, where her father often took her fishing and hunting. She can still walk off with a teddy bear from the shooting gallery at the fair. After receiving her college degrees, she taught in public schools in Colorado and New Mexico. Her first computer was a Commodore 64. The schools were using Apple IIe computers and Virginia quickly became the “computer person” in the school.
Her first four books were written to teach writing using cooperative learning and are still in print and selling well. She graduated to a blazingly fast 8 MHz Mac Classic to celebrate her status as a working writer.
In the mid-1990s, she moved to Texas and took some classes with the notion of finding work as a technical writer. One class was in HTML, and Virginia’s life was never the same after that. HTML took over her thoughts, dreams, conversation, time, and energy. Soon she had a contract tech writing job by day, and a part time gig teaching HTML at the community college by night. The dining room of her home was filled with office tables and a web of wires between two Macs, two Windows boxes, assorted scanners, printers, and Zip drives. In the free time between her two jobs, she was making web sites for fun.
The HTML teaching job sent her searching in places like SXSW Interactive conferences for answers and ideas. But what she heard in the conference halls and what she saw in the books that were available to teach HTML and Dreamweaver were 180 degrees apart. In 2001, she started writing reviews of these books on her blog at www.webteacher.ws.
The Web Teacher blog brought her to the attention of computer book publishers. After contributing to books written by other people, she decided to write her own book to promote her theory that HTML and CSS should be taught as integrated skills, not as two distinct and separate ideas. The first book was Integrated HTML and CSS: A Smarter, Faster Way to Learn (Wiley, 2004). The second is the one you hold in your hand now.
Oh, her latest computer? There’s just one. A Mac laptop that needs almost no wires strung about and does Windows on demand.

Product Details

• Paperback: 616 pages
• Publisher: Sybex (February 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047009754X
• ISBN-13: 978-0470097540
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 1.6 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #351,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a retired educator who began a second career in high tech in the mid 1990s when I fell head over heels in love with HTML. I taught HTML and Dreamweaver classes at the college level for several years. There I developed some definite ideas about best practices in teaching web design. I am interested in helping learners and teachers develop web design skills that use standards and accessibility.

During my career in education, I wrote several books for teachers that help them teach writing using cooperative learning techniques.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easiest tutorial I've found yet, April 11, 2007

By 

Eugene I. Humbert "Colorado Book Lover" (Strasburg, Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mastering Integrated HTML and CSS (Paperback)

I've been studying at web design and construction for over 10 years. Since I'm both dyslexic and limited in my short-term memory, I've had problems with doing more than just the basics. Understanding XHTML and CSS have been problematic for me, and I've had to rely on programs like Dreamweaver and Front Page to write my pages. This book is finally bringing home how web pages are constructed, and how CSS is used for both styling and positioning things. Virginia has put together the best method of presenting the material in a manner that I can comprehend, and hopefully retain. I've purchased a lot of books on web construction, but none have helped me as much as this one has, and continues to do. I'll keep it over all the others as a reference in the future.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for modern, standards based design, May 1, 2007

By 

Allison Martin "Book Reviewer" (comeunity.com) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mastering Integrated HTML and CSS (Paperback)

Virginia DeBolt's newest book is an excellent resource for modern, standards based design. It combines the depth of a well qualified instruction with lively, real world examples of practical web applications. This book will save you so many hours of work and research by showing you how techniques have evolved and how each application meets the various standards. Webpage structure (including columns), various navigation methods, working with images and picture galleries, banners, links, blogs, and much more are all discussed. Also included (in color) are inspirational website designs showing these modern CSS based techniques.

In the course of designing our numerous large websites for parent support I have read over a dozen design and coding books on html and css, and this is one book I return to over and over again.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars simple to understand full of information, May 9, 2008

By 

Richard Adams "Aspiring designer" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mastering Integrated HTML and CSS (Paperback)

Clear and concise, this book has taken me from knowing nothing about web design to publishing a site of my own in 3 weeks. While there is much more to learn, my site is running smoothly and 100% W3C Strict compliant.