Customer Reviews

Sams Teach Yourself HTML and XHTML in 24 Hours (5th Edition)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This text will not make you a wizened internet programming guru... but it doesn't pretend to do so. What it does promise, and deliver, is a solid grounding in the creation of basic web pages. The book starts with the absolute basics; nothing is assumed. Finding someone to host your web site is covered, as is the creation of files using the Windows Notepad text editor and the uploading of files onto a web hosting computer. And, of course, there's a tremendous amount of detail in creating web pages.

It's important to note that there are two approaches to creating web pages today: you can create them by hand, using XHTML code written with a simple text editor like notepad; or you can use a web page authoring package, such as DreamWeaver or FrontPage. Using a program like DreamWeaver (most agree its the #1 program of its type) will allow you to create web pages much more quickly than by hand coding them; and unless you have an innate skill as a design artist, they will likely look better than something you hand code.

On the other hand, you'll never have a clue about how the code actually works, if you don't learn XHTML; and so you'll never be able to modify it. You'll be stuck with whatever the web authoring package can do for you. And there's also the cost factor: web authoring packages cost several hundreds of dollars, but notepad is free; it's part of the Microsoft Windows operating system. (Macs have a similar built in text editor.)

Most internet pros can do both; they regularly use DreamWeaver as a production tool, but know XHTML so that they can quickly modify what the program generates when the need arises. On the other hand, amateurs building simple web pages probably would never be able to justify the cost of a full blown web authoring package, so learning XHTML makes perfect sense.

Either way, learning XHTML is an appropriate way to start your web page building education; and this book is the perfect way to do so. Having read several books on the subject - including some thousand+ page hardcover whoppers - I can confidently state that this book does a spectacular job of teaching you exactly what you need to know. It gets right to the point, and quickly and simply teaches the core material. All the fluff is gone; everything in this book is solid. There's thorough coverage of graphics, animated graphics, even some javascript. There's a lot of reference to readily available tools on the net, and some indication of how they might be used. I was particularly impressed with the clarity of the instruction; the book does a spectacular job of identifying and teaching exactly what needs to be taught, while deftly avoiding extraneous discussion. Most universities don't provide a quality of instruction as crisp and as easily followed as that contained within this book.

So what's missing? Not much. There's no coverage of Flash to speak of, or CGI scripting. I didn't see any mention of secure HTML, so you'll need more than this book in order to start processing credit cards, or conducting commerce. And a few of the web resource links that the author provides are dead links, and haven't worked for years; they should have been caught during the revision process.

But these are mere quibbles; make no mistake, this book gives you an awful lot. If your desire is a really good book that starts right at the very beginning, and gives you enough knowledge to build really good looking web pages from scratch... then this is your book. If you want to set up a simple web page for yourself - or an informational web page designed to promote your home business - this is a great text. And if you plan on persuing a career as a web page developer, but have no previous knowledge of web design or HTML... then this is a great book to start with.

The book is now in its 6th edition, and that says a lot; publishers won't revise a book with poor sales. For a computer book to be revised and released 6 times is a dramatic testament to its popularity, and inherent quality. I can only think of one other book on my bookshelf - Muellers' Upgrading and Repairing PCs - that has shown such a continuing popularity level.

When you invest in this book, you get a lot of value. When you've learned and applied everything in this book, you'll be able to create extremely good looking and well written informational web pages from scratch, without having to rely on a web authoring package; and you'll be completely prepared to learn the intricacies of Java, Flash, and CGI scripting, if you so choose. However, probably 90% or more of the people who read this book, will never need to move beyond it.

For most web pages, this book is all you'll ever need.

By no means, is it just for beginners. I use it as a reference every day, and I don't let it out of my site! With style & humor, Dick educates the reader with examples and exercises that are meaningful & applicapable to real-world environments. The steps he take the reader though, each chapter building on the previous chapter, together with the companion web-site examples, helped me overcome the frustrations I was experiencing with the lack of control and limits of FrontPage.

I was astonished to find that coding pages by hand was easier, more controllable, and more rewarding than using an HTML generator. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn HTML, or just needing a great reference manual. Thanks, Dick!

Easy to read content, very well laid out, simple explanations. This book is exactly what I was looking for. The ideal guide for HTML beginners!

This book was easy to follow and explained things very well. I felt as if I could give it to my 10 year-old and he would be able to follow it (haven't tried this yet thought!)
It took me a lot longer than 24 hours to get through the book - I worked on an outline of my web site as I was going through it.
It also gave a great preview of Javascript and XML.
My only complaint is with the reference at the end which could have been laid out a little better.

This is the best introductory book on HTML and XHTML that is on the market today. Oliver and Morrison cover all the basics in a way that is accessible to all who have a strong desire to learn. In addition to the basics of HTML, there is some coverage of cascading style sheets(CSS), Javascript, dynamic HTML(DHTML), and extensible markup language(XML). This coverage is of course necessarily limited, although it is enough to show you what they all can do.
If you are an HTML beginner, then this is the book you should investigate first.

I have been using a canned program to manage my company's web site, but I wasn't always able to do fine tune the pages the way I wished. So I decided to teach myself HTML. Working through this book, I was able to learn step by step how to design pages and manipulate the images and text. The book is very clear and concise and the exercises the author gives at the end of every chapter are extremely useful.

I have used this book in my class room (beginning HTML) for
a couple years now. People consistently say they
find the book readable and easy to understand. Excellent job,
example are simple and fun.

Having been out of web Development for a couple years, I needed confidence that my basic understanding was up to speed. This book HTML and XHTML in 24 hours, brought me up to date rather quickly. It provided the foundation that I needed both to build some basic web application prototypes, and to be able to begin reading more specialized books on Web Development. Specifically books on CSS.

Best computer related book that I have ever read. I was somewhat familiar with HTML concepts, but never created my own web page. The lessons are organized well and are so easy to follow! They even go over applets, Active X, and JavaScript. Awesome, awesome book.

I needed to learn the latest standard of HTML 4 and this book's title caught my eye. I like the format of the Sams 24 lessons each taking an hour. But it takes more than an hour to do each lesson if you input the examples yourself and have to debug your syntax errors. The only problem I had was with the XML example that did not work and did not work on the author's website either. I would get a "process could not start" error and I'm using the Microsoft browser IE 6, so it shouldn't be a browser problem. Anyway, I recommend this book for active professionals that want a "working" textbook they can use to have your website up and running in about 6 hours from "scratch" provided you have space reserved on the internet to create a website.