Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself Web Publishing With Html 3.2 in a Week

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Notoriety maybe. A good book? Teach Yourself HTML may have brought Lemay notoriety but it was hardly because the original book was good. It was more a matter of timing. At the time there were only a few other HTML books and lots of people wanted to learn publishing for the Web. Lemay has a knack for timing. Her Teach Yourself Java hit the peak demand period as well. It too sold well in the first edition but again this was timing not because it was a good book.

Teach Yourself hit the streets with the Mosaic browser and Netscape version 1. The Web has advanced tremendously since the days of Mosaic and Netscape 1. Unfortunately Lemay's understanding of Web technology hasn't. Lemay doesn't have a clue about the current state of the web and this book reflects that lack of understanding.

As far as web books go this one is a dud. Readers of all skill levels (Yes beginners too!) should look elsewhere. For beginners who just want the basics I recommend Castro's Visual Quickstart Guide to HTML. For beginners and intermediate who want to know the whole story I recommend Web Publishing Unleashed Professional Reference Edition.

Lemay has been slammed lately for spreading herself too thin, and in many cases this criticism is deserved. But this book (or its predecessors) is what brought her enough notoriety to be able to spread herself thin, and I personally don't believe that it deserves the criticism other people are giving it on this page. Would I buy it to learn about HTML 4? No. But it is a good introduction to and a solid reference guide for HTML; a well-used copy of the previous edition sits within reach of my desk. If you don't really care about all the cutting-edge intricacies of HTML, but are more concerned with creating a usable site, I would definitely recommend this book, along with a copy of the CGI/Perl Cookbook

This book is great if you want to start creating a wepbage in a week. I read the parts I felt I needed but nothing is left out if you are just starting, and the books gets to the point telling you directly what you need to do to get what result.

At the time, I was determined to learn HTML 3.2 without the help of a purchased book. I downloaded the W3 consortium's HTML 3.2 document. I soon realized that examples would be nice. I broke my promise and bought Laura Lemay's book. I was glad that I did! Her style might not please everyone but, I found it humerous and enlightning.

I found the chapters on tables and frames very, very helpfull. For me, Laura's book was an excellent buy and would recommend it to any beginner!

After a half dozen editions you would think Lemay would be able to get this right! This simply isn't the case. The main reason HTML 4 is in the title is to get your money! HTML 4 is little more than a footnote in this book. Lots of other things are little more than footnotes as well. This is very distrubring. If the book doesn't cover what you need what does is cover? I can't answer that. I can say that this isn't a book for anyone who want s to learn HTML

This book is certainly a quick and easy way to learn HTML. Unfortunately, the index is incomplete (would that writers of a book like this would learn from Rombauer's "Joy of Cooking"!), and there are little mistakes (an integer following SIZE= is shown in quotes).

The major problem with the index is that keywords are listed under (e.g.) ATTRIBUTES and TAGS, but not independently; hence, in order to use the index, the reader must either search, or know enough HTML to know where to look in the first place.

The minor errors, like the quotation marks, are annoying if one tries to use the book as a set of paradigms, since it takes time to figure out why the resulting HTML doesn't do what one expected.

Well formatted tutorial book that gets you started programming right away! No reading 10 chapters to get the idea. Laura Lemay introduces you to the web, discusses planning a web page, then gets you started with simple programming. Appendices are well organized to provide quick reference on use of specific tags. Well worth your money!

I have 16 years of code development with nearly as many languages, most of them self-taught. I've taught myself by reading manuals, periodicals, and 3rd party books. Most of the time the writers are so enamored with their knowledge that they forget who they are writing for ... those of us who know little or nothing on the subject. Ms. Lemay's style was refreshing and kept me from falling asleep. Yes, some of it was simple, but that was just what I needed as this was my first HTML book. I recommend this for anyone who is not looking for a book full of techno-babble.

They had me hooked the minute I saw the flashing neon signs and the bright lights. I thought how can I go wrong with an author who has her own series. I wanted to learn this HTML stuff, so I bought two of her books. Big mistake. Very big mistake. A friend recommended that the next time I shop for books I mentally transpose the e and the a to ensure I don't make the same mistake ever again. The biggest problem with this book is the clutter. There's so much filler that the real deal is lost in the translation. On the off chance the author stumbles onto something interesting, she manages to screw it up by being utterly boring. Very boring

Ms. Laura Lemay's tutorial through Html 3.2 was very intuitive, instructive, and interesting. Despite reading three or four other html books, I was finally able to get the 'low down' on html from Lemay's easy-to-read and understand writing. It included help guidelines and checklists, but could have used more screen shots and steps. Overall, it was very helpful. YOU REALLY CAN LEARN IT IN A WEEK !