XML: Your Visual Blueprint for Building Expert Web Pages (With CD-ROM) [Paperback]

Emily A. Vander Veer (Author), Rev Mengle (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764534777 | ISBN-13: 978-0764534775 | Publication Date: January 15, 2000

XML (Extensible Markup Language) allows Web developers to enhance database connectivity, enrich pages with specialized data elements, and otherwise move beyond the limitations of HTML. This highly visual tutorial demonstrates over 100 different XML operations, from formulating Document Type Definitions (DTDs) to setting up styles with Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL). The CD-ROM contains code examples and an e-version of the book.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Read Less, Learn More
Welcome to the only guidebook series that takes a visual approach to professional-level computer topics. Open the book and you'll discover step-by-step screen shots that demonstrate over 100 key XML tasks, including:

• Defining a namespace
• Declaring Document Type Definition elements
• Adding comments to a DTD file
• Declaring DTD entities and notations
• Validating a cascading style sheet
• Creating an XLS style sheet
• Build and XML "data island"
• Accessing the XML Document Object Model
• Adding an embedded XLink

Web authoring and editing tools on CD-ROM!

• XML Notepad, Larval, and Expat
• Shareware version of StyleMaker
• Tryouts of XED and HomeSite 4.5 for Windows
• Plus all code and examples from the text and a searchable e-version of the book

Extra Apply It

• "Apply It" and "Extra" sidebars highlight useful tips
• High-resolution screen shots demonstrate each task
• Succinct explanations walk you through step-by-step
• Two-page lessons break big topics into bite-sized modules

About the Author

Emily A. Vander Veer has written several Internet-related books, including IDG Books' JavaScript For Dummies and JavaBeans For Dummies. Her work has appeared in numerous online and print publications including Byte, CNET, Object Magazine, and WEBTechniques.

Product Details

• Paperback: 315 pages
• Publisher: Visual (January 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764534777
• ISBN-13: 978-0764534775
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,514,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Dummies" for Real-Life Programming Dummies, December 14, 2000

By 

Erica Mulyadi (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: XML: Your Visual Blueprint for Building Expert Web Pages (With CD-ROM) (Paperback)

I finally found a self-taught computer book that doesn't make me question my language comprehension ability. This book cuts to the chase and tells you what you really need to know, instead of long passages of history dating back to the Civil War, as often done by other publishers. Every chapter is done in two pages, and step-by-step screenshots of the programming steps are shown. Programming tips and potential errors are also stated clearly in a single sentence, instead of "nested" (a little programming joke ;-P)in another sentence. This book reads like a reference, yet it is informational enough. But if you expect explanation behind every coding, you'll hate me as your reviewer because this book is not comprehensive enough in that sense.

The CD-Rom includes codes and examples and searchable e-book for your practice sessions. Aside from visual learners, I would definitely recommend this book to practical, on need-to-know basis learners and those who are not blessed with patience as their virtues. With all these new web standards coming up, who's got the time?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for those with zero XML background, April 9, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: XML: Your Visual Blueprint for Building Expert Web Pages (With CD-ROM) (Paperback)

I find this book better than the XML for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide by Elizabeth Castro. I went to a bookstore and browsed both, read the first 35 pages of each book, and this book by Emily Vander Veer has far more info per page, and so I ended-up buying it on Amazon. It is easier to understand (at least for me) because of the way the book arranges / presents the examples. Your mind doesn't get too overwhelmed/distracted too much by searching for info on a page. Only disadvantage is the smaller font on the examples... It's a great start. As long as you don't ask too many "why" questions, it will tell you "how to". I now know more about XML today than I did last week - and the year before. This book won't teach you everything about XML, you'll need a more advance book afterwards. But hey, I don't know too many "complete, all-in-one" books. A minimum background on HTML would help. If you have done Java/Servlet/HTML/ASP programming, this should be perfect, and with just a bit more imagination you can see the bigger picture. I totally do not agree with the negative feedbacks given about the book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful for beginners, March 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: XML: Your Visual Blueprint for Building Expert Web Pages (With CD-ROM) (Paperback)

This book is wonderful, if you don't have a clue about all this new web-technologies popping up every day. I was totally lost buying book after book to learn XML (all with great reviews, very thick and boring). It was almost like learning an extraterrestrial language! This book is perfect to start building up your knowledge so you can understand the most complex books later on.

Too bad I could just find this book going to a bookstore, examining it, since the reviews here were not very good.

I hope that my review can help whoever is a beginner web-developer like me (not necessarily a beginner programmer).