Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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322 of 333 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great "how to" book!, March 5, 2000
A few weeks ago I developed a simple strategy for evaluating how-to books about technology. Books about computers should: 1) weigh less than a gallon of milk; 2) cost less than twenty dollars; 3) be updated yearly; 4) come with some kind of technical support via a website or an author email; and 5) Be clear, be clear, be clear. Books that comply with these requirements will achieve every author's dream of being good and popular at the same time. Elizabeth Castro writes books in this manner, and once again her HTML 4 For The World Wide Web (fourth edition) has found its way to the top of the bestseller lists for books about computers and the Internet. The book covers all the important aspects of HTML 4, including the latest updates about Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2. Each chapter gets right to the point and teaches you how to do things: format text, make links, add multimedia, make tables, frames, and forms. You get a handy color chart on the back inside cover of the book; and a whole chapter called "Extras" that teaches lesser-known tricks such as how to password-protect a directory, soup up your mailto links, create buttons with tables, and create and automatic slide show. There are also chapters about scripts, the essentials of JavaScript, and how to get people to visit your page after you've published it on the Web. The Visual Quickstart Guide format itself is an exemplary vehicle for Castro's instructional skills. Every page contains at least one diagram, so that the reader can SEE what's happening on their computer screen. All the lessons are divided into small bite-sized segments which are easy to digest. This strategy, known as "micro-uniting," has been proven to be the most effective way to teach. You can read the book straight through from start to finish, or you can use it as a reference book and jump in to any chapter. After each lesson, you may find yourself saying amazedly: "It's easy to do that!" In just a short time, working with this book, you'll be able to create useful, sophisticated and attractive effects on your web pages. Elizabeth Castro is one of those great how-to writers who anticipate your questions and thus make the learning process fast, efficient, and fun. HTML 4 For The World Wide Web is the ideal book to beginners who want to learn how to make web pages, and for intermediate-level users who want to give their web pages more features and a thoroughly professional look. Paperback, 384 pagesMichael Pastore, Reviewer
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172 of 179 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the one!, March 8, 2000
First of all, many books go into way too much detail in explaining the concepts of HTML. Most of the material in the thousand-pagers are useless. Ms. Castro cuts to the chase, presenting brief and accurate explainations of HTML tags, style sheets, and the creation and use of images that work on the web. The only other book on HTML that I've purchased in the past were the "for Dummies" volumes a few years ago. I put them down shortly after being bored to tears and severly discouraged. HTML seemed like a vast subject. In fact, it's the easiest language (if you can call it that)to learn on a computer. ANYBODY can write HTML code and Ms. Castro proves it in this book. A wealth of examples is provided on her website for each chapter. Don't miss out on this. WYSIWYG web site programs are nice. But, the real control comes from coding the HTML (with a WYSIWYG editor if you wish). You can do it. This is the book to get. Note to WordPerfect users: if you've ever used the Reveal Codes command in WordPerfect (I used ver 5.2 long ago), then HTML will come easily for you.
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94 of 96 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Peachpit Prints Gold!, July 17, 2000
Having been in the HTML world now for a number of years, I am constantly looking for better references and tutorials. Elizabeth Castro has done both with this excellent book on HTML. Again and again I find myself turning to this book to find ways of doing things that I used to do in JavaScript (the "Gee I Didn't Know HTML Would Do That!" syndrome). What I like most is the format of the book; an excellent index allows the reader to easily look up specifics. The book contains some of the following chapters: Text Formatting, Images, Layout, Links, Lists, Tables, Frames (a big problem area for a lot of web programmers, well presented and explained here with some pretty neat hints and tips), Forms, Style Sheets (happily, this is heavily explained with four chapters dedicated to it's many facets), Scripts (wow! An HTML author who finally admits there are other languages out there! The author even spends a little time on the basics of JavaScript, however, she stays true to the focus of the book, only showing enough to wet the appetite before moving on), debugging (this is another biggy rarely covered by HTML authors, again well done here). The author spend some time even on publishing a web site. The problems and solutions to getting: a domain name, web host, transferring files, getting listed on search engines, etc. Several appendices: Tools, Special Symbols, Colors, and Tag Compatibility are covered. The index is very well done. This book is a must buy for any serious web developer.
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