HTML Dog: The Best-Practice Guide to XHTML and CSS (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

For readers who want to design Web pages that load quickly, are easy to update, accessible to all, work on all browsers and can be quickly adapted to different media, this comprehensive guide represents the best way to go about it. By focusing on the ways the two languages--XHTML and CSS--complement each other, Web design pro Patrick Griffiths provides the fastest, most efficient way of accomplishing specific Web design tasks. With Web standards best practices at its heart, it outlines how to do things the right way from the outset, resulting in highly optimized web pages, in a quicker, easier, less painful way than users could hope for! Split into 10 easy-to-follow chapters such as Text, Images, Layout, Lists, and Forms, and coupled with handy quick-reference XHTML tag and CSS property appendixes, HTML Dog is the perfect guide and companion for anyone wanting to master these languages. Readers can also see the lessons in action with more than 70 online examples constructed especially for the book.

About the Author

Patrick Griffiths of London, England, has been an HTML specialist since 1999. He has worked in this specific capacity for, amongst others, Vodafone, educational establishments, and on various government projects. More recently, as a developer and instructor for his own company, Vivabit, he has given expert training to organizations such as Amnesty International, Legal and General, and London's Natural History Museum. As well as writing and maintaining the HMTL Dog Web site, he has contributed to resources such as A List Apart and the CSS Zen Garden, and is an active, well-known member of the web design community.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press (December 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321311396
• ISBN-13: 978-0321311399
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #112,897 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #25 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Languages & Tools > XHTML
  #31 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Languages & Tools > CSS
  #37 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Microsoft > Word Processing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide to using CSS with XHTML Strict, February 28, 2008

By	Kiwi BIM (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This book is not a comprehensive encyclopedia of every CSS nuance, but it presents all the main areas in a very clear, but not dumbed-down manner. Basically it answered my three questions:
1. I wanted to re-write an older web site using CSS and modern HTML web stds, so where do I start?
2. What is my best approach?
3. Why would I want to do it that way?
So along the way it clarified for me how I should use divs for page structure, improve my navigation lists, specify font size in the best manner, and most of all how to use css in a structured way with minimal rewriting of styles etc for subtle changes in page requirements.
The book is probably most useful if you want to follow his emphasis and use XHTML Strict with CSS.
Very nicely written, very cleanly laid out. The associated website is useful, but the book stands alone as a very useful reference or starter for someone wanting to design their pages in an effective standards-based way.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Reference, May 12, 2007

By	W. Craft (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Clear, concise, accurate. If I could only keep one CSS/XHTML book on my desk, this would be the one.

The author also provides an excellent website that builds on the topics covered in the book[...]

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best In Show, November 26, 2007

By	45Caliber (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

I spent some time really digging into other books in this category (library) with the intention of getting up to speed with modern web coding and best practices. I found this text to be the most useful, both as a learning resource and future reference guide and so, HTML Dog is now on my shelf. Note: The book is meant as a companion to an extensive online archive, and works well in this regard, as the more gimmicky (read: "fad") techniques are best excluded from the printed text.