Special Edition Using XHTML [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There's a considerable amount of information contained in this tome that a Web developer, looking to step up from HTML 4 to XHTML would find useful."PC Pro, July 2001

Product Description

Molly Holzschlag brings her trademark style and and enthusiasm to Special Edition Using XHTML, including comprehensive information that will help web professionals to get the most from XHTML. The book starts by explaining how XHTML differs from HTML, and why it¿s necessary. It then covers the meat of XHTML, including syntax and document creation. Additional topics include creating tables and frames, designing pages effectively, using graphics, color, images and tools, working with stylesheets, adding multimedia and embedded objects, and the relationship between XHTML and XML. Later sections discuss the concept of XHTML modularization, which can be applied to create web content for alternative browsers including pagers, cell phones, and hand held devices.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 976 pages
• Publisher: Que; illustrated edition edition (December 13, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789724316
• ISBN-13: 978-0789724311
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,207,352 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The info is here, but it's too long and has too many errors, December 4, 2002

By	Penmachine "penmachine_com" (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews

I was a bit surprised to find this book on sale, since it was only a year old and seemed to cover material that remains relevant.

I discovered why soon after, and was glad I hadn't paid the full cover price. While Que Special Edition: Using XHTML by Molly E. Holzschlag contains almost everything I wanted to know about XHTML at this point (i.e. how to add the slashes and quotes in the right places), it's nearly 1000 pages, or at least 700 pages too long.

The book:

* is poorly organized.

* contains numerous typos and other mistakes (in both body text and, more unforgivably, in code examples).

* includes several entire chapters that actively flout the very standards XHTML is supposed to enforce.

* features randomly-interspersed chapters from other authors that are poorly integrated with Holzschlag's main text (although they are generally better written than her material).

* often mentions an accompanying CD-ROM that isn't included with the Special Edition, since that's for more-special Premium Editions.

* could easily have been edited down by at least 30% by simply trimming Holzschlag's bloated sentence constructions and repetitive code examples.

Ms. Holzschlag knows what she's talking about, for the most part. The problem is the way she talks about it. To be fair, publishing pressures meant that this new book is really a poorly-updated revision of her HTML 4 book, which itself probably comprises cobbled-together sections of her previous work.

In a way, though, the existence of Using XHTML is encouraging -- I could quite possibly have written a more useful book on the topic myself, and could certainly have helped edit the existing one into a much better (and shorter!) document. Pity that computer books are so often sold by bulk, not quality.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the Best, June 16, 2001

By A Customer

This is an outstanding book on XHTML. It provide simply, easy-to-understand, in depth, and extremely powerful instruction on XHTML. There are plenty of excellent examples, which are clearly explained. It not only shows how, but explains why, all in a extremely clear, understandable and interesting manner.

The book explains the basics, and is great for a beginner, but also deals with integrating XHTML with some other very useful technology, including CSS, XML, XSL, JavaScript, Macromedia Flash, WML and alternative devices (Cell Phones, PDAs, Mobile Computers, Smart Pagers and Phones, etc.), SMIL, downloadable and streaming multimedia (including Real), SVG, and more. It also has useful advice for effective page design, color concepts, graphics, including optimization, splicing, and covers tools from companies like Adobe (PhotoShop, Illustrator, ImageReady, LiveMotion, etc) Corel (CorelDRAW, PHOTO-PAINT), Microsoft, ULEAD, Jasc, and Macromedia. I can't say enough good things about it.

2.0 out of 5 stars New cover, old book, August 5, 2001

By	Zooks "Zooks" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Unfortunately, this book is really just another HTML book with a new cover and an "X" at the beginning.

It has some valid stuff in it, but like so many computer books aimed at a non-technical audience, it is basically sold by weight not by content. It seeks to fill pages with lots and lots of airy stuff. It really could be rendered down to something a quarter the size, but then who would buy such a humble-looking tome.

One thing I thought was particularly bad was that it had quite a lot of stuff that was not even valid XHTML. For example, the book encourages you to use things which do not validate with the W3C's specification. XHTML isn't ubiquitous yet so there may have to be some compromises, but a book like this should start from a position of purity and demonstrate valid work-arounds. It should not be adding stuff from exactly the old versions of hacked HTML which XHTML is seeking to make obsolete.

If you want to learn HTML, you could buy this book. If you want to know XHTML, try something else with viewer pages.