Beginning HTML with CSS and XHTML: Modern Guide and Reference (Beginning: from Novice to Professional) (Paperback)

by David Schultz (Author), Craig Cook (Author)
Key Phrases: standard attributes, stuffed crust, event attributes, Deep Dish, Internet Explorer, Geek Pizzeria (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

If you want to get into developing web sites, the most important thing you need is a solid understanding of Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML—the language that the majority of web site content is written in.

Beginning HTML with CSS and XHTML: Modern Guide and Reference incorporates practical examples that will show you how to structure your data correctly using (X)HTML, along with styling and layout basics using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Youll also learn how to add dynamic behavior to your data using the JavaScript™ language.

This book is forward-thinking because all the featured code and techniques are standards compliant and demonstrate best practices—so you wont waste time on outdated, bad techniques. Your web pages will work properly in most web browsers and be accessible to web users with disabilities, easily locatable with popular search engines, and compact in file size.

Even if you already know HTML and CSS basics, this book will still be useful to you. It features comprehensive reference tables at the back, so you can look up all of the troublesome attributes, codes, and properties quickly and easily.

Pick up a copy of this book because it:

• Teaches standards-compliant HTMLnot outdated techniques
• Includes reference sections for you to easily look up syntax
• Doesnt require previous programming experience for comprehension

Bruce Lawson and Gez Lemon acted as technical reviewers of Beginning HTML with CSS and XHTML. Bruce and Gez are active members of the Web Standards Project's Accessibility Task Force, and have helped ensure that the book follows current guidelines and best practice.

About the Author
David Schultz is an IT professional with more than 14 years of successful experience implementing systems, including web-based applications. He has an in-depth knowledge and experience with online web-based decision support systems and desktop applications. He's previously authored several books and articles, and has tech reviewed dozens of books.

To follow.

Product Details

• Paperback: 427 pages
• Publisher: Apress (June 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590597478
• ISBN-13: 978-1590597477
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #111,757 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #34 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Languages & Tools > XHTML
  #50 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Languages & Tools > CSS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Valuable yet uneven, November 29, 2007

By	Adrienne Rice Adams "Web and graphic designer" (Lopez Island, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Every master was once an apprentice; the beginner must start at the beginning. For the author of an introductory text on a technical subject, the challenge is to adopt the "beginner's mind," which is characterized in Zen practice as "is the mind that is innocent of preconceptions and expectations, judgments and prejudices." The teacher of novices must clear his mind and place himself in the mind of the student who knows little or nothing about a subject. He must be able to transmit complex concepts in clear, non-technical language and provide enough information to make the subject understandable, yet not overwhelm the student with too much information or information that is not pertinent.

The first two chapters of "Beginning HTML with CSS and XHTML: Modern Guide and Reference" satisfies the requirements of a beginner's book quite well. The language is clear, concise, and devoid of jargon. The remainder of the book is quite uneven, probably due to the publisher's decision to employ two authors for the book. Craig Cook (the author of chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 8 and 11) is more than capable of communicating technical information using plain language. His prose is concise and accurate, yet he maintains a gentle, witty tone that is ideal for making the neophyte feel at ease with new material. David Schultz is much less adept at maintaining the `beginner's mind.' His prose is often convoluted and awkward, making it difficult to decipher the terms he attempts to explain.

Chapter 4 is an excellent overview of the basic structure of a semantically structured web document. For someone looking for an introduction to HTML and CSS fundamentals, the book is worth buying for this chapter alone. It would also serve a more experienced hand as a concise guide to the proper use of HTML elements.

Chapters 3, 6, and 7 all have a common weakness: the author fails to provide clear definitions and explanations for terms. An example, from p. 164: "charoff: Specifies in pixels or as a percentage how far the alignment should be adjusted to the first character to align on. This requires the use of the align attribute with the value set as char." Contrast this definition with one penned by Cook, p.211: "disabled='disabled': When present, disables the control so that it cannot receive focus and its value cannot be modified. Many browsers will display disabled controls a `grayed-out' state. The value of a disabled control is not submitted."

It appears that Mr. Cook devoted a considerable amount of thought to writing his definitions, while Mr. Schultz was content to restate the official specifications. Cook takes the time to carefully explain a term, giving examples of how it is used in the real world. His definitions & explanations indicate a deep and nuanced understanding of the subject material.

Chapter 10 presents an introduction to JavaScript. Appearing out of place in a book on beginning HTML and CSS, one chapter on JavaScript is simply inadequate to explain even the rudiments of this powerful (but often misused) tool. This space could have been better used in covering CSS positioning in more detail and providing more visual examples.

Chapter 11 is a solid walkthrough in putting together a basic website, from the design process through to final markup. This chapter pulls together what has been presented in the rest of the book and would certainly enable a beginner to create an attractive & functional website from scratch.

Finally, the book provides four appendices. The usefulness of these appendices varies widely. Appendix A is an XHTML 1.o Strict reference: it would be useful but for a complete lack of examples. Appendix B covers color names and hex values: does anyone actually use these? HTML colors are notoriously hideous and their use should be avoided. Appendix C covers special characters: this is a good reference to have. Appendix D covers CSS browser support: again, a useful reference.

But why is there no glossary? A glossary of terms is ESSENTIAL in a beginner's book. Please, leave out the scary HTML colors and give us a glossary!

Despite its shortcomings, "Beginning HTML with CSS and XHTML: Modern Guide and Reference" is a useful book for a person needing to understand the fundamental concepts and application of HTML and CSS. The publishers would have served their readers better by providing a consistent authorial voice throughout the book, including more thorough coverage of CSS positioning and layout, and providing more high-quality graphical examples. This book is a good bet for the beginner who wants to learn the fundamentals of HTML and CSS to create well-structured and usable websites.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good for this relative beginner, August 17, 2007

By	Gentle Reader (Sacramento, California) - See all my reviews

I ordered this book along with Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML. I was worried based on reviews that this might be a little over my head. My only program experience is with VBA macro writing. I wanted Head First's book to protect myself from getting lost.

What I found is there was no problem understanding this well-presented and clear text. In fact, I much prefer it to the "dummy downed" Head First book. Had I to do it over, this would have been my only purchase.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent primer into the world of the web developer, July 2, 2007

By	Bazz Learnmore (Lafayette, CA) - See all my reviews

As a hard-core software engineer who builds browser-based applications for a living, I often find myself appalled at my lack of knowledge of the inner workings of the code that my software dynamically creates, HTML.

This book gave me a better understanding of some of the areas I was really interested in, like web-standards compliance, XHTML and the proper use of doc-types.

Highly recommended for both beginners (my teenage kids are using it to jazz-up their myspace pages!) and old-hacks like me.