Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML
by Elisabeth Freeman, Elisabeth Robson, Eric T Freeman
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Book Reviews of Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML
Book Review: Better than it looks
Summary: 5 Stars
I passed over this book initially because it looked too goofy, and the first half of the book seemed to take a lot of pages to cover HTML, which I basically already knew. I picked up Richard York's Beginning CSS instead, because it seemed more serious, and it looked a lot more dense with technical detail.
What a mistake. Beginning CSS was incredibly obtuse and difficult to get through, and the examples were just ugly (not to mention they don't work properly in any browser). A couple hundred pages in, I got lost in all the "direct adjacent sibling combinators" and "@import notations" and I gave up.
Then I decided to give Head First HTML a shot. It's about the same thickness as Beginning CSS, but it's much much much easier to read. The type is bigger, and there are lots of illustrations and puzzles and what-not. Most importantly, it's written much more clearly. The examples are easy to code, they look great, and they actually work in real web browsers.
I got through the book in about a week and a half, and boom, I know how to write standards-compliant XHTML & CSS. Obviously, I still have plenty of room for advancement, but I know enough to put together some pretty decent web pages. The book is up-to-date (it even mentions iWeb, which was just released earlier this year), and it really does make the learning process easy and, dare I say, fun.
Book Review: I love this book!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been using HTML for quite a while, but I really didn't understand it -- largely because I couldn't bring myself to care. I just used my cheat sheet a lot.
Having worked through thsi book, I understand it all well enough to remember it.
This is the first book in the Head First series that I've used, and I hesitated because of the price. I already had an HTML book, and it seemed like an extravagance. It is absolutely worth it.
Now that I've emoted over it, let me describe the book for you.
It's like a good language book. This is very sensible, since HTML is a language of a sort, but I've never seen it before.
Instead of big blocks of code you're supposed to copy, the book works through concepts and patterns, with plenty of exercises and graphics to clarify it all before you're expected to take it to the keyboard.
There is an element of cuteness here, but it's sharp, not silly, and there is nothing extraneous. The entire book is designed to work with the way human brains learn information.
You'll work through everything from basic structures to getting your pages on the web to CSS. The natural "Wouldn't it be easier to...?" objections are presented, with explanations of why taking early shortcuts leads to regrets later. This is a good alternative to trial and error.
I'm going to order my next Head First book right away.
Book Review: The ONLY Textbook I Read Cover to Cover!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is, as the title says, the only textbook I have ever read cover-to-cover. Having nearly finished my college career and not having even read some of my textbooks beyond chapter 1 because they were so dry, I can truthfully say that this book was a joy to read. I had known some very flimsy css before I picked up this book. I didn't really know html, and everything I'd learned was from various sources online.
Anytime anyone tried to help me and introduce something complicated I would just plug my ears and hum (figurateively speaking) because I was afraid that I would get overwhelmed, which usually is what happened if I tried to figure it out. BUT! Then I read this book. In one day. I literally sat down and started reading, and could NOT put the thing down. It's engaging. It's entertaining! It appealed to my ADHD-nature with lots of little side notes and anecdotes, and most importantly, it explained HTML and CSS in a way that I could understand and easily reproduce. I started the book as a beginner in CSS, and finished an intermediate web designer. If you know a little but are looking to fill in the gaps, you should try this book. It will fill them. Also, if you know NOTHING and have NO idea about web design but are looking for a place to start, this book starts at the beginning! It uses NORMAL PEOPLE SPEECH and not technical jargon.
Book Review: A really wonderful tutorial
Summary: 5 Stars
Update:
The book came out in an improved binding and the publisher kindly made good on replacement. So, I now rate it at 5 stars. I rate the publisher even higher - great job on customer support!
My earlier review is below:
I really like the approach as a tutorial. It is an excellent introduction to HTML / CSS / XHTML. I am repeatedly amazed at the considerable thought that must have gone into the presentation of the material. The exercises are clever and the tone is engaging. From Chapters 1 -15, the tutorial progressively ramps you up and has you doing hands-on along the way. It gives you confidence.
The only aggravation is that by Chapter 10, sections of pages started to come undone from the binding. At over 650 pages, the book is a heavyweight. The binding seems too constricting for it. At first, it resisted staying open. Once it "relaxed", it began to slowly separate. It progressed to whole clumps of pages coming unglued from the binding and detaching. Other books have given me years of like-new service, but this one will soon be unusable.
I gave the book only 4 stars because it is falling apart. Actually, I would rate it this way: Book content, approach and presentation=5 stars. Binding=0 stars. At over $26, a book ought to hold together, at least long enough to read through it once.
Book Review: Truly Awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first picked this up, I thought "Wait, I've been doing web sites for years. I know a lot about HTML." Well I was wrong. I learned quite a few things about HTML & CSS I previously was unaware of. Not only does this book contain a wealth of information for any web designer (or beginners wanting to learn more), but it conveys that information in a way that's at times funny, entertaining and informative, all at the same time. This is the kind of book that makes you "want" to learn, as opposed to "needing" to learn. Not only are there coded examples, but there are exercises in each chapter to help you learn. And with all the humorous little bits throughout the book, in addition to the diagrams and illustrations you can;t help but walk away feeling like HTML is a breeze to learn.
I wish there'd been a book like this when I first started to learn web design several years ago. It would have saved me some mistakes along the way, which I've now had to unlearn as well as deleting from the sites I maintain. The Head First series is one of the best ones O'Reilly has ever published, which is saying a lot considering the high quality books they have published. Not only that, it's set up in a way where it is easy to go back and refer to various topics once you're finished reading the book. I can see I'll have this book a long time.