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: Foul language warning for young readers
Summary: 3 Stars
My 8-year-old son has long wanted to learn about this mysterious thing I do at work but I've really struggled to find a book written in an engaging, approachable style that didn't sacrifice good practices (semantic markup, standards, etc.) My son devoured it, whipping through 80 pages the first day. But as he was pointing out some things he'd discovered I encountered a few *unexpected* phrases. Upon reading the prose more closely than I had upon my initial content evaluation, I've so far discovered a "kick-a**", "what the h***", and "d***" just in the first chapter. It's a shame because it makes absoultely NO relevant contribution to the learning experience and it makes an otherwise excellent work unsuitable for an audience for which it would otherwise be well suited. I actually *appreciate* the book's irreverance for the norm - it adds to the character of the book and the aids retention, but the language was totally unnecessary and there was no warning given anywhere in the book's intro, title pages, endings -- nothing. Given the likelihood that the Head First style would appeal to younger audiences (if not 8-year-olds) it seems it would have been reasonable at least to have provided a warning (or better yet, to have avoided the ridiculous language choices in the first place.) Bad call guys, but an otherwise good product.Book Review: Great starter book for beginners and moderately experienced
Summary: 5 Stars
Our department has been making good use of the Head First series of books while we move out of our legacy applications and replace them with Java and Java related technologies. Many of the legacy app's are being replaced with JSP based web applications where CSS is used to present the common corporate look. We again turned to Head First to brush up on our HTML skills and learn what CSS is all about.
What an awesome book! It is both engaging and educating at the same time. The authors cover tons of information in a way that makes this dry subject something to look forward to and not to dread. Any college or tech school that offers an introductory course into this subject should consider using this book as a primary source for teaching.
I had previously though I was fairly fluent in HTML but I found a few things in the first 7 chapters I did not fully know. Even though this section was mostly review, I did not mind going through the exercise. Then once I got into the application of CSS concepts, Wow! Why had I shied away from CSS for so long?
I agree with the previous reviews...A book for the experts? No. A great reference book? Not great but OK. A book to get you going and get you 80% into the world of web page creation? Absolutely. Head First folks, keep up the great work!
Book Review: Great Learning Tool for the non-technical
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a true learner's guide to building standards-based Web pages. It includes a lot of information on common HTML and CSS traps and pitfalls as well as why common conceptions about style are often wrong. To help the reader actually learn the material in a fun and friendly manner it includes a lot of puzzles and exercises and other material that make it a joy to learn. This is truly a guide for the non-programmer that will have them quickly up to speed on how to design and build a web site. One of the virtues of this particular book is that the authors relate common problems and frustrations of users and how to avoid them in your website.
The authors take one of the most successful approaches to learning - read about it, try it, see the results, try something different, see the results, etc. Everything is done is a logical step-by-step fashion with small steps first explained and then applied and you see the results right away. An extensive introduction, it is one of the easiest and definitely the most fun way to learn HTML, CSS and XHTML from no knowledge to an intermediate level. Throughout the book the authors make great use of sidebars, photos, illustrations, notes, and other elements to keep the reader interested in the subject. Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML is highly recommended.
Book Review: The perfect book for beginners in serious web design
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't say enough good things about this book. I was a beginning web page designer, using tools like FreeWay Express, GoLive, and Dreamweaver. The whole idea of visual based layout, at first thought, sounds like the right way to go. Just buy a $300 program, and you're bound to produce impressive web sites, right?
Wrong!! Do not take this approach. The wonder of this book is that it removes the fear of writing the code, instead of using WYSIWYG editors. The frustration of using GoLive is over, I now write all my web pages in a simple text editor, and I actually understand what I am doing !!
Do NOT be afraid of this process. Once you learn the basics of writing the code, you can still use the Dreamweavers to do certain things. But you never actually understand what you are doing without learning the code.
This book makes it way too easy to learn the code. They also add appropriate focus to minimal code, removing the fat, and stress the importance of standards. Now, when I go to an interesting web site, I view their code. Sometimes I laugh at them, sometimes I admire them. The point is, now you will understand why.
The last hurdle will be to gain some good Photoshop skills, but that's outside the realm of this book. YOU NEED TO BUY THIS BOOK !!!!!!
Book Review: Geeks embrace the art of communication!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been an IT professional for about twenty years now and it's been an endless frusteration to me that so many computer professionals, either in their writing or in person, simply have no willingness or ability to genuinely teach others what they know, even though they'll invest huge amounts of time pretending that that's what they're doing.
Someone once said that you can only teach someone what they "almost know" already. To teach someone anything, you need to begin where they are at, not where you are at. This book does just that. It begins with you, not the author's ego.
I already knew a lot of HTML and related technologies, but I really needed a refresher course to get me up to speed with the very latest standards in web site development. I was able to go through this book rather quickly and pick and choose the material to study in depth. I didn't need all the puzzles or other teaching methods that are in this book, but I really appreciated that all that stuff was there. People with many different learning styles will benefit from this book. I find it a lot easier to adapt to overcommunication than to undercommunication.
Finally, the color printing throughout the book was a very nice touch. Kudos to the people who created this series of books!