HTML Books

I didn't know any significant HTML prior to using this book. This book is a great starting point and will give anyone enough background to put up a pretty good page. I feel like I have gotten a good grasp of HTML from this book and now feel like I should branch out into Javascript to develop my pages further.

Oliver & Morrison offered good advice on what to do and what not to do when designing a webpage, and they also explained why they make those suggestions, which certainly assists in making later judgement calls on topics they don't directly address.

I would also recommend O'Reilly's HTML/XHTML book, which has come in handy in clarifying a few points. However, this book is sufficient for anyone looking to put up realatively simple pages and is easier as an introduction (and more motivating) than O'Reilly's book. That is, buy this book first and buy O'Reilly's book if you have a desire to learn more about HTML.

Having been out of web Development for a couple years, I needed confidence that my basic understanding was up to speed. This book HTML and XHTML in 24 hours, brought me up to date rather quickly. It provided the foundation that I needed both to build some basic web application prototypes, and to be able to begin reading more specialized books on Web Development. Specifically books on CSS.

This text will not make you a wizened internet programming guru... but it doesn't pretend to do so. What it does promise, and deliver, is a solid grounding in the creation of basic web pages. The book starts with the absolute basics; nothing is assumed. Finding someone to host your web site is covered, as is the creation of files using the Windows Notepad text editor and the uploading of files onto a web hosting computer. And, of course, there's a tremendous amount of detail in creating web pages.

It's important to note that there are two approaches to creating web pages today: you can create them by hand, using XHTML code written with a simple text editor like notepad; or you can use a web page authoring package, such as DreamWeaver or FrontPage. Using a program like DreamWeaver (most agree its the #1 program of its type) will allow you to create web pages much more quickly than by hand coding them; and unless you have an innate skill as a design artist, they will likely look better than something you hand code.

On the other hand, you'll never have a clue about how the code actually works, if you don't learn XHTML; and so you'll never be able to modify it. You'll be stuck with whatever the web authoring package can do for you. And there's also the cost factor: web authoring packages cost several hundreds of dollars, but notepad is free; it's part of the Microsoft Windows operating system. (Macs have a similar built in text editor.)

Most internet pros can do both; they regularly use DreamWeaver as a production tool, but know XHTML so that they can quickly modify what the program generates when the need arises. On the other hand, amateurs building simple web pages probably would never be able to justify the cost of a full blown web authoring package, so learning XHTML makes perfect sense.

Either way, learning XHTML is an appropriate way to start your web page building education; and this book is the perfect way to do so. Having read several books on the subject - including some thousand+ page hardcover whoppers - I can confidently state that this book does a spectacular job of teaching you exactly what you need to know. It gets right to the point, and quickly and simply teaches the core material. All the fluff is gone; everything in this book is solid. There's thorough coverage of graphics, animated graphics, even some javascript. There's a lot of reference to readily available tools on the net, and some indication of how they might be used. I was particularly impressed with the clarity of the instruction; the book does a spectacular job of identifying and teaching exactly what needs to be taught, while deftly avoiding extraneous discussion. Most universities don't provide a quality of instruction as crisp and as easily followed as that contained within this book.

So what's missing? Not much. There's no coverage of Flash to speak of, or CGI scripting. I didn't see any mention of secure HTML, so you'll need more than this book in order to start processing credit cards, or conducting commerce. And a few of the web resource links that the author provides are dead links, and haven't worked for years; they should have been caught during the revision process.

But these are mere quibbles; make no mistake, this book gives you an awful lot. If your desire is a really good book that starts right at the very beginning, and gives you enough knowledge to build really good looking web pages from scratch... then this is your book. If you want to set up a simple web page for yourself - or an informational web page designed to promote your home business - this is a great text. And if you plan on persuing a career as a web page developer, but have no previous knowledge of web design or HTML... then this is a great book to start with.

The book is now in its 6th edition, and that says a lot; publishers won't revise a book with poor sales. For a computer book to be revised and released 6 times is a dramatic testament to its popularity, and inherent quality. I can only think of one other book on my bookshelf - Muellers' Upgrading and Repairing PCs - that has shown such a continuing popularity level.

When you invest in this book, you get a lot of value. When you've learned and applied everything in this book, you'll be able to create extremely good looking and well written informational web pages from scratch, without having to rely on a web authoring package; and you'll be completely prepared to learn the intricacies of Java, Flash, and CGI scripting, if you so choose. However, probably 90% or more of the people who read this book, will never need to move beyond it.

For most web pages, this book is all you'll ever need.

I have been using a canned program to manage my company's web site, but I wasn't always able to do fine tune the pages the way I wished. So I decided to teach myself HTML. Working through this book, I was able to learn step by step how to design pages and manipulate the images and text. The book is very clear and concise and the exercises the author gives at the end of every chapter are extremely useful.

Best computer related book that I have ever read. I was somewhat familiar with HTML concepts, but never created my own web page. The lessons are organized well and are so easy to follow! They even go over applets, Active X, and JavaScript. Awesome, awesome book.

This is by far the best book on real applications using XML. The author is an expert in the field, and the book is clear and concise, yet it deals with fairly complex applications also.
I highly reccomend this

This book covers the most popular XML application architecture patterns. Great source both for ideas and ready-to-go source code. I was pleasantly surprized to find the whole chapter (Chapter 6: Import from Any Format) devoted to the problem I am facing in my current project... Another excellent book from Marchal that really helps me to do my work.

There are already lots of 5 stars here and it seems unnecessary to vote another 5 stars. Anyway, I would like to give some personal feedback.

1)This book is short in length but rich in content.

Chapter 1 convers XML in a standalone java application, SAX parser is used in this chapter; chapter 2 shows a survex project using SAX parser and servlet; chapter 3 demonstrated how to use DTD, CSS within XML editor XMetal; chapter 4 covers XML publishing, same content can be published with different style sheets for HTML, WML and RSS; chapter 5 and chapter 6 describe the conversion between XML and EDI using xsl; chapter 7 is devoted to an e-Business project, using xsl and servlet; chapter 8 can be read after chapter 4, it is also devoted to publishing, with dynamically generated xml content; chapter 9 is devoted to a stock tracking project, which uses SOAP as the communication protocol, it can be read after chapter 7.

In a whole, this book covers:

a) XML parsers in chapter 1, 2, also java, servlet, design patterns Builder, Visitor.

b) XML editor in chapter 3, also CSS, DTD,

c) Publishing (XSLT) in chapter 4 and 8, also servlet.

d) XML and EDI in chapter 5 and 6, also XSLT.

e) e-Business: chapter 7 and 9, also servlet, SOAP.

2)This books is written for java developer, good understanding of java and servlet is required.

3)There is no chapter on JSP and XML, although there are application of XML with servlet and you can transfer some servlet into JSP; there is no chapter on JMS and XML neither, you may hope to find this kind of example in a JMS book.

4)This book is surpringly easy to use. I read it several times, from the beginning to the end. I tried EVERY EXAMPLE in the book, and every example works.

To be more honest, I only find one problem in the example (I just want to prove that I really tried every example): on page 81, third paragraph, first line, the author talks about how to chnage display style in XMetal:

Choose Tools, Editor Display Style

I found "Editor Display Style" in the menu "Format" instead of menu "Tools", so maybe we shuld replace "Tools" by "Format".

5)This book uses a JDBC database HypersonicSQL, and it is on the CD. So no preinstalled database is required.

6)The servlet container used in the book is jetty, the author provided batch file to use it without any difficulty. However, if you use Tomcat or Weblogic or jrun or another servlet engine, you need to configure it.

This book has many projects, which gives insight into various parts of XML. Basic knowledge of XML is required though. Implementation of these projects is a good way of learning XML. Nothing like hand's on experience.

The author's writing style is also good, he gives reasons choosing any particular implementation.

If you really need to know XML, buy this book.

The author presents very practical example projects in each chapter. The project in Chapter 9 is especially clear on demonstating the SOAP concept. Buy this book to jump-start your XML/Java knowledge and experience. You'll never regret buying this book.

"How to Do Everything in HTML" does exactly what it says. It simply takes a beginner (like me) and shows how to use basic programming to do what you want rather than what you can figure out.

This is THE book I would recommend to someone who wants to know what HTML is and does but lacks prior computer programming experience. Even those familiar with other computer languages such as C++ or java will find the user-friendly approach by Pence a joy over most technical books.

If a beginner's book is what you want, here it is!

I think this book was more advanced than I was able to handle, considering I was a beginner computer user. Nevertheless, when I
e-mailed the author 3-4 times, he was always professional, courteous, and willing to help. It's a great book and has an author who stands behind his product. If you are into web-page design, this book is definitely worth its money.

I was completely inexperienced and without HTML knowledge. I ordered this book from amazon.com and suddenly I have one of the best and prettiest websites ever. This book teaches you everything. I didn't even read it page by page. I just looked up what I was looking for or what I wanted to do on my website, used the codes and wa-la, instant beautiful results. This book saves you time and gives you precisely what you are looking for. Recommended 100%.

Written for beginners, this book provides a solid foundation in how to write your own HTML (not how to use a WYSIWIG editor, such as FrontPage). Written in friendly, easy-to-understand language, the author progresses from chapter to chapter in a logical step-by-step fashion. What he doesn't cover in any given chapter is easily referenced in the Appendices, or in the many website links he provides. This book completely demystifies HTML.

However, what I found confusing when learning HTML is when and where to apply the all the different attributes (such as background color, font styles, text & image positioning and so forth). What I learned after having done a fair amount of web development is that cascading style sheets (CSS) are the way to go. This is explained in ch. 10. The reader of this book may wish to jump to this chapter at the beginning and be ahead of the game.

I took a course on HTML that lasted 4 months, and I thought I knew HTML after that. Two years after that I read this book, and in the month it took me to read it and summarize it, I learned more than what I did in that course. Not only does it teach you almost everything you need to know about HTML in an easy-to-follow way, but it also gets into other subjects like CSS, JavaScript and XML. Great book!

great book on xml, specially on different kind of parsers, their purpose, advantages and weakness.

If only every technical book was written this well! Anyone who is working with Java and XML should have a copy of this book. Highly example driven with clear explanations, the author makes using XML in your Java programs a breeze. Even better, the author has a style that makes the book fun to read as you feel like you are learning all sorts of secrets from an XML insider.

The book starts with a quick introduction to XML and then gets into how to create XML documents in your programs. The first four chapters cover everything you need to know about creating XML whether it is for XML-RPC, SOAP, or simply to store in a file. The next section covers parsing XML documents. SAX and DOM are compared and then the next eight chapters discuss these two methods of parsing documents, explaining how to use them, comparing them, and helping you determine how to decide which technique to use for which situation. The section on DOM explains not just how to parse documents using DOM but also how to create new documents. The final chapters of the book cover JDOM, XPATH, and XSLT.

Did I mention that this book is full of examples? The author doesn't rely on simply explaining how something works or how to use a technology (even though his explanations are excellent), he has examples to demonstrate everything he discusses. Each example builds upon the previous example and makes learning the techniques easy and enjoyable.

I really like reading this book. It is easy to read and understand. The author does a good job of describing the XML technologies related to JAVA. This book has a lot of code to analyze. This book is a must have for the experienced developer who wants to do JAVA with XML. I have a message for the experienced developer: THE CODE WILL CHALLENGE YOU; IT CHALLENGED ME!!!

Michael

This is definitely a valuable resource for anybody dealing with XML and Java, written by one of the best tech writers in town. The author covers in details a huge amount of topics and API, so many that you couldn't ask for more.
Be advised that some basic understanding of XML and intermediate Java skills are required to get the best out of this book

I bought this book when it first came out. I really enjoyed reading it. The book is well written. It has a lot useful code.
The author code that can be used in the real world of JAVA and XML. I liked the books section on JDOM. This book shows the differences between DOM and JDOM. Also, this book has a lot of information on SAX, DOM, JDOM, and it shows the differences when using each. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn JAVA and XML. Make sure you are an experienced developer before purchasing this book.

Michael

I agree completely with the other reviewers. This book is has an amazing wealth of information about VRML and will have you making some amazing worlds by the time you are finished. Many important subjects are covered, from beginning to advanced topics. I do agree that there isn't NEARLY enough information about scripting with VRML, just a brief talk of how to do it. Some more examples with this would have been a huge help, but otherwise, I'd recommend this book to anyone who uses VRML, no matter your expertise.

This book is perfect for beginners and those that already now the basics and want to advance further. It has many examples and is written in a intelligent manor. If you are advanced in VRML you may still benefit from this book however when it comes to scripting and adding Java to your 3d worlds you will need to invest in other books.

Even nearly nine years after it was first written, this book continues to be valuable for more reasons than when it was published. If you are still involved in VRML and have some need to learn this language, this book is a complete guide that starts from the beginning with the simplest concepts and shape definitions and then builds to advanced concepts such as textures, lighting, and fog. Throughout the book there are figures of the resulting images and plenty of sample VRML files for all examples. I do agree with the other reviewers that chapter 30, the one on scripting, is really the only chapter that is no longer worthwhile since so many changes have been made to the scripting part of VRML. Other than that, this is truly one of the best written and most instructive tech books I have ever bought. If you are going to study VRML, there is no longer any other book in existence but this one that is worth owning.
The second reason to own this book has only popped up over the last two or three years. Since Xj3D began to come on the scene several years ago as the XML-based open-source replacement for VRML, this book has become invaluable for evaluating that tool's ability to build virtual worlds. In fact, the Web3D consortium's "test files" for Xj3D, which continues to be a work in progress, are VRML files from this book that have been translated into Xj3D. Since the base tags are the same in Xj3D as they are in VRML, if you are able to understand VRML you should be able to understand what's going on in an Xj3D file with just a little investigation into the basic differences. This will allow you to intelligently evaluate Xj3D and determine if you can find any weaknesses or discrepancies in that tool's implementation.

Doesn't take you through the subject in the conventional manner. After the first couple of intro chapters, you can then easily delve into any other chapter for what you need. Very useful as a reference once you understand the basics. A bit weak on using scripts to control and interact with VRML worlds. Other than this minor gripe, a great book.

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"The Heart of Motherhood: Finding Holiness in the Catholic Home" by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle is both encouraging and inspirational. A mother of five, Donna has weathered the storms and inspires me (as a new mom) with her experience and wisdom.

Peppered with inspirational quotes from Mother Teresa, among others, Bible passages and heartfelt prayers, The Heart of Motherhood, inspires from within. Donna-Marie begins the book with the statement that motherhood is, indeed, a truly ordinary and yet extraordinary vocation. By being mothers and by welcoming, loving and teaching our children, we are truly doing the Lord's work. She explains,

"A mother's day is filled to capacity with many ordinary tasks, not unimportant, but rather works of love that may be overlooked or unnoticed. Changing diapers, doing laundry, schedule keeping, house cleaning, planning and cooking nutritious meals and helping with homework are just some of the ordinary tasks in a mom's repertoire. Her own family family may take these loving acts for granted. Although these tasks may seem mundane, or even monotonous, they are the nitty-gritty details that keep the family going and together. . . . A mother's deep inner faith affirms that a day's sacrifices and seemingly ordinary tasks please our Lord because they are done with extraordinary love."

And later reminds us that "love is not merely a feeling or emotion. Love is also a decision . . . at times, this decision may be an enormous sacrifice."

Donna-Marie notes that today's society, unfortunately, rarely respects the woman's role as mother and wife nor the mother's domestic role in the home. However, rather than focus on that, she encourages her readers to bring back the dignity and respect motherhood deserves by being an example of holy mothering to one's family and, ultimately, to society. She continues by explaining how one can focus on holy mothering, the importance of a mother's prayer life, shares inspiration for those times when you feel anything but holy in your mothering, gives inspirational examples of holy mothers (including the most holy mother, Mary) in history and ends each chapter with beautiful prayer.

It is a blessing to me to have read this book. I kept starring and underlining passages and prayers that spoke to me! I couldn't put it down! This is a book that will be an inspiration for years to come. It does not tell you how to run a household, how to clean a sink or how to get your family pulled together each Sunday morning to make it to church on time. Instead, it delves deeper into the holy vocation of motherhood and encourages mothers young and old to keep the faith and to recognize the immeasurable importance of the job to not only their children and families, but to society, the Christian family and God.

I'll be keeping this book handy, by my bedside, on my kitchen counter, in the bathroom (yes, you read that right. You KNOW it might be the only quiet time you get all day!) . . . maybe for a few minutes of refreshing, or even for 30-seconds of inspiration and prayer.

The essence of "The Heart of Motherhood" is love. God is love. "And the greatest of these is love. . . . " We do easy, and difficult, ordinary and extraordinary things for our family and children because we are mothers (and wives) and we do them out of love.

This book came in a brown paper package a few months ago, and I saved it to be my hospital book (though it nearly killed me to see it sitting there so patiently on my shelf, waiting for the baby right along with me). What a book to read during those first few days with my new baby! As I savored the excitement of my new daughter, feeling much the way I remember feeling on the Christmas mornings of my single-digit years, Donna's book reminded me about the hard work and the bright rewards of motherhood. She doesn't gloss over the difficulty, nor does she make light of the responsibility. In this book, she does what she does so well - she encourages all of us mothers.

In the past few months, I've gotten to know Donna a bit, through her blogs and some emails we've exchanged, and reading this book was just like talking with Donna. Each chapter ends with prayer, the kind that you'll want to copy into your prayer book or post on your bathroom mirror. I felt the same sort of comfort in reading this book that I feel when I'm having a cup of tea with a dear friend. So go and grab a copy of this book and a steaming cup of tea. Donna has some words of encouragement for you!

I am a mother of soon to be 3 children ages 3 and under and have read THE HEART OF MOTHERHOOD and it has truly changed my life! The author's outlook on the vocation of motherhood could only have come from the Holy Spirit....Donna Marie Cooper Oboyle's writings are awe inspiring. I encourage all mothers to read this book. It is easy reading and one you can't put down. The writings of this book are ones you remember in the middle of the night when you are up with sick children and want to break down and cry or the days you don't know how you are going to make it through the day....the voice of this book sticks with you and truly helps you become a better mother and helps you to live a holy life at home. IT is a reminder of the true vocation of motherhood that has been lost in today's society.

This is exactly the book I was looking for. I am a stay at home Catholic mom who at times needs a few words of encouragement. It is hard to pray when the 3 year old is up at 5am, the 1 year old just went back to sleep, the 11 and 14 year old need to get up and be ready to go at 7:30 and I am trying to find time for a conversation with God. It is helpful to hear that everything we offer up for our children is a prayer. While I was reading this book I thought of friends and sisters who have and have not given up comfort and wealth to raise souls for God. The Chapter on the Cross made me think of my own Mother who lost my adult sister a few years ago. This book is highly recomended for moms and dads who suspect that there is more to life than what our culture is trying to sell us. God is love and the fullness of his love is in loving our children.

I've read MANY books about being Catholic, being a Mom & being a Catholic Mom...but none of them have touched my heart & mind the way this one did. It was SO common sense about how to weave our Catholicity into our daily lives when there are children at our feet before 5 AM (when it's near impossible to get up before them to pray...even if we really, really want to) and at night, we just pass out, not fall asleep. I read this book twice, have MUCH highlighting throughout & even bought a 2nd copy to give to my sil for her birthday this past Feb. Being a Mom can seem to be a thankless job, being a stay-at-home mom is less than respected in today's society and being a Catholic Mom in the truest sense of the word, can be rougher than anything else I could imagine. Using the practical wisdom in this book helped me to see that even though I can't physically be on my knees in prayer, my heart can be bowed down & focused on Our Lord all day, everyday, keeping my focus on the true Heart of (Catholic) Motherhood.

It is funny how I was glancing at the books and this book Voice XML caught my attention. I was looking for a book like this. This is a great resource for Voice XML developers like me. The book covers wide range of topics. The book is an excellent hands on guide to build voice applications with Voice XML 2.0. I liked the VUI design tips throughout the book. Great job!

This book is an excellent resource for a VoiceXML developer. It covers a wide range of topics in detail and has some excellent VUI design tips. I love the cross reference of voice technology companies and the services that they provide.

This is the best VoiceXML book I've seen. Most VoiceXML books try to do too much: talk about voice hardware, telephony, the history of voice, tts, as well as be a VoiceXML reference. The weakness of these books is that one or more of these sections reveals that the authors do not really command the knowledge needed to make these sections useful. This book also attempts to do these things, but for the most part is able to carry it off.

If you're looking for a reference, this is the book to get. The reference section is current VoiceXML 2.0 (October 2001), which is an advantage in and of itself. But the real strength of the reference section is its depth. Each element, (e.g., , , ) has an entry for syntax (how to invoke the element), a description (what the element is used for), a thorough discussion of its attributes (that is, a description of the attribute), a usage statement (the elements parents and children), and an example (a snipet of complete code that uses the element). The examples and discussion of attributes really set this book apart from its peers.

There is a brief discussion of the architecture of a VoiceXML app, and a couple of paragraphs discussing the differences between VoiceXML 1.0 and 2.0.

The book also gives, contrary to my expectations, a history of the voice industry, a history of VoiceXML, and a discussion of players in the industry. What makes this book's treatment of these topics unusual is that the authors (particularly Kunins, I suspect) actually know these fields. I don't normally want these sections in a reference book (it just adds bulk around the section I really want) but I found them quite compelling here. I learned quite a bit from reading them.

The book also contains sections on Dynamic VoiceXML, Security, Voice App Life Cycle, VUI Design, the Future of VoiceXML, and a case study. I haven't read these sections yet, so I can't comment on them. I do know, however, that the sections I have read are sufficiently superior to make this THE VoiceXML book on their own.

If I were to criticize the book, I would fault the authors' lavish praise of TellMe (this is minor and not unexpected) and the examples in the reference section. The examples are quite good for someone learning VoiceXML, and the authors are commended for including them. The fault (albeit a minor one) is that they are fairly vanilla. So, while I would have preferred more examples, I concede that such examples would make the book much larger and the inclusion of "advanced" examples to the exclusion of "canonical" examples would have made them less useful to developers learning VoiceXML.

Overall, if you are going to own one VoiceXML reference, THIS should be that one.

This is a summary of the full review available at:
http://voicexmlplanet.com/reviews/vxmlbook.html

In short, this is the VoiceXML book I wish I had written. The authors have produced a comprehensive title that includes gems that could only have originated from masters of the craft.

My only complaint is that the book is a bit too biased towards Tellme (one of the authors is an employee), but this can be forgiven based on the quality and depth of the content.

My judgement is that this book is the most well rounded in-depth book on the topic that's been published to date. I am very happy with the mix of content, summaries of important concepts such as linguistics, speech recognition, and speech synthesis, as well as the in-your-face examples and complete reference. In fact, I liked it so much that I will probably be using it as a standard reference in my company's VoiceXML training course.

I was mislead by the accompanying great reviews for this book. Having bought and read the book I find that it serves more as a reference than to illustrate how VoiceXML can be used through example applications. But I should admit though that this book does a good job of serving as a reference. I also bought "VoiceXML: 10 Projects to Voice-Enable your system" that helped me to come up to speed to do a VoiceXML project.

Attention Michael Pachis and others who purchased this book in 2006: I am the book's author and when I saw your comments, I contacted my publisher. If you purchased a copy recently and received it in 3-hole punch format, send me an email and I'll put you in touch with the publisher. They have a small number of perfect bound copies they can send you instead. Use the email address on the right side on my personal web site (kensall.com) home page. I hope this helps.
(I gave this 5 stars simply to not impact the book's current rating.)

This is an excellent book to understand, develop and code XML. However, in the parsing discussions (chp 7-10) an understanding of OOP and Java programming are almost required. Other than that, it is an excellent text.

I want to warn customers that the publisher has gone to a "print on demand" publishing model and this book is not delivered as a paperback, but as eleven hundred three hole punched loose leaf pages! This leaves you with the task of finding a binder after paying 40$ for the book! Since it is book size (8 x 10) it awkawardly fits into a standard 8.5 x 11 binder, not very convenient for reading or transporting, and you need the binder to be 3.5" thick to fit the book in the binder.

I gave it five stars for content, but this new method of publishing gets zero stars.

This book is not an "how to" guide, nor does it claim to be one. I mean by this that if you are, say a Java programmer looking for a book that concretely shows you how to integrate xml with Java then you would be better off with one of the so many Java/XML books on the market.

However, if in your work or your studies you feel that you need to gain a more thorough understanding of the W3C specifications related to XML, then this is the book to buy.

All the W3C specs are available for free on the web. The trouble is, W3C documents are designed to provide a precise definition of a standards, they are not designed to be especially intelligible by mere mortals (however technologically enclined). Some are quite readable, others far less.

Firstly, I really like that this book present all the relevant specifications and working drafts in perspective. Secondly, I found that it does a remarkably good job at translating these specifications (without simplifying them) in understandable terms.

In my work, I am interested in gaining as thorough as possible a view of XMl technologies and this book helps me greatly. I also like the fact that it present a well-organized bibliography at the end of each chapter (sadly many computer books from Wrox, O'reilly, Que an like don't have a bibiography as if to say "everything inside this book comes straight from the author's mind. DO not look any further).

I have reviewed for myself around twenty XML books. I found this book to be one of my top favorite. I recommend it especially for:
- CS students or programmer with a theoretical bent.
- anybody who wants to get a thorough overview of W3C standards.

Where to start? With the concise history of where XML came from and why each design decision was made and how the evolution of specifications took place over the years, or the thorough explanation of all the XML specifications, or the programming and parsing aspects of XML and metadata, or the cool XML timeline poster towards the end of the book? This book has much to offer any person interested in finding out what XML is and why and how it has changed our world.

Kenneth B. Sall, the author of this book, organized this book in a fashion where each section could be studied on its own, and if there are references to the previous sections, they are appropriately mentioned. This way, one does not need to sit down and cover this 1000+ page book cover to cover to realize that the topic of conversation is. The stage is set at the beginning by the author commenting on the fact that XML can describe everything under the sun, even the kitchen sink:

"XML: ... maybe it's everything but the kitchen sink? Say, have you heard the one about the XML Kitchen Sink Language? ..."

I have been working with XML for sometime now, and I am still amazed at how it has grown and expanded in to our everyday lives in the past few years. One can spend months coming up to speed with the specifications and the XML "realm", and that's not enough. This book does not even cover, in a great detail at least, the Web services realm. That alone is a couple of thousand page book. The background topics are essential to any reader: basic XML syntax, DTD, Canonical XML, Namespaces and XML Schema. Once you have these topics covered and well understood, you can jump around to any other part of the book, displaying XML data for example or XML programming API's.

One can spend a couple of hours trying to figure out how these specifications fit in, but the author hs already done the job with a very useful picture inside the cover page. What's your forte? Cascading Style Sheets to convert XML data into a PDF document for example, or an XHTML document to display on a web site? XHTML is also covered in length, if you do not know that is and what it offers over the plain old HTML.
My favorite topics were probably the authors explanation of the XML parsing and the available API's and resources. SAX, DOM, JAXP and JDOM are covered in great detail.
* SAX - the API that started it all. Minimal and light-weight. Fast and event driven.
* DOM - Memory intensive, complex, but very powerful. It's a tree based model, and the tree represents the whole document.
* JDOM - java specific. Can be used with either DOM or SAX.
* JAXP - java specific again, but easier to use than JDOM.
There are also a number of C++ XML parsers that the author touches on such as the Apache Xerces, C++ SAX and many others, but the main topics revolve around the four most popular parsers mentioned. These sections are mostly tutorials and how-to's. Each parser is used in an example and example is analyzed piece by piece. DOM is covered in more detail due to the number of levels (DOM level 1-3) that it has. Since DOM is more powerful and more complicated, the topic is a bit more advanced and would require more attention from a novice. If you read thru the SAX chapter and understand it well, DOM would not be that much of hurtle, but make sure that you read understand SAX first. Java centric API's including XML-RPC, JAXB, JDOM, JAXM are covered by the author to depict how XML can be used and how it would benefit the application - and developers in-turn. The icing on the cake is when K. B. Sall outlines the differences between SAX, DOM, JDOM and JSAX. He talks about each of the technologies in detail, tell you what the advantage and disadvantage of each one is, and then it compares them against each other. By the time you are done reading these sections, you would become an expert in XML parsing and programming.

XLink and XPointer. How can one leave without these two core technologies and tools? They are truly remarkable; easy to use, light weight and easy to learn. Well, they are well covered - as you would expect from this book. One thing about these topics is that they could be very abstract and need examples, and we got lots of those. The example depict the efficacy of how one can use XLink to create complex connections between sets of resources, even though you do not have a write access to those resources. This is very handy and resourceful technique is you need to build an e-commerce site. With XPointer, one can locate individual XML elements, set of elements or even a range of XML data between two points. The ability to specify "range" of elements is where the true power of XPointer is revealed.

The references, the related resources for each topic, simple to complicated examples and a CD filled with goodies, source code used throughout the book and the W3C specifications at your fingertips outline the some of the other benefits of Kenneth B. Sall's "XML Family of Specifications" book.

A door opener, maybe, but also very basic. I needed something slightly more advanced than this picture book text. If you have no experience with web pages and limited experience with computers, this might be the book for you. For me, it was a waste of my money.

Creating Web Pages Simplified, the best book of web page creation I ever read. This book will clearly show you how to create a basic web site, to a great state-of-the-art web page. Why buy another web page creation book when this one has it all? Graphics, incredible exaples etc. This book is a must. I recommend it.

The full color photos and easy to follow instuctions make this a great book for the experienced and inexperienced computer user alike. I would recomend this book to any one who wants to learn how to build a web page or wants to learn more about building web pages.

Some of those commenting here are teenagers; here's a comment from an almost-50 Mom. This book provides a great overview. I've been in computers for 25 years, but never had occasion to create my own web page. This book gives a good overview of the various parts of a web page and how the pieces fit together.

Those of you who are mainframers will laugh your heads off when you see that the internet has made Script cool...

This book is a door-opener for those who want to learn to use HTML. This book teaches you the basics, and gives you room to expand, and learn more by practice and trial-and-error. The best book for learning HTML!