Markup Languages Books

The book is not only well written and organized but the examples of the written HTML and the pictures of the resulting web pages give the reader a very good background in writing and reading HTML. Using an older version of this book, I was able to create and publish my own web site a few years ago before I had ever seen any HTML. I bought another one because I lost the old one.

Do not be misled by the "24 Hours" thing; if you get the book today, don't expect to be able to see a webpage you designed tomorrow. However, if you apply yourself and spend a day or so on each lesson, you will learn more HTML from this book than from any other source available.

Sams Teach Yourself books are well worth the few bucks you may want to spend to get your own copy and you will want to use the following web address: http://www.24hourhtmlcafe.com/ where you can copy the pictures shown in the lessons to include in your own picture library.

I would rate this book as 5 stars if the pictures were in color.

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.

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.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The examples are clear. Programming experience will help you. If you know JavaScript, WMLScript will be a breeze. Chapters are easy to read. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn WML and WMLScripting!!! It is probably the best book on the market.

This book is by far the best!!!The author explains all the important details of WML and WMLScripting. This book is easy to read. Great for the experienced developer. A great reference. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants learn WML andWMLScripting. Knowledge of JavaScript will help the reader termondously. Knowledge of HTML and XML will also help. The authors assume the reader has knowledge of HTML, XML, and JavaScript. A great investment!!!

I've searched a lot for a good book on how to make WAP pages with WML and interactive wireless applications for mobile phones and PDA computers. This is the one - you will learn everything ther is, with this easy writen and well arranged guide. You need some knowladge on HTML and how Internet and client/server model works, but as far as WAP, WML and WMLScript is conserd, from a total begginer, you'll become an expert in a week.

This book from Ben Forta is a real guide for beginners as well as a reference book for advanced users. I bought this book and Professional WAP from wrox both of them helped me to come out in flying colours in my bachelor degree thesis.

In the computer trade journals that I read, a common topic over the last year or so has been the progress (often lack) of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). The common phrase always seems to be "poised to take off." However, despite the problems with bandwidth, valuable applications and security it does appear that it is the next area of rapid expansion of the Internet. The English speaking North American market is leveling off in the advent of new web users and while the market for the rest of the world continues to expand, it seems likely that will do so at a slow rate for the near future. Therefore, it is a good idea to learn at least the basics of what WAP can and cannot do.
When I received a request from a corporate client to offer a short course in Wireless Markup Language (WML), I looked around for a book with an adequate coverage of the basics of WAP. I chose this book because it was filled with basic examples that demonstrated the fundamental topics and moved on to some more advanced topics that were reasonable uses for WAP. This was of course necessary, as some of the hyped potential uses for WAP are pie in the airwaves. I cannot conceive of any circumstances where a large number of people are going to want their cell phones to constantly broadcast their geophysical position so that they can receive coupons from merchants in the area.
In working through the projects in preparation for the courses, my reaction was one of the best possible. My thinking through the exercises led to additional thoughts and ideas for teaching projects for the course. This is a solid introductory book in the basics of WAP, WML and WMLScript and I recommended it to the students.

This book is very well written. It is the first technical book that I have read cover-to-cover in years.

This book's first chapter is about the only one that is clear. The rest of the chapters are unfortunately not well presented and structured. The examples and the CSS examples are laid out in very confusing ways. It is very often difficult to tell which snippet of code matches which screenshot. In that respect, chapter 7 is a nightmare.
Also cruelly missing from the book are a list of all possibly attributes for each property.
You will not be able to learn CSS entirely from this book. You will have to either buy another more comprehensive book, or to use Web tutorials.

This book is perfectly fine if you can't be bothered to seek out most of this information online. The authors' own websites are actually some of the best places to start. But the book is useful, even down to the entire chapter devoted to analyzing Netscape 4's CSS abilities--something most others will simply not cover.

However, the price of this book is about two times too high. It's short, with no CD, but it runs as much as many of the "phone-book" tech books. This is a fifteen-dollar value, no more.

Over the years, CSS has helped change the way information is displayed on the web. Since its inception, CSS has evolved into a full-featured language capable of formatting not only text but almost all elements of a web site such as tables, lists, and more. CSS is not the easiest language to learn, but a book such as this helps.

Cascading Style Sheets: Separating Content from Presentation by Owen Briggs, Steven Champeon, Eric Costello, Matt Patterson, is a great way to not only be introduced to CSS but also to learn the details that will ultimately help you to design or convert existing sites using the CSS language. The book introduces you to simple CSS formatting involving text and other web elements such as lists, tables, and more. After relishing some of the simple formatting concepts, the book guides you through the more complicated process of creating layouts using CSS.

Beyond direct applications of CSS, the authors explain some subtle issues that you will encounter while using CSS. While CSS is standardized by the W3C organization, the implementation of CSS varies across various browsers. The authors do an excellent job of covering some of the inconsistencies and how to resolve them. You are provided specific examples of code, and you are also given code that would help older browsers into displaying CSS-based layouts.

The book also takes interesting breaks from explaining CSS concepts and provides insights into unique features about CSS that are cool to know! One such section, explains how to make your pages downgrade gracefully and display properly in text-only browsers.

The various authors present the information very clearly, and you, towards the end of the book, will have learned how to not only use but also implement CSS in your design solutions. To aid you in your quest of applying what you have learned, the authors provide sample projects and brief guidelines before sending you off on a full filled CSS coding journey.

This is a great book for beginners and advanced users of CSS to learn and reference from.

Overall, this is an outstanding text for learning CSS and how to appropriately use it with HTML and XHTML. It is perfect for someone who is already comfortable with basic HTML markup and would like to leverage the various advantages of CSS. The book's only weak point is its coverage of the CSS box model. Arguably one of the more difficult parts of learning CSS, the chapter on the box model makes only passing reference to the float property, which is used very frequently in CSS layouts. Other examples in the box chapter were overly simplified and did not give much more info than I've found online.

The chapters on the basic syntax of CSS are very good and the typography coverage is outstanding.

This is a really great reference book on CSS and Web design in general. I read through the book twice so that I could really understand the material. Most of the chapters are interesting to read although certain sections were a little dry. He includes really nice examples to get you started and alerts you of common mistakes and how to avoid them.

My only gripe is that the book was published in 2005 and is now outdated in the sense that the browsers he mentioned are now basically obsolete. Firefox is not even mentioned at all. Also he covers web design tools like Front Page which is now history.

A second edition of this book is definitely needed, however the core concepts haven't changed that drastically, so I would still recommend this book.

A really average book. Most of the things inside it can easily be picked up on an on line tutorial. Targeted to the novice user, who is unfamiliar with CSS. Most of the techniques presented are just basic stuff, and not really worth paying for, just to own them in print.

Reference book, not really. It has a short reference for most used items in the back, but the book is more for putting things together.

Very well written, with examples that are actually useful for future projects. My book shelves are full of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript books. This book has a lot less "fluff" and more information that a person can really use.

Honestly, the only reason I bought this book is due to the high praises given on this site. Why would I need another XHTML or CSS book? I am very glad I decided to purchase the book.

Beginner, hobbyist, or professional, I know every level of designer will get something out of this book.

Sorry about the spelling and grammer, kind of rushed.

This books, in my opinion, is definitely not for the newcomer. If you've never done web design, this book is going to be overwhelming for you. It touches on a lot of topics.
If you're a web designer or many years or even a relatively new one with a few simple web sites and a good beginner's book, this is a very good book. It's like learning from a master but as an apprentice. The master doesn't exactly spoonfeed you with information but lays it out on the table and expects you to pick up the spoon and scoop away the knowledge.
I'd say you definitely should read this book if you're aiming to be a proper, high-class, professional web designer/developer. However, if you're brand new, then this book deserves to wait a bit.

This is a very well thought out book. The chapters and examples start very basic and build and build into some fairly impressive pieces. Javascript and PHP is used in limited fashion. Most examples are exclusively XHTML and CSS.

My favorite part of this book is how the examples are laid out for the reader. They start simply and the reader is encouraged to build layer upon layer in CSS until plain text becomes a well presented page. Well worth the money IMHO!

XML (eXtensible Markup Lanaguage) is an evolving and increasingly important language used to efficiently and effectively communicate data in context...put another way, to communicate information.

"XML: A Manager's Guide" offers a clearly-written and well-illustrated guide for executives who want to learn about XML. I recommend this book for anyone interested in gaining some insight into the nature and benefits of this language.

This is an introductory book, but it provides a good foundation upon which one may build a deeper understand of, and appreciation for, XML.

In the world of over-hyped and under-performing technologies, the manager, who is often not technically proficient, is left trying to make decisions with insufficient or inaccurate information. Attempting to keep everything organized and learn the basics of and justifications for the new technologies is a hurdle that few can leap. Fortunately, this book lowers the bar to some extent. It is an explanation of the new XML (eXtended Markup Language) technologies without being a tutorial on the particulars.
As an overview, it covers all of the primary aspects of XML, what it is used for, how files are structured and the general standards that now exist. It will not teach you XML, but from it you will learn what it can and will be used for. Some time is also spent on XML messaging and web services as well as the different type of documents that can be created. The explanations are well done, landing neatly within the narrow range of being technical enough to be worth reading but not so technical as to be beyond the grasp of the intended audience.
If you are interested in understanding what XML is and are not yet ready for the technical details, then this book will show you what you need to know. In the hyper-competitive world of modern business, knowing what XML can do in data transfer and storage is a necessary skill for many. This book makes the opportunity to learn it readily available.

First, the length of this book is just right for a manager.
Second, the content of this book is just what a manager should know about, especially on the impact of application development process, resource and skill.
Third, the edit style is friendly for the manager, too.
So managers, don't hestitate to take and read this tiny book!

I found this book to be a concise and easily understood overview of what XML can do for business. I've shared copies with one or two special clients and gotten a positive response.

Excellent rendition of the XML landscape, painted mostly in broad brushstrokes, but detailed in places with enough code samples and product names to show what it's like on the ground with this technology.

Describes the problems that XML attacks. Moves on to expose some details of XML and DTD. All of the related acronyms and buzzwords are then catalogued in the next two chapters on associated standards and web services. Surveys the array of infrastructure software for supporting XML-based applications. Proposes processes and skills for building applications with XML. Finishes with an examination of ten typical applications for XML.

Positions these technologies within conceptual frameworks. Takes pains, for example, to distinguish clearly between remote interface and business document messaging architectures before launching into the details of XML messaging and web services. The classification schemes for XML infrastructure software and XML applications are also most helpful.

If you've read and appreciated David Taylor's popular books on object technology, then you'll like Mr. Dick's presentation, which follows the same pattern. The prose is clear. Major divisions are clearly marked. Every paragraph is summarized with a brief sentence beside it in the margin. I find these summaries particularly helpful in locating a specific paragraph that I want to re-read.

Mr. Taylor, who in addition to establishing the pattern also wrote the foreword, is probably correct: for those of us who will read only one book on XML, "this is the book."

Title says it all. Jeni Tenison is an outstanding XSLT developer, her book are top notch. If you develop XSLT pages consider the book...

This is an exact copy of the book published by Wrox in 2002. I found a used copy of the Wrox edition for three bucks in a bin of a technical store. Looks like the folks at APress took the rights and re-published it. And I am noticing here now that the 2.0 version is scheduled for pubblication in a couple of months.

I found this to be an excellent book for XSLT beginners. I've been a web developer for about 6 years now (HTML, JavaScript, CSS, etc) but was totally new to XSLT. I was able to follow the examples in the book quite easily, and found the explanations to be clear and comprehensive. I was able to incorporate some of the examples into my own work right away, in particular the section on recursive templates.

I buyed this book in Octuber, 2002. Recently I started to read it again. I think this tell many of the book. It is a very useful book and explains complex things in a very easy way. I would recomend this book to anyone that is thinking seriously to go into the XSLT world.

Jeni calls it "Beginning" XSLT since she probably wanted to attract new-comers, but this book goes well beyond the intro stuff. I have 3 books on XLST, the others being good books, but this is by far the best. Real world examples, plenty of explanation for each. What else can I say. Buy this if you need to work with XML/XSLT.

Bought this book about a month ago, so I think I've had a pretty good chance to review it. It's very good, despite the fact that Mozilla hasn't got up off their keesters yet! I'm an XML developer with limited Java experience, but the JXUL project they put in there as their open source project is very, very cool! That I think was worth the price of the book.

I personally thought the RDF chapter was a monster (scary to me!) but very well covered! I'm sure when I progress as a programmer I'll be doing a lot of the RDF.

I think the book is very well written, especially considering I am still a beginner/intermediate web developer.

xul appears to have changed a lot since this book was printed.
many of the xul tags discussed and used, the xul templates used,
have changed. thus, most of the xul examples in the book are
not going to work in firefox.

e.g. the xul css skin url is no longer the same. lots of tags
such as "titledbox" have been renamed.

i'd say this content is deprecated.

also, in my opinion, these chapters add no value
to the book and in general weakens the
existing content:

an xml primer
css
the jxul project

In my line of work with SGML, the transition into XML comes pretty natural and with that the notion of "Hey, there is really a lot of cool stuff one can achieve with this!". Especially when you add XUL, XBL, RDF, and JavaScript/DOM to this.
Thats where this book comes in really handy. The chapters are laid out pretty well and don't require a lot of experience with XML, although some basic knowledge of how a markup language work helps. The only downside about the whole XUL at the moment (in my view) is that its currently only supported in Netscape 6.x. The XUL support in Mozilla got broken somewhere between milestone release 0.92 and 0.94. However, the jXUL project looks really promising and would certainly make up for the lack of browser support since this will run as stand-alone applications in a "Runner" application.

As others have mentioned, the chapter on RDF was pretty scary and daunting and should be revisited by the reader a couple of times. There are of course lots of RDF resources on the web that could provide more help and insight.

The chapter on Netscape Themes (including the appendix containing all the different images and buttons used) could probably be left out in the next edition, to give more room for RDF or DOM?

Grand total; A very good book on this topic that certainly will inspire the reader for further research in this area.

I bought this because of the JXUL project. To that end I found this book very handy to understand that basics, intermediate aspects and application of XUL, RDF, XBL, etc.

A lot of time is spent talking about Mozilla (obviously). The problem is that a lot of that content will be quickly out of date. Discussion of other projects like Luxor (like JXUL), Xavier (server side) and the enhancements made in Mozilla since being published would make a welcome second edition. May-be wait for Mozilla 1.0.

I bought this because because of the JXUL project. To the end I found this book very handy to understand that basics of XUL programming and quickly got me up to speed.

A lot of time is spent talking about Mozilla (obviously). The problem is that a lot of that content will be quickly out of date. Discussion of other projects like Luxor, Xavier and the enhancements made in Mozilla since being published would make a welcome second edition. May-be wait for Mozilla 1.0.

If you are looking to buy just one book on HTML and RELATED technologies book, then this is it. A COMPREHENSIVE book. Explains every thing in a very lucid way. Easily assimilate complex topics with this book. The future is in HTML/XHTML and Javascript. Get this book and get ready.

If you are starting out with HTML/XHTML, you might be advised to get a tutorial. This work appears to begin with basics, but even the early chapters provide much more information than a novice wants or needs. (The "Links" chapter--Chapter 4--for example, describes all types of links, many of which a beginning web page author probably won't need to know about until he or she has acquired quite a bit more experience.
That said, this book is a good reference with lots of helpful tips. It may not be as complete as other reviewers hoped, but I have found it quite handy for learning many advanced topics. And, although the edition I have (the 4th) has been out a couple of years, the material is still mostly uptodate. In short, it is a very good resource.

I spent many hours reading through books on xhtml to find the best reference manual. This is the book that I chose. I find it very easy to locate the data I need and exceptionally thorough. There are plenty of good clean code html & xhtml examples. But what makes this book a book that you will keep, are the tables in the back defining everything from attributes to special character codes. It is after all a reference manual. Like most technical subjects, each book seems to have an area where it shines. None have it all. However, this book is the best overall.

This book is a good reference if you are doing a web page. It shows html, xtml and java language. It's a very good dictionary to find terms for diferent things that you would like to put in your web page as music, backgrounds, links, etc.

This Reference is very very comprehensive. It also covers CSS 2.0 (completely, no need to buy a CSS 2.0 reference unless you need a learning book or a pocket reference).

It also covers XML to an extend most Web Developers need to know without becoming an Authority in the subject.

A lot of examples that are not always useful. The Appendixes for HTML and CSS are among the best I have seen. Browser Compatibility is also addressed in easy to read "grid" like format.

Una GRAN pequeña guía de referencia. A lo mejor se echan en falta algunas palabras reservadas pero por lo general es una maravilla poder consultar de forma rápida y ordenada la duda que buscas.

The product got there 2 days earlier than other items I ordered the same day. The condition was good.

After I figured out there structure of displaying information, this tool has become a valuable asset. Definately recommend.

This is an excellent text and well illustrated. I am sure an updated edition will come out soon.

What kind of a reference book doesn't have an index? Sure, the tag reference is in alphabetical order, but that only helps if you remember what the tag is. Also, I had a brain fart this morning and couldn't remember the exact syntax for a comment (I work with way too many languages)- couldn't find it. That's what a pocket reference is supposed to be for, the little things you can't remember!

I know my title may affend some people, but i thought id actually give a review, not to just tell you that its great. I have many years of experience in design and a beginner at web design. I bought two books, this one and "Learning Web Design by Jennifer Niederst Robbins". My experience is NONE in web design and learning HTML. Well i have read both books and do like them both at some particular levels and view them differently which are highlighted below with pros and cons.

Pros on this book:
1. Very indepth of coding and the chapters are easy to read.
2. Really liked the fact that in the back of the book, it has an appendix that covers 10+ pages of code with a reminder discription of the code.
3. The author is a local, lol.
4. Chapters are well laid out and for a beginner, i think he covers it well.
5. I think you will learn something good from this book.
6. He goes over a summary of the chapter and answers a good amount of common questions people have asked him in the end of each chapter that pretains to what was just covered, and also is highlighted in the back of the book.
7. The book is a good price for what it covers.
8. In some chapters when he covers a particular area, he will give you web pages that can help you a little bit more.
9. He also tells you where to get free products to aid or host your web pages in the book.

Cons on this book:
1. I didn't enjoy the fact of one of the chapters that covers color and he asks you a couple of times to look at a certain picture of the web page he has provided and imagine it. No problem right??? Well the book is solid black and white, so i wasnt to impressed in seeing a black page that may look great if its in color, not in a black and white book.
2. The excercises are kinda bland and boring and dont cover alot.
3. Its not as hands on as i would like it to be, mostly just alot of info.
3. I didnt enjoy or think it was a good idea to cover a program that is hardly used, well from who i know that dont use it. He covers Paint Pro Shop for the how-to sections on applying color or designs to a web page. I just think he used a bad program and should have used photoshop, to me that would have been better sense i feel that photoshop is a main standard in the design field, well to me.


Sense these are the only two books ive read, and like many of you am new to HTML and CSS. I feel this book is a good guide and is the first book ive read from their series. Though i want to read more books to learn more, when its put up against the "Learning Web Design, i feel that book has better excersises for hands on than this book.. If you want to know more about it, read my review on that one.

Hope this all helps the next person and i look forward to reading the dreamweaver cs3 book i have by them.

First off the book is great. Teaches you everything you need to know to get started. You may need to find some additional sites for templates and such, but hey its a book not a website. The book came exactly as described clean no writing and slightly used, great buy. I would recommend to anyone who is interested.

Great book, if you want to learn HTML - it will teach you. Simple to understand, step by step.

I really enjoyed this book, and would definitely recommend it to anyone I know who wants to learn (X)HTML, and basic CSS, I read this in a few weeks, did most of the examples, and found myself feeling sad when the book ended. I wish all technical books were written like this, I would definitely buy other books by Michael Morrison or Dick Oliver again.

I thought it would be so much harder to learn HTML, but with this book, it was relatively painless. This book, and the knowledge it has helped me to attain, has left me interested in learning more about XHTML, CSS, and possibly some programming.
This book is definitely for beginners, I don't know how useful it would be for someone with a knowledge of XHTML, and I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be useful to someone who already knows some CSS, since it really just touches on style sheets. But, as I said, it is a perfect book for beginners.

As usual, I needed some additional infomation and I turned to Sams Teach Yourself books for the assistance I needed. Thank you for a good intro for HTML and CSS. It was just what I needed at just the right time. Thanks again.