Markup Languages Books

The book does a good job with explaining topics such as using XML as a database and using DOM to interface with XML. It is also a good book if you work in the Microsoft web technologies (ASP, VBScript), since many of the examples use ASP and VBScript to interface with the XML document.

However, I had to give it only three stars because it is not really a book for people new to programming, as this book advertises. A reader does need some kind of programming basics to understand some of the topics. Also, I think that the book glosses over the basics of XML. Even though the more intermediate topics like using XML as a database are explained well, a reader that is brand-new to XML could easily get lost because not enough emphasis was placed on the basics.

If you do work in the Microsoft technologies, and you want to learn and work with XML, then buy this book AFTER reviewing the free XML tutorial on [website]

just a warning- don`t be convinced by the "free code online" offer- they don`t give you a website, and if you do track it down from the publisher, you`ll discover its painful to use- that combined with the mistypes in the text and its a basket case.

other then that, the book is clear enough, but how can you learn a language without practice?

This book went to the presses to soon. Every example is full of errors. Every example is lacking and fails to show what it is intended to show. To add to my frustrations, online resources are not updated either. There are far too few illustrations. Far too few cross references. I would recommend "The XML Companion" by Neil Bradley, Addison Wesley. Just flick through the books side by side for 10 seconds and you get what I mean.

After reaching module 3 I became quite disappointed. The example in Module 2-1 is missing from the website and there are many coding and errors in the examples through out the book making it hard for a new comer to really learn what is right or wrong. Unfortunately there aren't many books out there for beginners. For a true new comer to XML and coding itself this book can be confusing. Would recommend at risk.

I am currently using this book in a class on XML. It has been used sparingly, thank God, by our instructor. The main book we rely on for good advise and examples of XML is written by Elizabeth Castro. If you don't want to waste your money on a book which is not very clear, concise, or written in a well defined and orderly manner, don't purchase this book. I have worked in the field of computer programming and written in 9 different computer languages, as well as, learning others. Take it from me, there are better books on this subject.

If you are looking for a great reference book to get you through ASP and vbscript DHTML, this is the book for you. It lists the syntactical details in a reasonably easy to follow format.

I had trouble keeping this on my desk at my last job.

At the time, there weren't many books on VBS. This was just about the best out there. Now, I would probably go with an O'Reilly book. Anyway, I thought it was concise and info was easy to find when using as a reference. If you already have experience with using VB, even for just MS Excel and Access (not the full blow language version), this book will benefit you. I just needed a lookup reference on how to do stuff with VBS for the web, and that's exactly what I got. This book helped me to create my first online order calculator for a site that I'm webmaster for. However, if you need more coverage of the VB language, then choose another, more comprehensive book. I think the books assumes that you know something about VB already. If so, then this book is probably enough.

I love this book for what it is: a great reference. Both the developer I mentor and myself love this book. It breaks down the IE DOM into easy to read entries. It clearly states syntax and variable ranges. It has only what an experienced developer needs in syntax in an easy to find format.

Not for learning how to program.

This book is more for reference to VBScript rather than learning VB script. I found the language extreemly difficult to read. It only deals with versions of IE less than 4.5. Not useful for learning or getting examples from, does not go into details in all the topics and explanations are usually not too helpful.

Would be a waste of your money if you buy this book.

The book is actually about how to program in VB for beginners, and the contents about the actual web development aspects are next to none. Examples do not work; online support is poor for that the author changed the online examples without changing the downloadable codes. Not worth buying at all.

I found "XHTML Fast & Easy", an excellent book reviewing basic HTML, covering in detail Extensible HTML, and extending it toward XML. It covers all of XHTML in an easy to read and understandable fashion, shows how it is related to HTML, and specifically the differences between the two languages. It brings together the path from HTML to XML. It also includes a section on Cascading Style Sheets and how they fit into the whole scheme of things. This general instruction book is easy to read, but does have more than a few mistakes that should have been picked up by proofreading and the editors. However, it is a good book to learn about the Mark-up Languages and to understand the concepts in their development. I recommend it.

I bought this book for an XHTML reference and was pleased with the purchase. There was an excellent guide to cascading style sheets too.

Most people would say that this book is just a review of how to write proper HTML 4.0. DUH! Basically, that is what XHTML is. It is simply how to write "well-formed" HTML pages. This book will tell you how to write well-formed pages. In doing so, it fulfills its purpose.

I liked this book because it lets you know about the importance of XHTML compatibility. It also tells you what the differences between HTML and XHTML are.

Overall this is a great book. I would recommend it to the following people:

People with pages wanting to make them compatible with the future.

People wanting to learn how to write proper HTML.

All webmasters.

Well, thats that. Thanks for your time.

This is yet another learn-by-example book. It's geared towards the total beginner who knows neither HTML nor XHTML and wants to start making some static webpages within an hour of taking the book home.
It's not a bad book. It does have a some good coding examples for doing some basic things along with plenty of screen prints. However, for the same money or less, there are much better books that cover all the material in this book and then some.
For someone who is just starting with web pages and wants a starter book that is inexpensive and really is "fast and easy", I recommend "HTML 4 for the World Wide Web Visual Quickstart Guide" by Elizabeth Castro. Once you've gotten your feet wet with a little HTML and are ready for some more details on HTML as well as getting a start with XHTML, you can move on to "HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, 4th Edition", by Chuck Musciano & Bill Kennedy. This book costs about the same as "XHTML Fast & Easy ..." but covers so much more.
"XHTML Fast & Easy ..." does get you started a little bit, but often leaves you hanging. For example, in the chapter on FORMS, the authors walk you through creating a form with the promise that, at the end of the chapter, they will show you how to collect the data in the form via CGI. When you get to the end of the chapter they basically tell you 1) download some CGI scripts from some website [nevermind how to use them] or, better yet, go out and learn how to program in PERL, 2) even if you really do this, it probably won't matter since most of the Web hosts that beginners tend to use don't allow CGI scripts to run on their servers.
The book is not great, but also not useless, so if it ever shows up in one of the bargain bins or publisher's overstock tables at your local bookstore for five or ten bucks, it may be worth picking up as a supplement . . . otherwise, there are much, much better choices.

This book carries the title XHTML yet speds all of its time going over HTML 4.0, with a few refrences to XHTML standards. The author offers no real detail on any of the special funtions of XHTML. I really think all the author knows here is HTML but to sell his book he threw the title of XHTML on the cover and threw in the basic info of XHTML that anyone could get by looking at one page of the W3C's web site. Great book for HTML but Not a refrence for XHTML.

If you already know HTML pretty well, XHTML won't be a problem. This book gives a good intro to XHTML and is quirky and entertaining along the way. As a Web designer, I found this book quite helpful.

Joe Okonkwo
[...]

Don't even bother learning HTML 4 - XHTML will replace it eventually so you might as well go with the wave of the future.

XHTML for Dummies is a solid INTRODUCTION to XHTML. If you have already reached the intermediate level, then this book is for you. However, if you want to design websites and don't know where to start, then give this book a shot.

While this book is written in plain English and follows the usual Dummies model it is not a start-from-scratch tutorial. The author does not state this explicitly but in order to use this book effectively (because of the way it is written) you really need to have HTML under your belt before you take on XHTML.

This book is written from that perspective and is really more of a reference book for looking up various XHTML elements or rules. It is not very useful as a beginning tool for learning how to code in XHTML unless you are already familiar with the rules and ways of HTML.

Other important aspects like Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are given such cursory treatment that it really makes you feel like more of a dummy after reading it. Other aspects such as the relationship between HTML, XHTML and XML are explained in a ways that just didn't make sense to me but then maybe I'm just a bigger dummy than the author anticipated.

If you have a working knowledge of HTML then this book will probably suffice but if you are just getting started then perhaps it would be better to look elsewhere for an XHTML how-to.

Slap "for dummies" on a book and you will get the dummies to buy it. :) This book just wears you out with all the extra chit-chat that really never gets to the point. I have read a few dummies books for programming languages and they are really not all that good because you can buy more comprehensive books that cover everything.

If you're a true dummy (as I am sometimes), this book really is not for you. You would need to be a "dummy who is highly motivated and has lots of time to learn XHTML." You would want to be a "dummy who already has some familiarity with HTML but wants to get to the next level" or a "dummy with an extraordinarily high IQ but low self-esteem or garbled speech or dilated pupils, hence the (misplaced) dummy label." If however, you have the intelligence, the patience, the time, energy, motivation and personal ambition to wade through this long and highly technical (but written in plain language) book, you could conceivably learn XHTML, make lots of money as an XHTML programmer, and nobody, I mean NOBODY, would call you a "dummy" again.

I purchased this book to start learning HTML. While there appears to be a lot of information here, I found so many errors and omissions that I gave up after 115 pages. I just couldn't follow the examples, and found the page layout to be too confusing. The index didn't help much either - often pointing to a term used only once in the book without any further explanation. I bought a different book (by Laura Lemay) and have had much more success with the Lemay book.

Yes, it seems disjointed at times and has several spelling errors. However, for beginners like myself I have learnt that the best learning books for computer Newbies comprise of plenty of page graphics (close to 50% of content in this one) and practice exercises(end of every chapter !). Cottrell's book achieves both well enough. Most computer books do not, atleast for HTML learning that I have examined. Cottrell's book urges you to complete end of chapter questions with answers at the back for critical comprehension checking. It secondly includes a working case study exercise at the end of each chapter e.g, Chapter 4 p.67 on Tables - Shows a case study homepage and asks : 'What are the design issues with this page ? How did the author create it ? Identify each table, and any special formatting you see in the table.(Hint: there are nested tables on this page.) When you're done, go to [specified website address] and view the source code.' Gives her answer at the back of the book too. I would have liked to have seen MORE practice exercises... but this book has been great to check my understanding as a newbie. Nice work.

-Spiro Raftopoulos spiromlb@ozemail.com.au

This is one of the worst editing jobs I have ever seen in published material. There is sometimes no continuity, incomplete sentences, no follow on explanations; just a poorly written and poorly edited book. You can learn a little about HTML, but it's a lot of work

When the author explains something, eg. tables, she notes that it will be explained more in a named chapter, then she doesn't. I also found that she gives alot of incomplete information. All this might be because I expected more information. A plus is that she does explain some very useful consepts on desighn and compatability.

This book can't seem to make up it's mind if it's a tutorial or a reference book, and in the end it does neither well. There are several cases where the text is talking about one thing and the images are illustrating something else. I have had to do to much of the work deciphering the information that is presented. I'm looking for another book.

This is one book that could have benefited from a firm critique while still in proposal form by someone cognizant of the concerns of the potential audience.

A book about a technology not ready for prime time cannot focus on code snippets. It must be an advocacy book, a book that speaks directly to us skeptics in the coding trenches. It must motivate the hard work entailed in learning a new tech by giving us a glimpse of a better future if we do. This book fails in that.

The first concrete questions a knowledgeable person will want answered by the book is "How is XAML better than XUL? Can it do more or do it more easily?" The only mention of XUL is on page 4, where we are informed "XAML offers similar benefits to other markup-based application interface mechanisms such as XUL..."

Well yes, "similar," except that XAML, unlike XUL, is not cross-platform, not implemented, and not tested in production applications.

This book found me a skeptic and left me an irritated skeptic.

Reading over some of the other reviews listed here, I feel that this book is getting some harsh criticism that is simply not justified. This is an OVERVIEW book folks, not a comprehensive resource that will turn you into an uber XAML programmer overnight! This book touches upon topics quickly and swiftly. Usually I appreciate brevity, but in this case being short doesn't necessarily help or hurt this book. If you want a quick read that will teach you some of the ins and outs of XAML, this is a nice book to do just that. If you need a more extensive look at the technology then pick up another guide but don't bash this book for being what it is.

Here's an overview of what to expect:

01. Introducing XAML
02. Getting Started
03. XAML Basics
04. Layout and Positioning
05. Resources
06. Storyboards and Animations
07. Elements
08. Controls
09. Shapes and Geometry
10. Layout
11. Animations and Transformations
12. Events

Along with this, you get 8 appendices covering the major parts of the XAML technology.

If you want a quick intro the technology, this is a nice pickup.

**** RECOMMENDED

Are you a .NET developer and/or user-interface designer that is familiar with HTML and the basics of XML? If you are, then this book is for you! Author Lori MacVittie, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that gives the reader a broader sense of the XAML market.

MacVittie, begins by providing you with a quick introduction to XAML and includes a list of references to tools available for developing XAML applications. Then, she details the system prerequisites and basics necessary to begin developing and building XAML applications. The author continues by describing the core XAML syntax and delves into the types of elements used to create XAML applications. Next, she details how to position individual elements using a variety of techniques, including panels and absolute positioning. Then, the author provides an overview of resources, focusing on the use of global resources to create a customized look and feel for your interface. She continues by detailing the mechanisms available for animating XAML elements. Next, she details and provides examples for the basic elements used within XAML, including Brush and Pen, ListItem, and elements used for text decoration, such as Inline, Bold, and Italic. The author continues by detailing the control elements available within XAML, such as Button, CheckBox, ImageViewer, and Expander. Then, she explains the differences between shape and geometry classes and details the Shape and Geometry elements available within XAML. Next, she details the XAML elements used to lay out user interfaces such as Grid and Panel, and describes supporting elements such as Trigger, Style, and Border. The author continues by detailing the types of animations and transformations available to XAML elements. Finally, she explains the WPF event system and details the events available to XAML elements.

This most excellent book gives the reader a quick reference to XAML with examples. In other words, this book provides documentation of all core components and presents detailed discussions on features such as animation, resources, and layout that will jump-start you on your way to becoming a XAML developer.

I got this book when it was barely three months on the market.
Since WPF (aka avalon) is such a new topic, there are barely any books to teach it. This one is relatively clear and consice. The problem is that the WPF version thay are referring to is obsolete. Many concepts and most examples do not work as is. The whole chapter about Storyboards and animations is completely irrelevant.
I believe that a new version is needed, and I am sorry that I bought a three months old book which is obsolete, but I can not blame the author, she did a good job.

Regards

The previous post says nothing about the quality of this book and thus should be considered a definition of the XAML technology rather than a review.

In my opinion this book seemed slapped together. It was as if the tech writer of the documentation paraphrased the MS XAML Help. There was very little usage of metaphor or humour to make the topic interesting or easier to understand.

The code examples are extremely simple and unimaginative. In one of the very few lame attempts at humour the author comments about an animated rotating square and states that, "It may not be very useful, but it sure is fun to watch." I found this attempt at humour insulting. Can you imagine having a conversation with someone who talked like this?

If you are like me and you really like to have a paper version of bleeding edge tech stuff, you can be can be forgiven for purchasing this drivel. If you want to save yourself some hard earned cash, just download the MS Expression Interactive Designer CTP and work through the examples. You will learn more doing this in less time. In fact, unless you are stuck on the bus, you are wasting your time with this book.

Great book.

The only problem is that the author aims at VBS in IE and javascript in Netscape. I wish he could discuss more on javascript differences between IE and NN. In the way the book is intended, you'll have to write a VBS file for IE and a separate file with javascript for NN. Not many do this. Most would try to write a common javascript to accommodate (cross) both browsers.

However, it helped me a great deal when I started working with javascript. The VBS bits helped,too ... after I learned VB6.

Download the online examples. You'll learn heaps and fast! Recommended.

I maintain a web site that is loaded with javaScript(www.art-wow.com). When I decided to make my pages interactive with DHTML I made the mistake of buying this book. The authur writes DHTML pages for IE browsers using VBscript and pages for NetScape with javaScript. How idiotic! The rule of the web is 'Cross Browser Compatability'!

This book is great only if: A.) You create pages exclusively for either IE or NN -- not both! B.) You want to write every DHTML script twice or C.) You want to know how DHTML written in javaScript and VBscript differ

There are so many good books that focus on how to make every DHTML page work equally well on both browsers (by writing it only once). In my opinion, that's the beauty of creative DHTML. The biggest problem I face is getting the same results in both browsers by only using javaScript. I don't need to know two ways of accomplishing the same goal.

In all fairness, this book does show you how to do a number of cleaver things. The author explains himself well and points out important things to know. Unfortunately, I've looked at a lot of DHTML and I must admit that I almost never run across any written in VBscript. Quite simply, no one does it that way (even the MicroSoft sites recommend javaScript).

I bought this book and typed in every html file. I think this book is worth its name. It does teach you the essentials. Unlike many other books on the same topic, it explains the new techniques through examples. I really like this book's way of introducing a new topic. This way you can feel how it works before you know why it works.

I bougth this book because I wanted to get acquinted with Dynamic HTML. It's easy to read and work through, cover to cover. Unfortunately it contains a lot of errors in the programming examples, and listings aren't always the way as they are in the downloadable examples, mostly in the Navigator listings. Further more the examples in the book are using Javascript and VBscript throughout the book, while these two languages are only (roughly) explaned in the last two chapters. If you are accustomed to Javascript and VBscript and you wish to program a little DHTML in IE. then this is your choise.

The author tell you that all scripts can run on IE and Navigator. It is true only at chapter 1. After this chapter, you have to translate the code from IE HTML to Navigator HTML by yourself; otherwise, you never see the result as shown. In my opinion, it is a good book for learning DHTML only if you are IE lover. Unfortunately, I am not IE guy.

I have met John W. Gosney, I know John W. Gosney, John W. Gosney is a friend of mine. I don't know about the quality of his books (I'm a sales guy, not a techie) but I do know he has a truly massive forehead.

I won't expound on all the typo's already reviewed. I'm disappointed that there is no meat to the book. It is a book of "click this button and you will get these results" There seems to be nothing more here than in the included documentation. Lots of verbage too. I don't need 5 lines of text explaining why the author chose to use an underscore as part of the name of the folder he created, or a whole page dedicated to the installation status bar. I bought the book for more detail on a few different aspects of Homesite and got absolutely nothing out of it. I wasted my money.

While this book made it simple to practice using HomeSite's features, I found many typographical errors throughout. One in particular appears on page 189, in the "Caution" sidebar. Instead of listing the title and author of another Prima Publishing book, the text reads, "... be sure to check out TITLE HERE, by Author Name ..." Ouch! Overuse of commas also is prevalent throughout this book. I purchased HomeSite 4.5 Fast & Easy Web Development because of its hands-on format. It's disappointing--and a poor reflection on Prima Publishing--that this book couldn't have been edited better.

I'm not completely through this book yet. I like the format and the step-by-step approach with lots of boxes for special notes and cautions. There are a few typos (as mentioned in previous reviews) but, in my opinion, they are minor and did not distract from the subject material.

I am writing this reveiw now because: 1) the www.prima-tech.com site is not working and 2) I wanted to tell readers how to get past a difficulty that I had on page 84.

You need to know the IP address of your PC in order to utilize Personal Web Server while testing your work. There may be other methods, but I did the following: 1) open a MS-DOS window and 2) type "ipconfig" at the c:\windows>" prompt. You can then use this address within your browser (connected or not) to test your work. The author assumed that I already knew how to get and use my IP address. He should include a box on page 84 to explain how to do this for each operating system covered in the book.

I have been using FrontPage for sometime, and was recently asked to begin exploring HomeSite as a scripting tool for ColdFusion (of which I knew very little). What a (pleasant) surprise to find that this book covers in detail how to both process forms and access a database using the ColdFusion scripting features built in to HomeSite (not to mention very solid information on ASP as well). While I would like to have had more specific information on the customization features available within HomeSite, this was a solid overivew of the program in general (certainly worth the $$, when compared to the documentation provided by Allaire).

I'm a web professional, and I must rate this book as *very* inadequate!! One wonders why "button" or "checkbox" is nowhere in the index to find. Or why "target" is not mentioned at all. If a novice were to use this book he NEVER would discover that a graphics could serve as a hyperlink. IT JUST ISN'T IN THERE! This book is very anoying. I have never bought a book so unfit for it's stated purpose: a guick concise html reference. A book like this should lead you to the commands you need. If one knew html in and out a reference book wouldn't be needed in the first place

I have been a web professional since '94, and I love this book. It is simply a list of all the HTML, no gibberish, no trying to teach me what good design is (I already know that!).

It's the flat head screwdriver of any proffesionals toolbox, simple, but indespensible.

The layout of the book is excellent. I did find some errors (even with my very limited knowledge of the subject).
I'd like to have seen another section in the book that would have expanded the examples and described some of the options for the commands in greater detail.
I realize that the book is a reference book rather than an HTML tutorial, but it's layed out so nicely I think just a little more information would really make the book a "10"!

This book gives a complete, easy-to-understand, reference to EVERY HTML command. The book is organized alphabetically by command, with quicktables referencing all commands relevent to different topics. It also indicates the compliance of each command to Netscape, Internet Explorer, Mosaic/XMosaic, HTML 2, and HTML 3.2.

This book is very comprehensive and I liked the fact that it was easy to tell which tags were compliant with which browsers, but it's impossible to find anything because every tag and every tag attribute has it's own listing, and if you look up a tag you then have to turn to 10 different pages to read about the attributes for the tag. It takes FOREVER to find anything in this "quick reference" book

It's easy to read, full of useful information, and up to date. It is well written and has great examples.


I don't know what more to say. If you are interested in using HTML/XHTML or CSS, I'd say this is a very valuable book to own.


Jenn
ihatechunli@yahoo.com

This is a bible for beginners, written in clean and simple language. For me, it has been the ideal reference. For somebody just beginning in web design, I recommend pairing "Head First HTML..." with this book, as the "Head First" series takes more time teaching certain basic concepts.

It is both a reference and a chapter by chapter teaching guide. All in all, it has been very helpful.

I have used this book as a textbook for an "Introduction to HTML" class I taught. I looked at several references prior to choosing on one, and this was by far the best formatted and most appropriate for those with little to no existing knowledge of HTML.

The previous reviewer's complaints are mostly unfounded, in my opinion. The appendix contains a more or less comprehensive listing of all HTML tags and their usage, etc. The chapters are well organized, easy to read, and comprehensive. If this book spreads itself a little thin at times trying to cover so much ground, it is necessary due to the inherently connected nature of HTML, XHTML, and CSS. Covering only HTML would not be useful for beginners who want to gain a basic understanding of these technologies. I assume the "HTML 4 Bible" by the same publisher is more what the previous reviewer was probably looking for.

I highly recomend this book to anyone wishing to learn HTML.

If you are an experienced coder looking for an strict HTML, XHTML, or CSS reference, I suggest you move on to another title. If you are a novice in HTML using a WYSIWYG editor and want to start getting into the HTML code itself, then this is a good book for you. I bought this book to refresh myself in HTML, and CSS being away from it for several years. I program in VB and VC++ and have many programming references that are excellent and very concise. Unfortunately this book is neither. The writers persistently wander off on long winded tangents that seem to ramble on and on.... and on! The analogies had me scratching my head wondering just what exactly the comparative was? There are many small chapters in the last half of the book that are nothing but fluff and offer no real information.
In closing, there is useful information in this book for the novice. However it is not complete or in any particular order. Happy hunting.

This book is not worth your money. It is poorly written, does not explain code, and is very incomplete. Bible in its title is very misleading...