SGML Books

Nicely written, very informative. My deduction of a star is for the reference having neither examples nor page numbers where a more detailed explanation would be found. This is a common omission, so I would still recommend this book. I would not recommend this as a first introduction to web authoring, as it is strictly CSS, which of course does nothing without structural mark-up. For those who have been building sites for a while, and need some guidance and insite into CSS, this is a great choice. However, for those who have very little or no experience I would instead recommend 'Build your website the right way...' by Ian Lloyd.

As others have pointed out this is not a CSS "cookbook" full of design templates. If that is what you are looking for, you will be disappointed. If however, you want to understand CSS, how it works, best practices and so on, this is a great book. Although you can find all of the info in various places on the web, Mr. Meyer is a good author explaining in detail how things work and bringing up valuable points to be aware of along the way. A good addition to any web developers library.

Most of the stuff that you learn in CSS can be found already ONLINE and before I bought this book, I had a very good fundamental understanding CSS and thought I buy this book for more knowledge and learn anything that I could have missed. Well I did, but I could have found this information online, however I've spent months learning CSS and it's very difficult to found all the things in this CSS book in one place.

I recommend this book if you have the stimulation to learn from a book and the money because of course the internet is FREE.

Before purchasing this book, I had purchased about a half dozen books on css, one from the same author. I was really surprised to find new ways to use css that I hadn't learned in the other books. Each topic is discussed completely and in detail. For a reference on css, this book is the best I've found.

This is a book about CSS, and CSS, is about the presentation aspect of web pages. How the text appears, the size, the layout, etc.

However, the presentation style inside the book is kind of sloppy. For example, on page 186 and 187, when it talks about inline elements, Figure 7.33 "Strongly emphasized" is printed not as tall as Figure 7.34 and 7.35 when the CSS style is the same. And the word being used is "which is" and is changed to "that is" in Figure 7.34 and 7.35, when it is changing the vertical-align only. The reader would be better helped if they can see the contrast of the CSS style, without the change of wording for no reason at all. Also, in Figure 7.34, the bigger words should not overlap with the smaller words above, as tested in CSS compliant browsers, but it is printed so on the book.

Then again, in Figure 7.36, for no reason at all, the picture is shrunk down to 1/4 size of the previous examples, when they are all talking about the same case except for some vertical-align difference. It may be done just because the page is running out of space. That is pretty sloppy.

On page 181 to 182, it talks about various terms of the inline box model, and there is no figure at all to exemplify the terms at all. Then after the reader goes through a tough time to read through those text of hard definitions, 3 pages later, the figures start to appear. Please, can the book be designed so that the readers are considered? CSS is partly for making the content easy for the audience, and how about this CSS book is made easier for its audience too?

I'm never disappointed with Dummies books and this one is no exception. Great read, easy to learn.

I love this book because it is a well-written concise reference to HTML. It is also spirally bound so it lays flat to boot. This book contains what you need to know without a lot of superfluous text. It is well-organized and collect important information into summary sections. If you are looking for a quick reference, look no further! Like most Dummies books, however, it is written on inexpensive paper. This isn't a huge drawback, however, since computer books are ancient history very quickly and only useful for starting fires after a few years.

I had new a little html before I got this book but after I got this book my web pages went from looking like something a high school freshman could do after a weekend to something that looks fairly professional I really enjoyed this book and will be getting java for dummies also if it half as good as this one

I love this book! 7 years ago, when I was in high school, I knew nothing about HTML, so I picked up this book. And it really helped me learn fast!

Each of the book's lessons is hands-on, which makes it so much easier to pick up. It teaches you HTML by having you type the codes into the Notepad program, and saving the file as an .html instead of a .txt file. Then, when you open it up, it appears in webpage format, and you can quickly edit and play around with the codes in Notepad to see what kind of different results you get. Actually, even to this day, I still use a Notepad program instead of one of those fancy page-creator programs. I like keepin' it DIY, Old School, baby!

Some of the things the book covers:
- how to use different fonts
- how to put in images
- how to make an image map (so when you click on different parts of the image, you're sent to different links)
- how to create basic tables
- how to create numbered and bulleted lists
- how to make frames

Even though the book won't teach you some of the fancier stuff you see on webpages, like how to use non-bordered tables for layout design, or how to make text change when you roll your mouse cursor over it, it will teach you how to be able to learn those things. Since the book taught me how to view the source code of webpages and how to understand code in the first place, whenever I went to someone's website and saw something cool I liked, I just viewed their source code to see how they were able to do those things. This is all perfectly fine; just DON'T STEAL SOMEONE ELSE'S LAYOUT. Not cool, people. Just see how others do things, and use those techniques to make something of your own design.

Once you learn the basics of HTML, it's easy to pick up that fancy stuff. There's plenty of tutorial sites on the web and thick HTML reference books at the library that'll give you the codes for that. And this book definitely gives you the foundation for learning those things.

This is the first HTML book I bought and it's become my favorite. Not only did I learn how to build a webpage from scratch, I continue to learn new tricks from it every time I dip inside. This is great if you want to learn how to code your pages and not rely on templates. There's also a quick and handy color code guide in the back.

This is a great book for taking your ASP.NET 2.0 skills beyond the basics. Learn valuable skills for improving your web sites such as data caching, partial page caching and lowering the cost of server callbacks. Learn to let your site save user profiles and let users save site themes as a personalized profile; plus lots more.

Where other books just gloss the surface of controls and topics Wei-Meng Lee using a lab notebook approach drills down multiple layers on each topic and in just over 300 pages manages to cover more information than books with 3 times the number of pages; and on almost every page is a URL for additional information. IMHO, this book should be on the bookshelf of every serious ASP.NET developer.

This is a well-written, easy-to-use book hitting the main points of ASP.NET 2.0. I've never read it cover-to-cover, but have gotten great use from it as a reference manual when I need to quickly figure out how to do something new in ASP.NET 2.0.

The book's laid out in a clear fashion and has a solid index, so it's easy to find the material you need to solve a problem. Each "lab" in the book is task-oriented, so you'll find things like "Create a Master Page for Your Site" which details the steps necessary to accomplish the task. Sections are nicely done and full of tips and tricks, plus there are plenty of short sidebars noting smaller bits of interest such as content pages being limited to having only one master page.

I've found the breadth of coverage quite nice. The author hits everything from Master Pages/Site Navigation to Security to Profiles. There's also a nice section on Performance which talks about site precompilation and caching. (I even nabbed one of the author's labs for one of my talks on .NET -- with attribution, of course.)

The book's very nicely done. It's concise and clear, and I like its style, both content and visual. Some folks might complain about the examples all being in Visual Basic 2005, but as Dr. Phil might say, "Build a bridge and get over it." The labs give you more than enough detail to understand how you need to use the Framework to accomplish tasks, so the particular language used shouldn't be such an issue.

Advanced ASP.NET developers probably won't get a lot out of this unless they're completely new to 2.0, but beginning and intermediate developers should find the book very helpful.

So far this book's been very useful.

This is a pretty good introduction to ASP.NET 2.0 for folks who are already familiar with ASP.NET 1.1. All of the examples are in VB.NET, so if that bothers you, you might want to look elsewhere. I prefer C# myself, so I just rewrote the examples in C# as I went along. That gave me something mildly interesting to do as I worked my way through the book.

The examples in the book are pretty simple and generally just serve to illustrate basic concepts. There's no really interesting code in the book. It's really just a quick way to get through some of the new stuff in ASP.NET 2.0.

One problem with this book is that it was written during the beta phase, and doesn't reflect a few things that changed in the final version of ASP.NET 2.0. There is an update document on O'Reilly's site, and there may be a new printing with those corrections, but I'm not sure about that.

I really have not gained anything from this book. I bought the book having extensive 1.1 experience with a bit of 2.0 experience.

The examples are way to simplistic. I can see this book being okay for an absolute beginner, but advanced developers aren't going to gain much.

And all of the examples are in vb.net... *sigh*

I bought this book after reading a couple of chapters at a local bookstore. It's very hands on, totally gets the job done. I was trying to implement a web application using the new asp.net framework, and it helped me out in all but details which I did not need till later on in the project.
What it will not do: Explain you the intricate differences, eg. at the level of the asp.net worker process in the difference in the way it compiles pages at runtime.
What it will do: Get you completely up and running with the new framework, esp. with a very good chapter about the GridView control.

While I've understood the basics of XML for some time, I've just not had a need until recently to dig into the nuts and bolts of working with it on the .NET platform. As an ASP.NET developer specifically, and with that need to know now on the table, I went on the hunt for books to help, and Mr. Wahlin's offering was an obvious choice.

First off, Mr. Wahlin is a terrific writer. The clear, friendly, and conversational tone of the book resonated for me, although I did find some of the verbosity and repetition a bit excessive in some spots.

The book begins with a good review of XML concepts, more than enough for a newbie, but easy to sift through for the more seasoned reader in need of a knowledge refresher. It continues through all the necessary concepts, including the XML classes in .NET, transformations, and of course, ADO.NET, the database core of the .NET platform. (On ADO.NET, it includes a general introduction, but of course focuses on it in an XML context.)

I have to say that one of the best outcomes of reading the book and experimenting with what I learned along the way is that many of the ADO.NET concepts that still seemed abstract to my not-quite-up-to-OOP brain suddenly fell into place and made much more sense to me when tied to the structures and concepts of XML.

No book is perfect, and I could have used some more detailed coverage in some areas. But overall, it's a great walk through the world of XML for the seasoned ASP.NET developer in need the grand tour. It sure was a help to me...

I just bought this book. But I don't know where to download the example code? Please help me.

Dan Wahlin is one of the top experts on XML, and this book is absolutely fantastic. Almost every question that I have ever had about working with XML and .NET has been answered... except that I don't use C#. So, I always need a translator.

If you use C#, this is the perfect book. If you don't, learn to translate from it, cuz this is the best book around.

This book does a good job explaining the ins and outs of XML programming with the .Net Framework.

These are the types of books you need to look for. Take a small part of the .Net framework and give it a decent amount of coverage. Overall, the examples are fairly substantial and apply very well to real world programming situations.

I bought the book a month ago and stayed idle in my library until I started using SQL2000 Web Notifications and needed some extra help on the principles.

And that was it. I can only tell you that it kept me reading it for three consequtive days, enough time to keep myself going, understand may parts, realise many possibilities/options and even optimise some code. This is not a book to solve a particular problem but it is a book to get you all excited about XML/XSLT/XLink/XPath and realise how this have been integrated to many of Microsoft Applications... (Notifications is one, CS2002 another).

I regret that I havent had that book before hand. It would have saved me many more hours of searching.

The only minus is that it makes you so excited that you end up spending another couple $$$ on other books to get into more details so I just shopped...
1 of: XPath and XPointer
1 of: Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming
1 of: XSLT and XPath On The Edge, Unlimited Edition
1 of: XSLT Programmer's Reference 2nd Edition

couple this with Professinal C# (2nd Edition) or even Beginning C# and you can do most things imaginable with c# and XML.

Thank you Dan.

Starts off at the very beginning, and leads the reader to learn html with lots of pictures and examples. This book is very organized.

Although this book covers pretty much all the elements of HTML, I discovered a significant number of incomplete syntax specifications. I was especially disappointed in its coverage of forms. The chapter just breezed through all the different types of form elements and didn't explain how data from these elements are handled when submitting a form. Because of the inadequacy of this book, I often find myself having to surf on the Net to find answers to my HTML questions.

QUE's "Unsing HTML 4" was and continues to be a great reference quide. It also has easy indexing for new HTML authors. This book is definitely the best choice for either experienced authors or beginners.

Before buying this book, I was wondering what could have been packed in it to make it around 600 pages more than the average HTML books I have read so far.....When I got it in my hands and started perusing its pages, I got the feeling that I have got back every penny spent on it ! The best book on HTML I have come across and it should be your HTML's reference book from now on.

I bought this book before I had a computer in my home. However, by the time I had finished the second chapter, I was already composing web pages in my head. Lee Anne does an excellent job of introducing the ins and outs of correct HTML coding. Not only does she bring you up to par with todays coding standards but, she uses keen far-sight to prepare you for the nuances and ever evolving standards of the web. If you are searching for a straight-as-an-arrow approach to web page building, then I highly recommend this book.

Stanek did something 'heroic'. He wrote an overview in which every topic is written down in a clear and understandable way. The book is not just a summary, but it shows how several 'languages' could be used in web publishing, how to choose for a language, it's pros and cons, and how they can cooperate. It was about time that such a book was written, because many people could be overloaded with information without knowing what to do with it. By buying and reading this book you won't get 'overloaded'. Stanek takes you to a point from where he shows you what the possibilities are, what the differences are and how to make decisions in good design. For newbies and experienced people who are working in the field of webdesign, marketing and programming business a must! (Mr. Stanek, I owe you one..)

This book was great when I first started reading it....2 years ago. The author was well organized and very informative in his descriptions. If you want basic knowledge, and then to expand on present material, this is the book for you.

I just purchased this book, I am also a web designer, although it is already outdated the theories presented by the author makes this book relevant to newer versions of HTML etc.This book is still a must for designers and a would be CLASSIC!

Although this book has great content, the information is too outdated. According to this book Java and frames, are not supported by IE. This book is still teaching HTML 2 and HTML 3 (not 3.2). Don't expect to learn that much about Java and CGI from this book either because it explains what they are more that it teaches how to create applets and scripts using them.

I bought this book after taking on the task of learning *gasp* all of the facets of web programming and design, hoping this would be current information. A lot of it is. If you're still developing and writing HTML in the 3.0 version. I was surprisingly let down by this part of the Unleashed series, which is usually known for high quality info. Not that it isn't a good book, it's just out of date. ** Wondering how to get money back now **.. My advice.. keep looking. This one is just not current enough to be useful for so much of what's new now. Sorry Mr. Stanek, et al.

In all fairness, the second half of the book is a complete reference, albeit not a very handy one with its confusing examples. And I never did find out how to use the "onselect" attribute for a radio button, something that one would think would get a thorough explanation in these days of trying to make our web pages more dynamic.

Powell's style is about as clear as mud. Just when you think you are finally going to learn about, for example, what the XML fuss is all about (ch. 17) he leads you off into some dull, pedantic discussion of, . . . well I never did figure out what he was talking about. Other chapters are equally disappointing.

Here's an example of Powell's style. In Chapter 8, Frames are discussed. One attribute for frames is called _parent. Powell writes, "The _parent value enables you to overwrite the parent frame that contains the nested frame, without destroying any frames that the parent may be nested within."

Got that? Powell also explains that the _parent value isn't encountered very often. With explanations like the above, I think we can sort of understand why :-)

If you really want to learn HTML (and need a quick reference) get the book by Laura Lemay. Her style is much clearer, to the point, and the examples are not only useful, that actually work. When you are done with her book it may then be time to come back to Powell's stogy tomb, which tries to be all things to all people, and fails miserably, IMHO.

It's been about 3 years since I wrote my original review of the book HTML Programmer's Reference, 1st Ed. [see post November 19, 1999]. Since that period, I've developed and deployed several web sites all from having obtained the basic knowledge and practical application of the syntax and tag constructs from this modest book. The direction of HTML development is moving forward with the wide usage of XHTML. And, again the authors show insight into the industry trend by updating this REFERENCE book with the latest version of XHTML 1.0.

If I must say something negative [seeing that the publishers market this book as an "idea book"], the examples shown are a bit basic. For example, the "target" attribute within the "I use this book when I have forgotten the exact construct of certain tags, or when the pages are rendered in several browser products [like IE or Netscape]. If your beginning to think about designing web pages, this is only one of several books you'll own. There are plenty of "how-to" books that cover the syntax and tag construction in a more reader-centric format. I must state that this is a reference book and is probably not intended to begin your exposure to web development services [only the authors will disagree]. However, this book is truly a gem and worth every cent of the price, and like fine wine, will hold its value well into the future.