XHTML Books

Web Standards Solutions is reasonably solid title that discusses the benefits and approaches of using web standards in the design of (X)HTML markup. CSS is also covered as a means to remove presentational elements from web page markup. Lists, tables, headings, hyperlinks, forms, quotations and layouts are all covered to a foundational level.

The information covered in the book is especially suited to new web site designers who are yet to understand these concepts. Web application developers - who might not focus their craft on the quality of their markup, would also benefit greatly. For others already possessing an basic understanding of semantic markup and presentation through CSS, the book might contain a few useful tips only.

Throughout each chapter the book doggedly follows a pattern that can become tedious. For each chapter, non-standards approaches are considered before the 'correct' standards based approach is shown. After this the 'extra credit' portion of the chapter provides practical applications of the given solution. Whereas the correct solution and extra credit sections are useful, the repetition of the defective non-standard approaches for in every chapter is sometimes repetitive and slightly contrived, and could be discussed more casually as required without dominating the format of every chapter.

Having said that, the book is easily read, has examples and practical applications, covers the breadth of the topic well and could certainly be used to bring anyone up to speed on the basics of standards-based approaches to the web page markup development.

With only a casual tinker in Dreamweaver split view under my belt starting out, I learned how to hand code XHTML and CSS with this book alone (well, and some web research here and there and CSS Mastery is an excellent follow up). It's written clearly and gives multiple solutions for each case, while explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each. I cannot recommend this book enough, as even after I finished it, it remains close by as an invaluable desk reference that I refer to here and there.

This is an excellent book that all web designers should own. When I look at people's sites, I often validate them just out of curiosity, and it is so rare that I ever find a valid site. I always pay attention to validation, and this book just validates (for lack of a better term) my opinions on the importance of following web standards. This book is good for helping with workarounds for certain browsers (cough, IE) that don't support standards that most others do.

Through simple illistrations and small code snippets this book covers pretty much what one would need to know in order to create great web 2.0 sites.

This book is the 2nd one by Dan Cederholm that I bought and can be used as "Advanced Chapters" to his short but overall excellent "Bulletproof Web Design" (ISBN-10: 0321346939). These two combined will surely set your brains straight about standards-based HTML/CSS development.

It explains how to make your markup short. It shows why using purposeful HTML tags (such as "label") is preferred to using generic divs with classes. It destroys new and "hip" myth about tables being "taboo" for modern HTML.

It's been such a long time since I did anything with HTML and I needed a no nonsense approach to brushing up on it. Well, this book is right on target for me. The hands-on method of teaching in this book is so great that it feels like you are taking a course on HTML. The format is like a work book so you are always working with the material as you learn it. This author does not dumb it down to make you feel like if the material is for "Dummies" either. There are a few puns in there to maintain levity but the author is always on task.
So far I am in Chapter 4 and have learned quite a few fundamental techniques in CSS that I will use on my work center intranet. I definitely recommend this book to get the basics of HTML and as a bonus being taught to do things the right way to meet standards, what a concept! I tell you if the rest of the Sitepoint books are like this one, then they have just earned themselves a loyal customer!!

I attempted to learn web page development self study beginning with a couple of " for dummies " books. They were interesting - and had some value - but the information within these books were not as well organized to learn from. There was also important issues for beginners in web page development that were left out of the book. Things like selecting a website - and loading files etc. I had gotten to the point where I created a very basic site with my text editor - but when I went to upload it to a web host - I could get the pages uploaded / but I could not figure out where to put things - how exactly everythign works.

I'm only on page 80 - but so far I've learned some basic HTML - inline style - Embedded style elements - and External Style sheets - with brief projects using each of these structures. It's very hands on and basic to learn so far, I'm quite satisfied with the purchase.

I don't expect it will teach all teh tricks of the trades and how to work with each and every element throughout the book - but it sets you up with the basic framerwork of knowledge and structure of which to build upon and the hands on approach is very user friendly for learning markup.

I'd recommend this to anyone interested in learning web page markup and CSS from scratch.

I had already built a website using a "user-friendly" site builder offered by the hosting service. However, it was almost impossible to make changes to the site and the markup created by the program was bloated and often contained errors. So when I bought this book I was desperate. Within two days I had completely re-done the markup for the site so that it's now compliant with all current standards.

The book lays out in simple terms, with great examples, exactly how to use CSS and XHTML to design a website that meets your needs. It's easy to read, offers good tips, and you can customize the look of your site by simply playing with the examples to see how they appear on a page and then adapting the markup. Using a style sheet, as illustrated in the book, makes it VERY easy to change the look of all pages in a site with one or two alterations in markup.

I recommend this book highly for anyone who knows little or a moderate amount about using CSS and XHTML.

I am about halfway through this book, building the sample website it teaches you. I am a fairly sophisticated computer end-user, but have never tried any kind of website design before.

As advertised, this book starts with the assumption that you know nothing about HTML. It does not require you to have any fancy software. I have DreamWeaver, but I'm working in Notepad because that's what's on my laptop, and it's going just fine.

The approach the book takes is step by step from the very first line of code. It explains "why" you build a certain way, not just "how" to do it. There are also many examples beyond the sample website that is the book's main focus, so you learn more than just how to build a website that mirrors the one in the book. This will be a good reference book, not just a one-time read.

Good supporting website with downloadable code, errata (there aren't very many at all), and a nice forum. Author's style is pleasant and straightforward with a few corny jokes to laugh at along the way.

I can see by flipping forward to the end of the book that the sample site will be both nice looking and very functional with tables, response forms, images, radio buttons, etc. It will also be easy to maintain due to the proper coding practices taught here. This is just what I need both to create a nicer "home" website, and get started on one for my business.

Awesome product, definitely worth the price. Buy it.

I loved this book, and I'm a pretty experienced web designer. There are a lot of other reviews saying how great it is, so I thought I'd add a few comments not mentioned. First, this book is really intended for people who are starting from the ground up. As such, it only describes strict XHTML, so if you're going to be working on an existing site, you're not going to learn about a lot of what is out there, like frames and using tables for positioning elements on the page. It describes an elegant design philosophy that will get beginners on the right track. It also covers, in just enough detail, finding a web-hosting site, getting a domain, using FTP, etc. Second, as others have mentioned, it is not a reference manual. Third, it assumes the web tool you are going to use is Notepad, or a similar editor. Personally, I think that's the best way to go, but it's good to know before you buy the book. In other words, you are going to be writing XHTML and CSS to build your pages, not using some fancy tool. Lastly, where I think the book really shines is in the sections describing how to add extras to your web site, like search, blogs, and getting web statistics. It does all this only describing free utilities.

As I read this review, I've actually come to appreciate the book better. I can think of no other book that takes a complete novice from almost nothing to a complete, rather sophisticated web site that meets CSS and XHTML strict standards and even has a few bells and whistles, all in about 400 pages. There's even a bit of humor, and the author has a relaxed easy-going, re-assuring without pandering tone.

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.

I usually don't write reviews, but I read tons of them. However, after starting "jQuery in Action" I just have to write about this book. After reading the first two chapters I could tell that this book is a "keeper". The interactive "lab" exercises (starting in Chapter 2) help explain jQuery's capabilities and features quickly and conveniently, using your computer browser. This method of teaching is terrific; very intelligent, yet simple.
I started out by reading the Appendix: "Javascript that you need to know but might not!". This helped to fill in my understanding of Javascript and was a good way to ease into the book. I am not a Javascript expert but I am a seasoned programmer and I have read dozens upon dozens of technical books over the years, and I know a well developed technical guide when I see it.
Kudos to the authors and the publisher for a fine book about jQuery.

jQuery is a Javascript framework that aims to let you think structurally and conceptually, rather than worrying about syntax and other details. In that largely succeeds, and so does this remarkable book.

Every technical book should be like this one; having written a few myself, I know that's a tall order. "jQuery in Action" is concise but clear, humorous but not silly, and answers all the questions it raises, quickly. The reader is never left wondering "But what about..." for more than a sentence or two. The authors clearly gave a lot of thought to pedagogy, because things are explained in a clear way which progresses naturally from chapter to chapter. Factor in the extremely readable style and the handsome diagrams, and it's easy to see why reading this book is a sheer joy.

For each major feature of jQuery, this book provides a "Laboratory page", a kind of interactive HTML playground where you can try the feature out using different options. The remarkable flexibility of these pages is a testament to both the power of jQuery and to the imagination and creativity of the authors.

Perhaps the most commendable feature of "jQuery in Action" is, however, its unflinching honesty. All too often authors are interested in selling you on an approach or a product, and they tend to gloss over the rough spots to win you over. These authors refuse to do that. They present their topic just as it is, describe its merits, and let the reader decide. You should, of course, decide to buy this book!

jQuery in Action is a practical book that explains how to use, and what's behind the magical framework known as jQuery. It's teaches by example, so you're never reading 20 pages of theory. The writing is clear and it really shows you how to get through some of the "gotchas" of javascript, like timing, animations, and our good friend Ajax. Good for beginners to Javascript, jQuery, and experts.

I purchased this book as soon as it was available. I knew very little about JavaScript then and jQuery in Action does not assume that you know anything about it. The examples are very clear and the book is very carefully written without unnecessary words. But you get more. The authors lead you to show how to think, they designed the samples to advance from trivial to professional knowledge. Often, scanning through the example code, I found myself asking "why is it this way?" and immediately in the next paragraph, there was the answer. I am impressed with the quality of writing, I think every serious professional should read this book whether or not he/she plans to use jQuery.

Clear and concise, this book has taken me from knowing nothing about web design to publishing a site of my own in 3 weeks. While there is much more to learn, my site is running smoothly and 100% W3C Strict compliant.

this book is the greatest that i have read ever.
though that i have a little expiriance with HTML and CSS , but this book give you the actually way to write your code only at XHTML and CSS , with a great way of explaining .

Virginia DeBolt's newest book is an excellent resource for modern, standards based design. It combines the depth of a well qualified instruction with lively, real world examples of practical web applications. This book will save you so many hours of work and research by showing you how techniques have evolved and how each application meets the various standards. Webpage structure (including columns), various navigation methods, working with images and picture galleries, banners, links, blogs, and much more are all discussed. Also included (in color) are inspirational website designs showing these modern CSS based techniques.

In the course of designing our numerous large websites for parent support I have read over a dozen design and coding books on html and css, and this is one book I return to over and over again.

I've been studying at web design and construction for over 10 years. Since I'm both dyslexic and limited in my short-term memory, I've had problems with doing more than just the basics. Understanding XHTML and CSS have been problematic for me, and I've had to rely on programs like Dreamweaver and Front Page to write my pages. This book is finally bringing home how web pages are constructed, and how CSS is used for both styling and positioning things. Virginia has put together the best method of presenting the material in a manner that I can comprehend, and hopefully retain. I've purchased a lot of books on web construction, but none have helped me as much as this one has, and continues to do. I'll keep it over all the others as a reference in the future.

A good book. Topics are all well explained and good programming examples are provided. The target audience is more for people with little or no programming experience. But, experienced software developers can gain some insights, too. Overall, I highly recommend if you are looking for a book on this subject which doesn't contain in-depth technical details.

I bought this book for a class that I took at UC Berkeley and it's a great book because it teaches the reader xhtml and java in a simple way. I was amazed as to how easy it was understand all the terminology in the book. Usually I sell off my books at the end of the semester but this one was a keeper.

I got this book for a class, taught by Lagerstrom, and loved it. It does a great job explaining XHTML and JavaScript. I had never been exposed to any type of programming, but this book made it simple. When I originally bought the book, I was sharing it with two other people. However, we all found it so helpful that we had to each buy our own to keep it on the shelf.

Wow. Very few programming books I've read do much for me. Most of them are of no more use than a reference manual. But this book....this book is different. After just an hour of reading, I now understand the basics of JavaScript. The book does a great job explaining it. The other topic this book covers is XHTML, the successor to HTML. I admire the author's constant reminders to remain standards-complient in XHTML. Good job.

I got this book for a class, but I'll be keeping it forever. Scary, eh?

I really think that this book is very useful for beginners in ColdFusion. It is very well written, easy to read and have examples that helps you to understand every concept. I recommend it for learning ColdFusion.

Yes I like this book. It is easy to read and is written very clearly.

Yang Groves

I found this book to be very informative and it is very insightful.This book is for beginners who have no previous experience in object-oriented programming. A little knowledge of HTML is useful, but not essential. All the concepts you need to are explained clearly in step by step fashion which makes it easy for everyone to understand.

This level was better than the first level. Lots of CSS examples and advanced topics. The first level is good for the novice web designer. Together its a good learning combo.

Great examples that anyone can use to create nice styles. I used a portion of this book in a course and it did very well.

This is a very no-nonsense approach to building web pages. It's an excellent guide if you know what you want to put on your page but are mystified about the HTML codes to use to produce the effects you're looking for. This book even includes a guide on how to incorporate multi-media on your webpage. This is the best book I have read thus far on the subject.

After reviewing countless of books on web designing, I have finally found one of the most informative and easy to read books on HTML. Within the first couple of days, I quickly and easily created a very attractive website. If the reader follows the steps as outlined in the book I can assure you he will walk away with with a working knowledge of HTML. This is a must read for anyone interested in learning how to design web sites. The author definitely makes learning fun.

"the layout of Felke-Morris's text is excellent. I have always
disliked texts with crowded pages, distracting sidebars, and many colors. Felke-Morris' text focuses the student on salient content and uses color, text boxes, and the like to enhance and emphasize, rather than distract. Felke-Morris' hands-on exercises are something my current text does not even have. I really like these exercises because they give
students a chance to learn and practice small chunks of material before applying the knowledge to a larger project."
-Elizabeth Drake
Santa Fe Community College

"Great coverage of web accessibility standards! Glad to see a tutorial on File Management. Many students coming into this course struggle with those
concepts."
Anita Philipp
Oklahoma City Community College


"Great inclusion of ethical issues and accessibility tips (these are areas that I do find myself supplementing with our current text)."
Joyce M. Dick, Northeast Iowa Community College

"Superior aspects of Felke-Morris include:
--Inclusion of web site pages and/or addresses that have been referred
to in the text as either examples of techniques, or places to find more information, or used as a part of the end-of-chapter section on Web Research. These are a real strong point of the text.
--Use of the same four example sites through the text as end-of-chapter Cases. As each chapter is completed, each site is enhanced using the current chapter's skills and concepts.
--The inclusion of Hands-On Practice and Web Research sections."

Cindy Mortensen
Truckee Meadows Community College

This book will get you started on coding web pages using XHTML and CSS, using CSS for page layout, promoting web pages, introduce using Flash and Java applets, and give you an overview of e-commerce. A great book for a beginner web developer. We use this in a community college course for both online and face-to-face classes. The students really like the hands-on approach with exercises and case studies. There is a CD with extra tutorials and references, too.