XHTML Books

I have been out of web design for years. In fact the last time I built a web page I was still using a single html doc and usually some images with hotspots. This book got me back in the saddle and quickly had me building great looking and functional web pages and sites.

This book covers everything from basic html to css to MySQL and PHP. There is really no other book you could get that will help you build a more complete website at this level.

I'd recommend this book to anyone wanting to start their own web pages.

I've been bodging and hacking my way through all sorts of Web-based projects for years, and had only recently begun to progress beyond hacking other people's code. This is an awesome primer for someone who wants to get a grounding in a wide variety of Web technologies. However, don't expect detailed how-tos on more advanced stuff (for example- styling dropdown menus with CSS.) What you will get is enough solid info to supercharge your further efforts down the line. This is the book for learning to walk before you can run.

Very informative and equally complete. I think this is probally the only book you need to read to build some sexy websites. Only thing is the name is kind of condecending : )

This is a pretty good book for learning HTML and XHTML. It's very basic, and perfect for a beginner. Most codes are explained thoroughly, however, sometimes the author just writes a code to do a job and doesnt explain how it works or how exactly to use it.

It has ALOT of important information about creating a website and how to test a website, so you can meet all your users needs.
I would recommend this book to a beginner who wants to learn more about HTML/XHTML or someone who would like a great reference book.

Exactly the book on Web Design that I was looking for to advance my knowledge! I bought it used on amazon.com and it surpassed my expectations! This book explains everything that it claims and more...HTML and XHTML, as well as related technologies are discussed. This is an awesome starter book for beginners to learn quickly, and is an all around great reference for experts. This book will help you learn HTML, and XHTML and prepare you for where you want to go next. GREAT GREAT GREAT!

I would highly recommend this book for all type of users, from novice to experts. This book is easy to read and understand. It has excellent tips through out the book. The writer's made sure in this book that you would learn everything about coding web pages in both HTML and XHTML. They also touch on other web technologies like CSS, JavaScripting and XML. Don't look any further, this book is the right book for you.

I have a self-taught knowledge of XHTML, and I got this book hoping to learn more about it. I studied it from cover to cover, and, though I would not claim to me a master or expert of the subject, I definately have a broder, sturdier understanding of XHTML. The book provided good examples, so the reader can clearly understand the lesson. I was also surprised to find that it is strikingly different than online tutorials in that it does not simply define tags or provide template-like code for the reader to copy into notepad. Instead, it breaks down the tags and the code, so the reader can fully understand it and manipulate it in his/her own code. I was also surprised to find that it was not at all like the technical reference books that I am used to. The Mastering XHTML book does not assume that the reader has any knowledge of XHTML when starting the book. So even if you know absolutely nothing about XHTML, you will be able to understand this book.
It is definately for beginners, though. So if you're formally trained or already at the O'Reilly Definitive Guide level, you will be horribly bored. If, however, you are like I was and are looking for something to build a sturdy foundation about XHTML, you will be pleased. This is also a good book for transitioning from HTML to XHTML.

This is a long read but pack full of great info. The future of the web is XHTML, any developer needs this book.

This book lists everything in HTML 4.x that has been deprecated in XHTML 1.0. Though not especially great for writing XHTML from scratch, this book is a prize for updating sites written in HTML 4. x to XHTML. With a few dozen searches you'd know everything in the web pages that needs to be changed.

This is a good book which is a good reference for me. However, when I got the book and was working through some of the real world exercises. I wanted to download the files that are referenced by the book for the excercises. This is because the book explains more things related to the files than are in the snippets in the book. Anyway, I went to the site referenced and I am continuously getting the page of Death "page can not be displayed". Needless to say I am left wanting.

Love this book - as a seasoned web developer with heaps of experience I find this book a great reference tool, fantastic prompter when I'm struggling with XML techonologies, all round very well written and did I mention already PRACTICAL.
If your confused now or then by XML or you know nothing and want to learn from scratch then BUY this book.
Chapters are well defined and organised, it covers everything from css - to XSLT, client side, server side applications and good practices. Well written - without this book my XML nappies would be on the floor.

There are dozens of books on XML, the difference is that this is solely focused on the web and very practical oriented; it's not that much about XML theory but it's full of real world examples. The most valuable chapters in my opinion are the ones covering XML support inside the various browsers, the info about client-side XSLT, XML and CSS and DOM manipulation with JavaScript are something that you will not find elsewhere

The Web Design CD Bookshelf CD-ROM by O'Reilly, Associates has received a "BEST BOOK for 2002" award by readers of the Design & Publishing Center, the Editors of DT&G Magazine and the Design-Bookshelf.com.

Need we say more.

The "6 Bestselling Books on a CD-ROM" on the cover looks impressive, but dig into the info contained on the CD and it begins to look a lot less so.

Some of these titles are definitely looking a bit long-in-the-tooth ("Information Architecture for the World Wide Web" was published back in early 1998, and the "Cascading Style Sheets" title is looking a lot less "definitive" in the two years since it first came out). In fact, with the sole exception of the book included with this CD pack, all of the books are at least a year old, limiting their usefulness. Can you say "retread"?

The ActionScript title is good but I would have preferred a more generally-applicable book instead, like, say O'Reilly's recent book on JavaScript...

Still, having all of this info at your fingertips in a CD-ROM format is genuinely useful -- the search feature is fast and accurate -- more so than you're likely to get when looking up the same keyword on a major search engine. So far I've found the XHTML title and the Web Design in a Nutshell (which is the "book" included in this package) the most-referenced titles, the latter in particular an excellent (and relatively recent) publication.

The Web Design CD Bookshelf: Version 1.0 contains six different, complete guides that, taken together, cover everything anyone needs to know about the art of web design. Novice web designers and experienced professionals alike will appreciate being able to quickly look up answers to the most harrowing difficulties at a few clicks of the mouse. The CD-ROM includes the complete text of Web Design in a Nutshell 2nd Edition; HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide 4th Edition; Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide; ActionScript: The Definitive Guide; Information Architecture for the World Wide Web; and Designing Web Audio: RealAudio, MP3, Flash, and Beatnik. Truly the definitive compendium about web design, and the perfect reference for anyone seeking create or improve their own website. The system requirements for The Web Design CD Bookshelf: Version 1.0 are a browser software such as Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer supporting HTML, and to support the search engine, a Java-enabled browser supporting Java version 1.1.2 or later.

If I could give it more stars, I would!

If you want a reference book for XHTML and CSS, this is it! If you also want a tutorial for XHTML and CSS, this is it!

The first 370 pages are an alphabetical reference to XHTML. Each tag is listed with ALL of its possible attributes as well as guides to browser compatability (even WebTV). The next 130 pages gives the same treatment to Cascading Style Sheet syntax. The next 190 pages is a tutorial for using XHTML and CSS. The tutorials are very well done; using pictures only when needed and presenting lots of information. The Appendixes don't just rehash the info from the book. They present things like the complete Unicode character set (40pgs), a glossary and a 50 page cross referenced index.

I can't recommend this book highly enough!

The reference section for both XHTML and CSS are the best I have seen so far. I keep the book just for that on my desk. For this section I would give it 5 stars (and even more).

However the tutorial section is bad as bad can be and full of mistakes. F.ex in chapter two there is a listing of an XHTML strict document but has the bgcolor attribute in the body tag. And so it goes on throughout the whole tutorial.

If you need an excellent reference book shoot for this one, if you need a tutorial you better look for other books.

This book is a must have for any serious tag jockey. When I first picked it up. I looked at it and thought to myself "what the heck kind of book is this". Then I figured it out. Actually it's two books for the price of one.

The first half is a very clear concise detail of every tag and attribute in XHTML and a reference of CSS. If all you need is to refresh your memory about a particular tag this is where you'll find your answers. Your not going to find a better reference anywhere.

The second half of the book consists of tutorials for XHTML and CSS in very clear easy to understand form.

At first I thought "They put this thing together backwards! The refence should be in the back"; but as I use the book as a reference I love having the reference in the front so I don't have to go clear through the book to find what I want. Very well done!

I would have gladly paid what this book cost for either of these two pieces; the fact that I got both in one book for such a meager sum is to me simply amazing.

An excellent resource for anyone who knows HTML and wants to learn XHTML; a critical component for future Business to Consumer commerce systems.

This book had many positive qualities and a few negative ones. It was a well-written book, with comprehensive coverage of the topic. However, it was longer than necessary and contained to much filler.

The concept behind the xhtml 1.0 spec is relatively simple. You must perform the following: close all your tags, include the xhtml dtd, use all lower case letters, use CSS instead of the deprecated formatting tags, and put script in cdata sections. The book required 304 pages to make these points, as it showed how each would impact 12 different browsers. On the positive side, this book was very concise and well written. At one sitting, I completed over 200 pages. It was truly enjoyable to read and the topics retained my interest.

Overall, I give this book four-stars. The only negative being the large quantity of filler content. The book was perfect otherwise.

this book is full of good information, particularly if you don't know much about xml but know a lot about html. the first 10 chapters are great, particularly the sections on the document type definition (dtd) -- you can see where the W3C defines html and how much of that definition is missing or added to by the different browsers. unfortunately, the book is not laid out very well. there are a lot of references to later chapters that leave you wondering what they are talking about until you get there. this book is written by two different people, and it seems obvious who wrote what chapters. i give 4 stars, not 3, because there is enough useful information in this book to make it worth reading and having for the html expert looking to make the move towards xml.

Detailed. Gave a good overview and examples of XHTML and the different versions used. I like the design tips and extra projects.

I used this book for my XHTML class and the exercises were fantastic. Conformed with HTML 4 and XHTML 1.1 standards, and showed validation for all "flavors".

I am new to HTML/XHTML and wanted a definitive reference book that told me about EVERY HTML tag - and exactly what were and weren't the correct ways to use them. After buying and reading about 5 other similar books, I finally got to this one and it is exactly right. All the other books cover useful snippets here and there, but they aren't exhaustive.

Note that this book isn't good for learning the basics. Rather, it is useful reference once you know the basics and need a source that tells you authoritatively that this such and such tag (e.g., 'p') does or doesn't support such and such attribute (e.g., 'padding') - fyi, it doesn't, except thru the 'style' attribute.

If that's what you need, then this is what you should buy.

AMAZON, SHAME ON YOU!!!!! You should state what edition and the date copyrighted in the book information and indicate whether there are newer editions.

Watch out. Though Amazon has it covered by the "look inside", the book entitled only HTML is the 3rd edition of a book that is in it's sixth Edition. Amazon has combined all the reviews for all the editions. This should not be done!!!!!!! I have always felt comfortable buying from Amazon, no longer. I did have a seller (ordered through Amazon)send me this edition for the full price of the 6th. He got the sixth to me, but it took my time to get it corrected. The 3rd edition is probably not even worth the $10 for the used edition, but is certainly not worth the $20 for the new. Don't be fooled! I can't believe Amazon is stooping to this sort of a con. The most serious problem is that much of what you learn in this edition is being put out to pasture in the next 5 years.


There is a World Wide Consortium that is trying to standardize language and browswers. HTML is being replace in the interim with XHTML and eventually XML. A new, more powerful, formating language, CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, is replacing any formating in HTML.

Many of the reviews you see are for the 6th edition. It does have errors (it doesn't stick to the more stringent XHTML as it should, and the redundancy is annoying. Castro's is annoying in that she sectionalizes the code and it's not clear at first what she's doing. I haven't yet seen the others that are offered.

Don't make the mistake of thinking this book will teach you how to code web pages using HTML and CSS. This is a reference manual that exhaustively discusses the mechanics of coding web pages, but it doesn't walk you through the process step by step. For that, I recommend O'Reilly's "Head First: HTML with CSS & XHTML." The benefit of this book is that it covers every aspect of HTML and CSS, including some which the W3 consortium has approved but no browser yet supports. It's best as a reference book for those already familiar with web page coding. It's full of surprises and "I didn't know I could do that!" moments, given its comprehensiveness.

I have the 3rd edition and use it most everyday in my job. I figured it would be a bit outdated so I bought this latest version. The new version is essentially the exact same as the old version and I feel like I wasted my money. It's also missing the handy quick reference the older version had. However, if you don't have an earlier version, I would definitely recommend it. It's indispensable.

I wanted a complete reference & guide to html/xhtml and that's what I got. I didn't want to be ignorant about any features. I didn't want to be left in the dark about anything. This book has all the info I wanted, and much more. In fact in a way it has too much info. It has info about tags, attributes, and other features that are obsolete, deprecated, or not supported by any browsers. You can skip over those rather than slogging your way through every word in the book. Maybe it's just me, but one downside to this book for me is that the writing style tends to be convoluted, verbose, and somewhat boring. I had some difficulty staying focused and concentrating on this book. But since it fulfilled the reason I got this book, I still give it 5 stars. So if you're looking for a complete book, don't worry, it's complete.

This was a groundbreaking work when first written. Zeldman was one of the early advocates for web standards and especially browser standards for CSS, what is now the underpinning of most quality websites. Without his work, and that of a few others (Eric Meyer among them), the web would not look quite as well as it does, and the design code would not be kept as separate from the content.

If you are already using CSS in your web pages, this book will be below your knowledge level and unnecessary to creating sites. If you are new to CSS, it is a kind, gentle, and thoroughly explicating introduction. It is a pleasant and easy read. It doesn't lay out dozens of ways to do things, but it explains a methodology and the raison d'etre. It is a must read introduction if you are contemplating a switch to CSS. Zeldman's website at zeldman.com is also useful support for this undertaking.

This book is a must read for anyone associated with a website. Designer, developer, manager.

I found it a very interesting book to read but it didn't give as much of concrete situation analysis as I expected. It surely convinced me to embrace techniques for the visually impaired and textual devices.

Zeldman is to be congratulated on this writing. The book approaches the topic of designing with web standards in a very practical manner. I recomment this book to developers, managers and site designers. This book does not teach you CSS, but rather it teaches you how to use CSSm XHTML, ECMA script and DOM to develop web sites according to standards.

I must say that Zeldman, among other good writing traits, has a pretty good sense of humor.

It's a very good book, and one I'd recommend to any developer who is trying to make the switch from tables to CSS-based code and standards, but if you've been using standards in your work for a while this book will only tell you things you already know.

However, Zeldman's tone is always light and engaging, and sometimes it's good to have a little refresher.

5* if you're new to web standards
4* otherwise