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HTML @ Web Programming
Programming Shed : Programmer Store & Resources |
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HTML Index - HTML Book :
HTML 4 Bible (with CD-ROM)
HTML 4 Bible (with CD-ROM)by Bryan Pfaffenberger, Bill KarrowCD-ROM: 743 pages Publisher: Hungry Minds, Inc ISBN: 0764534734; 2nd edition (January 15, 2000) In HTML 4 Bible, you'll find a comprehensive definition of what is considered state of the art in Web-publishing languages. The book explains HTML tags and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) thoroughly, and it gives some attention to JavaScript as well. Authors Pfaffenberger and Gutzman use a helpful problem-and-solution format that provides straightforward answers to common problems--they show you how to build image maps and create attractive forms, to cite two examples. What's special about the book's approach is that it doesn't get sidetracked by the universe of detail that HTML 4 presents. Rather than choosing to ploddingly document the characteristics of one tag after another, Pfaffenberger and Gutzman explain their subject by describing how it is applied in practice. They explain, for example, how to arrange textual data so that people are more likely to read it. The downside to this holistic approach is that HTML 4 Bible isn't the absolutely comprehensive HTML reference many readers will expect it to be. Books like that exist, and you may want to supplement HTML 4 Bible with one of them. But if you want a text that provides informed explanations of how to get the results you want with HTML, this book is for you. From Book News, Inc.: Provides complete coverage of HTML 4. Step-by-step guidelines show how to make HTML readable and avoid common syntax errors; develop directories to store pages and graphics; enhance Web pages with ActiveX Controls, Java applets, and JavaScript; weave cascading style sheets into documents; explore server options, both Windows NT and UNIX; add animated graphics, audio, and video to Web sites; and integrate "push" technology. The included CD-ROM contains the latest versions of HTML browsers,... Customer Reviews Reviewer: A reader from Richmond Hill, Ontario Canada When purchasing this book, I was expecting something along the lines of a definitive reference, with commentary and examples. What I got was something more along the lines of the New Testament - subject to interpretation and discussion as to what the authors really intended to say based on prophecy. I am disappointed at spending the money on a book with typographical errors and omissions in the reference sections. If you are not already a sage in the world of programming, you may find this book completely confusing. If you already are an expert, with many languages under your belt, including HTML already, you'll find this book on the shelf more often than on your desk. However, if you are a skilled programmer, but have very limited exposure to HTML, I would highly recommend this text. By trying to figure out how to make style sheets actually work for anything complex, beyond the presented examples, you will almost certainly learn a great deal. I suspect that this is the target audience for this text. If so, good job. When the next edition comes out, please organize your reference section with more of an instructional design focus. Start with the highest elements, and drill down completely, with each possible option and value (or a decent cross-reference to the possible values). This comment particularly applies to the CSS section, where it is unclear which option is usable for a given HTML element. On the upside, I did like the presence of the "Where to go next" portion of each chapter. As a prose-style book, this is very helpful. Reviewer: A reader from Seattle, WA This is a great book for an experienced Web developer. The authors take special pains to draw attention to what's new in HTML 4 and to indicate what works in each browser (and browser version). This book is always within reach of my computer. The index is excellent and the explanations and examples are clear and relevant. The appendices are also very helpful in showing what works in which browser. I've seen many HTML books and this is the best one out there. So many of the books that are sold as HTML 4 books are really just re-packaged HTML 3.2 books. This one was written for HTML 4, which is really a different animal than HTML 3.2 It includes a comprehensive section on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), the Document Object Model (DOM), and Javascript, and how the three work together to make Dynamic HTML. Reviewer: A reader from USA I was a beginner when I bought this book and figured I could get pretty much what I needed from a "bible." In fact, I found this book to be poorly organized, full of omissions and very confusing to follow. The authors are so excited about CSS that they give HTML short shrift... not good for a book on HTML. I also encountered a lot of fluff on usability that could have been left out, but I suppose bibles are supposed to be thick to justify the price. The chapter on tables totally omits any reference to page layout with tables, something I find really unbelievable. I guess the authors think that CSS makes layout with tables a thing of the past. As a reference I guess this book is okay but it suffers from poor organization. Frankly, I was upset that I spent this much money on such a marginal book. Reviewer: Karen S. Rogers from Englewood, CO USA Was this book really written by the same guy who wrote "Publish It On the Web"? I was hoping for an update with the same more great tables and an easy to digest format. Ooops! Silly me. If you got a great beginning from Mr. Pfaffenberger, as I did, and are hoping for more screen shot demos of code, you'll be as disappointed as I am. The authors probably should take their own advise on writing concisely (Page 208). The only probelm is that I am not sure what they said on Page 208 or anywhere else. Or maybe they're like my grad school professors who thought if you had to ask a question, you probably weren't a good candidate for the class. So, don't look for this book to teach, just to recap what they assume you already know. |
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