Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML
by Elisabeth Freeman
Excellent Book On Html
Today, serious Web pages use HTML and XHTML to structure their
content and CSS for style and presentation. You need a book that
understands how to incorporate everything correctly. Head First HTML
with CSS & XHTML explains the fundamentals of HTML, XHTML,
topics like web color, and CSS properties. In this book, pictures and step-
by-step instructions explain how to build great-looking, standards-
compliant web sites.
The Road to Programming is Sometimes
Paved with Web Pages By Elisabeth Robson I am often
asked how I first got started in programming. Recently, I was interviewed
by Girls Gone Geek, a weekly podcast on technology from a womens
perspective, and they asked if I got started by creating web sites. The Girls
clearly have no idea how old I am! (Shhh...) I actually started programming
long before the Web was a twinkle in Tim Berners-Lees eye, but their

question got me thinking, and I realized that creating a web site is a good
way to get started on your way to programming. Now,
you might be thinking, Writing HTML and CSS is not the same thing as
programming, and thats technically true. But once youve put together a
basic web page, youll have learned a lot about how the web works under
the covers, and youll be able to tackle some simple programming
concepts. The next logical step is to learn a bit of JavaScript, so you can
create some cool effects on your web page. Before you know it, youll be
learning Ajax, and then a server side programming language like PHP or
Java, and then youll need a database, so youll learn some SQL... and ta
da! Youre a web programmer. I work with several people who have taken
an interesting path to programming. One friend has an advanced degree in
music and is now a business data analysis expert; another started out
wanting to be a farmer, became a web application programmer, and is now
a serious Java programmer.
For those of you who have no interest in the
mechanics of web pages, there are lots of programs out there, like Adobe
Dreamweaver and Microsoft Expression, that will help you create a web
page without having to know how HTML and CSS really work. But if you
want to know whats happening under the covers so you can learn about
how web pages really work, and eventually write some JavaScript and do
more advanced programming, I definitely recommend writing your own
HTML and CSS from scratch. You can use a simple editor like TextEdit (on
the Mac) or TextPad (on Windows). No need for anything fancy.
Another advantage to writing HTML and CSS yourself is that you can
always write your web pages using the most current standards. When we
wrote Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML, HTML 4.01, CSS 2, and
XHTML 1.0 were the most current and best supported versions of these
technologies, and in fact they still are. But standards development is
inching along and before too long, HTML 5, CSS 3 and XHTML 2.0 will be
launched and supported by browsers. If you stay up to date with these
standards, youre likely to be writing far better code than programs like
Dreamweaver or Expression do. Once the new standards for HTML,
CSS and XHTML are nailed down a bit more, well update Head First
HTML with CSS & XHTML to include some of the cool new features.
HTML 5 will be more strict than HTML 4 was, but its designed to be
backwards compatible with older browsers, so you will be able to convert
your HTML 4 pages to HTML 5 web pages without worrying too much
about breaking them in older browsers. (However, always keep in mind
that there is no substitute for lots of testing!) In the meantime, you can
write HTML 4.01, CSS 2 and XHTML 1 knowing that these standards will
be the most current and the best supported for quite a while. When the
new standards are released and supported by browsers, well help you sort
through it all so you can focus on creating great web pages and building up
your web skills. And once you get the hang of some of these web page
skills, you might very well find yourself wanting to move from creating web
pages to programming.

Personal Review: Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML by
Elisabeth Freeman
This is without doubt the best book I've ever seen for learning HTML,
XHTML and CSS. If you take the proper time and work through this book
exactly how you're supposed to, you will probably know more than the
average "professional" who claims to know HTML (at least from my
experience).
Too many people mistakenly believe that HTML is so straight-forward that
there's not much to learn -- even people that could (in other computing
fields) legitimately be called experts. By not learning HTML properly,
though, web projects take longer, are difficult to maintain and end up being
unnecessarily complicated. Getting the project to run correctly on all
browsers, for instance, becomes a "nightmare" - instead of something that
is really easily solved.
This book explains XHTML so clearly that you'll side-step problems without
ever knowing they existed.
The only danger is that some impatient readers may think it's TOO easy.
All of the pictures (which are actually a memory aid) and the slow pace the
book begins at, may lead some people to think they understand it all, and
then start skipping chapters or not finishing the book -- but that's a problem
with the student, not the teacher!
If only everyone who writes HTML at any level worked through this book:
Website production would go so much smoother and quicker, and the
internet would be a better place for us all to browse!
One final note: This book is NOT a reference guide! It's a teaching course.
If you're looking for a reference, then I'd suggest something else (but NOT
Wrox's HTML reference).
If you're looking to learn and master HTML, XHTML and CSS then BUY
THIS BOOK!
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