The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating an HTML Web Page
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Amazon.co.uk Review
In the Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Web Page, the author does a fair job of covering the subject in a friendly, engaging tone. One of the charms of the Web is that just about anyone can (and does) create a Web page. "It's cinchy," they tell you. And they're right. But it always helps to have a book handy to help you with some of the not-so-cinchy parts. And it amazes me how many Web design or publishing books just don't get it. Fortunately, this isn't one of those books.
. Yes, this book has life to it. There is a personality. The humour isn't forced or condescending. Paul covers a lot of ground quickly and I had to remind myself that Idiot's Guides, like Dummies books, are references. So where I thought some things were skipped over quickly, the truth is that as a reference the book works well. (True beginners who need handholding and tutorials should turn elsewhere.)
The book's scope is vast. It goes into style sheets, JavaScript, and certain advanced options that help round out the Web page experience. It also covers my hot-button issue of FTP. Without FTP you just can't publish your Web page on the Internet, and I'm embarrassed for the many book authors who don't include such vital information in their Web publishing books. Fortunately, it's covered here and covered well.
I suppose I could gripe that the book doesn't cover XML, an advanced topic for Web page creation, and one that I've yet to see a decent book on, anyway. That's a minor quibble though; as far as I'm concerned. No, for basic Web page creation and publication, you really can't beat this book. --Dan Gookin
Customer Reviews:
quite irritating, but possibly useful?
is it possible that this book was written by ned flanders? to be fair to the book, i haven't got to grips with it as yet and possibly in six months time i will be a devoted fan but at the moment i find it nigh-on impossible to stumble my way past the fan-doodly-tastic flanders-esque idiosyncracies of the author's syntax. he writes with alarmingly uncontagious enthusiasm that really does make you feel he's right there with you, every step of the way... which perhaps is why the book is still sitting, very pristine, on my bookshelf, on the very far side of the room.
Best money I ever spent Worth it's weight in gold if you're new to web design! Essential Reading for Beginners A good place to start.
This book tells you everything you need to know about web page design. The breadth of coverage is amazing, from the absolute basics right through to Forms, Frames, Cascading Style Sheets, Javascript, Java, and selling advertising on your site. I genuinely felt like I could go and make a living as a web designer afterwards. Even the throwaway comments are real words of wisdom.
Paul writes in a very entertaining style - I've never read such a fun textbook! He doesn't spend ages going through
I originally borrowed this from the library and worked though it over a couple of months. It is so useful that I went out and bought it afterwards. I think it will live beside my computer for years to come. The only minor criticism is that some of the code in later chapters (like the one on Javascript) hadn't been properly checked and had a few typos. Frankly, I can live with that for a book this good.
This book offers an excellent introduction to web design. The format of the book allows you to get your head around how web sites and pages work and are structured whilst also learning how to create them. I was literally a complete idiot regarding web design when I bought this book and now I'm getting jobs in the field! Paul McFedries - you're a star!
I picked up this book after reading a recommendation. I knew nothing about html or java but reading this book I was able to put together fairly complex (at least complex looking pages) within hours. Any jargon used is fully explained and it comes with a cd-rom with examples and html & javascript codes to use. It's so good I put a link to Mr McFedries's homepage on my site.
If you're wondering where to start in the maze that is web page building then you couldn't do much better than Paul McFedries book. It takes you through the process step by step without making you feel like an idiot. Any new terms you come across are explained as you go along, you don't need to keep heading for a glossary. It's probably not the easiest book to follow but is by no means the most difficult. If you stick at it you should have your own site up and running within a month. This may sound like a long time but at least you'll have a full understanding of what you've done and how you did it. You'll be going back to your site again and again adding bits and pieces as you carry on learning. The CD supplied with the book gives you everything you need to follow the tutorials in the book. The only downside is that the software is mostly time limited. Having said that, by the time the software has run out you'll probably have worked out what is worth having and where similar can be had on the web for free. It's money well spent if you want your own site and a good springboard to more complex web literature.
