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January 26, 2017Book Reviews

Andy Harris’s HTML, XHTML, and CSS All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies, a Book Review

Andy Harris’s HTML, XHTML, and CSS All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies

XHTML? Me? I don’t mind reviewing a book with the word “Dummies” in the title. It helped me – I’ll even admit that.

Andy Harris’s HTML, XHTML, and CSS All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies is an interesting first book on website creation and design. As a bonus, it includes a CD with examples and code.

… if you can find a way to play a CD these days…

Code

The book wastes no time and, by the tenth page, you are already writing a little code. Mr. Harris’s style is to learn by doing. You read, you type, you copy what he’s written, you try it out. I found myself almost immediately altering his work to see what would happen. When the code didn’t break, or if you could fairly readily fix it, it was a victory.

He explains all concepts, even those which may at the time seem like overkill, such as the practical differences among the .jpg, .gif and .bmp image formats. One of the earlier concepts he explains is why CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are the way to go. By the time you get to Chapter Two of the first book (the book works out to eight mini-books), Mr. Harris is already talking about online validation.

And that’s a good thing, as that by itself can help a novice web developer to fix recalcitrant code.

No Design and No SEO

There is very little about design and virtually nothing on SEO. Whether that is a pitch to bundle Sue Jenkins’s Web Design All-in-One for Dummies book with this one, I don’t know. The ploy works, though, because Amazon reports that people often purchase the two books together. I was able to jump in and create my own social media website while I was in the process of reading this book.
I also must add – Mr. Harris is jazzed about what he does. And that help you to become excited about what you can do with HTML code, CSS and XML, and even JavaScript and PHP/MySQL.

XHTML Basics

Between the two of them, read this one first and learn the basics for creating your website. But then read the design book in order to give whatever you are designing some beauty. But always make certain to lay the foundation first.

Rating

3/5

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