HTML 4 for the WWW

by Jan McClintock

This is the fourth Visual Quickstart Guide from Peachpit Press that I've purchased, and I would recommend them to anyone. No, that's not the end of the review, but only the beginning.

The Visual Quickstart Guides are 7-by-9-inch paperbacks full of good, solid material that is easy to follow and understand. Each page includes the topic, an overview, a step-by-step instruction, and a Tips section.

The text is only half of the page, though; the other half is the "visual" part: screen shots and graphics that illustrate what the text is explaining.

In my opinion, there is no better way to learn from a book than to use these guides. Period.

The HTML 4 guide by Elizabeth Castro is a good example (and since it's the fourth edition, she's had plenty of time to find out what readers want and need). It begins with an explanation of the changes in HTML over the past few years, and the current and future parameters of which Web page authors will need to be aware.

The first chapter is called HTML Building Blocks, and describes tags, spacing, file names, and URLs. Chapter two continues with designing, planning, and organizing your Web site, and beginning to create pages. Each chapter brings you higher on the HTML and Web page design ladder: formatting text, creating and using Web images, page layout, links, lists, tables, frames, forms, multimedia, and onward.

The information that I was most eager to learn begins with chapter 13: An Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets. This concept of writing HTML will be the main way designers create Web sites and pages from now on, and it's a little complicated for beginners. But having worked with "regular" HTML using Claris Home Page and Adobe PageMill, I'm ready for more complexity.

After styles, there are chapters on scripts (using them in your page), working with JavaScript, and extra touches to make your site special. Since I am also learning about JavaScript using another Visual Quickstart Guide (JavaScript for the World Wide Web, 3rd Edition, by Tom Negrino and Dori Smith), this introduction was helpful, and would be inspiring had I not already had an interest. The last few chapters are troubleshooting (called "Help! My Page Doesn't Work!"), Publishing Your Page on the Web (transferring your site to the host servers), and Getting People to Visit (publicizing).

The appendices are helpful lists of HTML tools, special symbols, colors, compatibility, and a good index. The back cover of the book, like the first edition (with which I learned my first HTML), includes a "Colors in Hex" chart that you can remove and refer to while choosing Web colors. The accompanying Web site offers a complete table of contents, examples from the book, links to pages created by readers, and a Question & Answer forum (the author hangs out there).

Overall, this is a neat package with which to learn about HTML and design your Web pages; and after you get the basics down, this is an excellent reference book.