Tired of reading HTML books that only make sense after you're an expert? Then it's about time you picked up Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML and really learned HTML. You want to learn HTML so you can finally create those web pages you've always wanted, so you can communicate more effectively with friends, family, fans, and fanatic customers. You also want to do it right so you can actually maintain and expand your Web pages over time, and so your web pages work in all the browsers and mobile devices out there. Oh, and if you've never heard of CSS, that's okay - we won't tell anyone you're still partying like it's 1999 - but if you're going to create Web pages in the 21st century then you'll want to know and understand CSS.

Learn the real secrets of creating Web pages, and why everything your boss told you about HTML tables is probably wrong (and what to do instead). Most importantly, hold your own with your co-worker (and impress cocktail party guests) when he casually mentions how his HTML is now strict, and his CSS is in an external style sheet.

With Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML, you'll avoid the embarrassment of thinking web-safe colors still matter, and the foolishness of slipping a font tag into your pages. Best of all, you'll learn HTML and CSS in a way that won't put you to sleep. If you've read a Head First book, you know what to expect: a visually-rich format designed for the way your brain works. Using the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory, this book will load HTML, CSS, and XHTML into your brain in a way that sticks.

So what are you waiting for? Leave those other dusty books behind and come join us in Webville. Your tour is about to begin.

"Elegant design is at the core of every chapter here, each concept conveyed with equal doses of pragmatism and wit." --Ken Goldstein, Executive Vice President, Disney Online

"This book is a thoroughly modern introduction to forward-looking practices in web page markup and presentation." --Danny Goodman, author of Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Guide

"What used to be a long trial and error learning process has now been reduced neatly into an engaging paperback." --Mike Davidson, CEO, Newsvine, Inc.

"I love Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML--it teaches you everything you need to learn in a 'fun coated' format!" --Sally Applin, UI Designer and Artist

"I haven't had as much fun reading a book (other than Harry Potter) in years. And your book finally helped me break out of my hapless so-last-century way of creating web pages." --Professor David M. Arnow, Department of Computer and Information Science, Brooklyn College

"If you've ever had a family member who wanted you to design a website for them, buy them Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML. If you've ever asked a family member to design you a web site, buy this book. If you've ever bought an HTML book and ended up using it to level your desk, or for kindling on a cold winter day, buy this book. This is the book you've been waiting for. This is the learning system you've been waiting for." --Warren Kelly, Blogcritics.org

Rating:

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Re: Great content, but lacks necessary index.,  November 08 2007
Submitted by Laurie Petrycki   [Respond | View]

We agree with your assessment of the index in Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML So in part, because of your comments, we’re going to redo the index and post it online in addition to including it in the next reprint of the book. We expect the index to be complete in January 2008. Check headfirstlabs.com for the latest information on this and all the book in the Head First series.

I’d also like to suggest you give the Safari Books Online service a try, safari.oreilly.com. The Safari service gives you the ability to search the text of Head First HTML and pinpoint the pages you need.

I hope this information helps you. Good luck with your class.

Laurie Petrycki
General Manager, Head First



Great content, but lacks necessary index.,  November 01 2007
Submitted by Ekamouse   [Respond | View]

We're using this book in a college course I'm taking. This book contains a massive amount of really good information, which has been buried in a landslide of unnecessary blather. Add to this the complete lack of a sensible, extensive index, and this book leaves me so frustrated, I am nearly ready to drop the class.

The amount of useful information in the book makes it difficult to remember it all at one time, but it's impossible to find anything a week after I've read it without leafing through an entire chapter or more, page by page, because the index is so brief and incomplete.

With a good, complete index, I'd give this book 4.5 stars for it's excellent content (withholding 1/2 star for all the blather). Without a usable index, the book is nearly worthless to me.

Would O'Reilly consider giving buyers a supplemental index, or a searchable electronic index? I would love the book, if I could just find what I want to find in it

Thank you!

Painless webpage coding,  September 21 2007
Submitted by lauraE   [Respond | View]

Title: Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML


Review by Laura Pellerin

P*PCompAS
September 21, 2007


First Edition: December 2005

www.oreilly.com
Series: Head First

ISBN 10: 0-596-10197-X

ISBN 13: 9780596101978

Pages: 694


Highly recommended to learn painless webpage coding, this book is all you need.

Remember when your monitor took up half the desk space? And hypertext symbols took up half your brain space? Back then, you had to keep the book of color codes and symbols right next to your monitor in order to create a web page. Those days are gone. Pick up a copy of Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML and see for yourself how using O'Reilly's 'brain-friendly guide' will make web page coding.

Meet the

<q>

element, compare it to a

<blockquote>

. Color your paragraph backgrounds with CSS and then insert the command into the

<body>

with XHTML. Believe me, your web pages will blossom.

I work with authors and am almost ashamed to admit how much unnecessary work I put into my code without the use of CSS and XHTML. But no more will I be stuck with excess baggage of MicroSoft web page generation. This fourty dollar book is worth the 400 dollar cost of a college course in web page construction, and less time intensive than taking the class or a refresher course.

'There Are No Dumb Questions' section answers why you don't have to close an empty element. Crossword puzzles, matching terms to elements, with the answers included, are Head First 'Building Blocks' serve the same purpose as burning other academic trivia into the brain. Step by step construction of web pages detail the use of CSS and XHTML terms. Links and files are covered in depth, while shortcuts in coding (Shorthand) saves your from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Interactive Forms laid out simply and logically.

What they don't cover in Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML, by Elisabeth Freeman and Eric Freeman is summarized, with directions and samples. Frames are given on page 642, Scripting on pages 645, 646, Blogs are on page 650, and more is given in the last chapter.

Buy this book, Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML has everything you need to know in order to get your pages on the internet, in good standards.

Best book to learn XHTML and CSS,  April 01 2007
Submitted by Ferio   [Respond | View]

Head First series has proved to be the best teaching lesson one could take to learn about a topic. I have 4 different volumes on 4 different topics, and every one of them is an amazing walkthrough on the topics covered.

This one, particularly, has got a double value: it is a great book to learn (maybe the best I've ever read), and it teaches correct (X)HTML and CSS, the 2 basic tools , which will work as a basis for any amazing script programming project ('cos nobody does static HTML anymore, I hope).

The only 2 points I would have wanted it to cover in a stronger manner are:

• It doesn't explain every XHTML tag and CSS property included in nowadays standards.


• It doesn't cover XHTML 1.1.

Apart from this, it is the best book to learn this 2 languages and their proper use, and if you get reference books (such as HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/html6/index.html) and CSS: The Definitive Guide (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/csstdg3/index.html) ), all learning in this field will be done for you, and then you will only have to discover the most advances tricks and hacks.

Great book for design-mode fujitives,  February 01 2007
Submitted by George Beinhorn   [Respond | View]

I spent five years designing table-based sites using Dreamweaver's Design Mode, during which I aged 10 years and pulled a bushel of hair. Recognizing at last - doh - that CSS/XHTML would give me wonderful control, I purchased four books and grimly vowed that I would learn HTML or die.

As it turned out, the experience was not grim. Three of the books were quite useful - but this was, by far, the best. (The others were Creating a Web Page With HTML, a really good 126-pg. quick tutorial by Elizabeth Castro; and CSS: The Missing Manual. I found Elizabeth Castro's longer book, HTML, XHTML, & CSS, less useful, as it contained little material that wasn't covered in the other two books).

I was initially a bit dumfounded by the simple language of the Head First book, but quickly accepted the Freemans' explanation of the underlying tested learning principles. And, indeed, I learned better with this book. Occasionally, I'll need to look in the Missing Manual - e.g., it includes more information on workarounds for Internet Explorer. But in all other respects, this is simply a wonderful introduction to HTML for beginners. I think it would also be excellent for designers who want to learn the basics of coding.

I'm still using Dreamweaver, but I'm screaming much less.


Beautiful!,  December 13 2006
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

Too cheap for what it can do :) I just love head first series...


Excellent mesh of html instruction and educational design,  December 05 2006
Submitted by Bill Bridges   [Respond | View]

As an instructional designer, I spend most of my day (okay, the part of my day when I'm not playing online Mah Jong) trying to design training that will both engage the learner and ensure long-lasting knowledge retention; believe me, it's hard to do both, especially with technical instruction. Sadly, most training materials (especially technical manuals) spew forth an avalanche of terms and jargon, all with the tacit belief that if you want to learn something badly enough, then you will slog through the mire to get that knowledge. When my local Adobe Users Group offered Elisabeth and Eric Freeman's "Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML" to someone for review, I accepted the mission and feared the worst. However, instead of a dry, overly-technical tome that would cure anyone's insomnia, I found a well-written, cleanly-designed book that uses educational design to teach skills in a way that anyone can grasp. More importantly, the book's design makes sure that the information sticks with you.

First and foremost, know that the authors' primary audience is the html novice. (They don't even assume that a reader has a high level of computer proficiency. If you can open your text editor and save files, you're golden.) However, because the book's scope runs from basic html through xhtml, more advanced users can jump into the fray later in the book and still learn a lot. The authors take the reader through basic html- and Web-related terms, stopping to examine how servers and Web sites interact, before plunging into page creation, design, and XHTML.

However, if that was all that could be said about the book, then it would be no more valuable than the five kajillion other html books on the market. No, the true value of Head First HTML is the way in which information is presented. (Amazingly, the authors even explain their educational design in the book's beginning.) They use conversational English to help readers grasp content quicker, as opposed to more traditional manuals that follow the dictate that instruction is only valuable when it's confusing. Additionally, they use images (black-and-white and color pictures, as well as drawings and clip art images) to help visual learners. Best of all, they incorporate hundreds of puzzles and exercises into the book to make sure that not only will you understand what you just read, but you'll be able to use that knowledge. (The application exercises are great because they don't follow the standard multiple choice question model. Studies show that learners are more likely to retain knowledge when they apply it soon after they learn it.)

I cannot say enough good things about Head First HTML. If you want to learn html or the more advanced design elements of xhtml, but have been afraid to take the plunge because of horrid instructional manuals, buy this book. You won't be disappointed.


Amazing,  September 30 2006
Submitted by Mike   [Respond | View]

I, for one, was always interested in learing html and CSS. The only problem is no one knew how to teach it or they told me to <q>Just look at some code and you'll figure it out...</q>. Yeah, well guess what, nothing worked and I was restless for years and years, but then I found this book, and life changed. I can finally code websites from scratch and I am now able to understand all these code sites that give bits and pieces.


Not only does this book teach you the correct way to code, it also explains why. Also, it gives trouble-shooting techniques which have helped me so much already. Thank you for the insanely well written book.


A fun, hip HTML guide for beginners... really!!,  August 12 2006
Submitted by iMightBeWyatt   [Respond | View]

As amazing as it may seem, Head First HTML is not only an amazing introduction into the world of web design, but also the most interesting and fun book I've read this year!

I started this title with no HTML experience, and found the text immediately accessible. The exercises in the book are frequent- this book expects full audience participation- and I found this hands-on approach to be engaging. Each chapter left me with a "Wow, look what I can do!" feeling.

I would recommend picking up a copy of the CSS Pocket Reference guide with this title.