The Basics
Dave takes you through everything you need to know to create Web pages.
The first two chapters review what Web pages are, how to surf the Web, how to read URLs and accessing more than just Web documents with your browser. It was quite a revelation to me to find out that you can telnet using Netscape (although, it's not very secure).
Examples and demonstrations are the strengths of this book. He shows you what will happen if you make a mistake and explains how to fix it. HTML for the beginner is easy, and you don't need an editor to do it. His tips and notes throughout the book make it easy for you to learn HTML and catch mistakes before you make them.
Chapters 2 through 9 teach you everything you need to know about basic HTML. Dave reviews lists, fonts, graphics, tables and frames. At the end of each chapter, you will find a listing of the tags that you learned and what they are for. It is great for helping you get comfortable with HTML.
The Fun Stuff
Once you get hooked on HTML, it's hard to stop. There is a lot more available than just tables, frames and fonts, and Dave reviews them all. Chapter 10 used to be called "Browser-specific HTML", but with new advances in standardization, is now called "Advanced Design". While it still describes elements (like marquee) that are browser dependent, they are all cool!
The chapter on JavaScript may seem sparse, as it is combined with image maps and plug-ins, but since this is a book on HTML I can forgive him. He does show you how to make a cool scrolling message using JavaScript. He also references some other sites to look into (but not The Mining Co. JavaScript site).
He gives a very clear explanation of how to use forms within your Web site and how other sites use forms to solicit user input. He then explains how forms are interpreted by CGI and how to use CGI on your Web sites. To simplify things even further, the CGIs are pre-loaded onto the included CD-ROM, so you can see exactly what is happening.
I love the examples he gives in the chapter on Style Sheets. He teaches you how to use in-line and external style sheets and some of the more compatible style attributes you can use.
Creating Cool HTML 4 Web Pages IS Cool
Once you have read most of the book, you will know all about HTML 4.0 and how it is implemented in Netscape and Internet Explorer. This is a book for anyone who wants to learn HTML 4.0 and for people who already know HTML, but want to hone their skills. And any page that you create using this book is certainly going to be cool!
