Product Description

Want to build a killer Web site? Want to make it easy to keep your site up to date? You′ll need to know how CSS, HTML, and XHTML work together. HTML, XHTML, and CSS All–In–One Desk Reference For Dummies makes that easy too! These eight minibooks get you started, explain standards, and help you connect all the dots to create sites with pizzazz.

This handy, one–stop guide catches you up on XHTML basics and CSS fundamentals. You′ll learn how to work with Positionable CSS to create floating elements, margins, and multi–column layouts, and you′ll get up to speed on client–side programming with JavaScript. You′ll also get the low–down on server side programming with PHP, creating a database with MySQL, and using Ajax on both client and server sides. You′ll find out how to:

• Use templates and validators
• Manage information with lists and tables
• Turn lists of links into button bars
• Add style color and borders
• Create variables for data
• Add motion with basic DOM animation
• Work with arrays
• Add Flash functionality with AFLAX
• Build and manage a multipage site
• Choose and run your own server

You don′t need expensive or complicated software or a super–powerful computer to build a Web site that does all sorts of amazing things. All you need is a text editor and the clear, step–by–step guidance you′ll find in HTML, XHTML, and CSS All–In–One Desk Reference For Dummies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7705 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 960 pages

From the Back Cover
8 books in 1 — your key to developing powerful Web applications

Your one–stop guide to using CSS with XHTML to create dynamic sites

Things move quickly on the Web, and you want to make it easy to keep yoursite up to date. So you′ll want to know how HTML, XHTML, and CSS worktogether, and this book makes that easy! Handy minibooks get you started, explain how to use the most up–to–date standards, and show you how to put it all together for sites with pizazz.

Discover how to:

• Use templates and validators

• Manage information with lists and tables

• Add style, color, and borders

• Create powerful applications with Ajax

• Add interactivity to your Web site

About the Author
Andy Harris began his teaching life as a special education teacher. As he was teaching young adults with severe disabilities, he taught himself enough computer programming to support his teaching habit with freelance programming. Those were the exciting days when computers started to have hard drives, and some computers began communicating with each other over an arcane mechanism some were calling the Internet.
All this time Andy was teaching computer science part time. He joined the faculty of the Indiana University/Purdue University — Indianapolis Computer Science department in 1995. He serves as a Senior Lecturer, teaching the introductory course to Freshmen as well as numerous courses on Web development, general programming, and game programming. As manager of the Streaming Media Laboratory, he developed a number of online video–based courses, and worked on a number of international distance education projects including helping to start a computer science program in Tetevo, Macedonia FYR.
Andy is the author of several other computing books, including Beginning Flash Game Programming For Dummies and Game Programming: The L Line. He invites your comments and questions at andy@aharrisbooks.net.

Chris McCulloh has a bachelor’s degree in Media Arts and Science from Indiana University/Purdue University — Indianapolis (IUPUI), a certificate in Applied Computer Science from the Computer and Information Science Department (CSCI) at IUPUI, and is a full–time PHP Developer working at CIK Enterprises. He loves to teach, write, and read, and is currently teaching server–side programming for CSCI at IUPUI. He writes a programming–related blog on his Flash game site at blog.chomperstomp.com, and maintains a popular Firefox extension located at statusbarcalculator.com.

Customer Reviews

HTML, XHTML and CSS for Dummies
A good book.
I bought it because my HTML knowledge is very limited and I needed a bit more to write the help text for some applications I am writing. The help browser is an HTML viewer. I work on Apple Mac's.
This book claims to be platform independent and the author does constantly refer to Apple and Linux however the text is very Windows centric and he spends a lot of time explaining how to use software tools that are only available on Windows. That I found a little annoying.
I admit, for my purposes this volume is a little OTT but nevertheless very readable. It takes from the very basics to in depth in easy stages. For the (non-Windows) bits that were of real interest to me, possibly too basic for the professional, but great for the beginner or intermediate user.
A syntax table would have been useful.

User friendly and right to the point!
As they say, good teachers are not the ones who know their stuff well, but the ones who can teach it right to others. If you're starting web design the right way, you need this book...it provides you with a solid starting point. I wouldn't say it's a professional level, but it simply equips you with the right instruments to start off.

Simple language, not much technical borrrrring stuff...a theory and its practice...that's how it goes. It's very informative and very brain-friendly...go ahead! Buy it!

Super Useful
I run three different websites and have found this All-In-One Desk Reference to be an invaluable aid as I upgrade my sites to XHTML and CSS; I've learned a lot along the way and feel much more in control of my sites than I ever have before. The book is written in a direct and simple manner; and the occasional use of humour is usually well-timed and a good memory aid to boot. This Reference comes with a CD full of useful software (including the great [and free] Aptana Studio, which I'd never heard of before) for Windows, Mac and Linux users. My only gripe is that there is more software for Windows users on the CD than for people who use other operating systems; however, it is easy to Google and find alternative free programs when necessary.

All in all, this is a hugely useful and concise book that I would recommend to anyone starting out in web development - it can take you from beginner level to advanced very quickly.