If you are brand new to HTML and web development and want an easy introduction, this free eBook is worth a look. It is well written, uses lots of pictures, and the price is right. Did I mention that it is free?
I can’t comment on the book’s technical accuracy, so keep an eye on the comments. If there are major flaws here, I suspect our readers will suss them out.
Eek. I am a web developer (day job) and… um… I think it is great when someone takes their ideas and produces something, whether it’s a song, an app, a book, a painting, etc. It is to be encouraged, not picked apart by Internet trolls. I give the author credit for putting all of the work into this. There is some good information in this book. Despite all of that, I can’t stop myself. There’s no table of contents, there’s no appendix at the end, the information is laid out in a truly awful fashion, the screenshots look amateurish, and there are tons and tons of really good web design books out there already. I’d recommend “Learning Web Design” by Jennifer Niederst Robbins. It is not free, but it is a top notch education in the world of making websites and can sit as a reference in your collection for years after you’ve made your way through it. But it’s not for the casual hobbyist looking to make their first website. This book could be – some examples (such as making a navigation menu) are great. All of my issues deal with how the book is laid out. Laid out professionally, this book could be a really good one.
Richard,
First things first, I love that you took the time to comment. No argument with any of your points. I didn’t have any issues with the layout, but all that says is, maybe don’t go to me for fashion advice!
One point I’d add is that this book is free, and that will be enough to build a bridge for some people, enough of an incentive to dig in to this universe, learn enough to turn a spark into a fire. Then they can turn to “Learning Web Design” or any of the other resources out there.
Just my 2 cents. Keep those comments coming!
— Dave
Dave,
I probably should have said “design” instead of “layout.” I think the design will discourage some people from reading it – at the very, very least, a Table of Contents is mandatory. There’s no way to really get a feel for what the book contains other than skimming it, and people will miss things. If I’m a beginner but I know a little bit, and I’m looking for a good simple explanation of how menus work, I’d see that in the Table of Contents and then you’ve got me. But if I’m skimming the book, maybe I skim past that section. Design is how things work. Without a TOC it’s like an amusement park without a map.
The epub and mobi versions have built-in TOCs. The on-site HTML version navigates from one, farther down the page.
“I can’t stop myself” is a funny thing to say for someone who barely began.
link is dead
Kudos to the author for this approach.
I like the way the tutorials are elaborated. Nice clean and effective way of teaching how to code in html5 and css3. Really a nice book for the learners of HTML5 especially. I liked the “Multi-Column Layout” part of the book. Thanks.