HTML for the World Wide Web

by Elizabeth Castro

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the lingua franca of the Web, and like any language, it's constantly evolving. That's why Elizabeth Castro has written HTML 4 for the World Wide Web, Fourth Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide, an update to her blockbuster guide to HTML 4. You'll find all the concise, practical advice--and fun examples--that made the first edition a worldwide bestseller, plus entirely new coverage of debugging, JavaScript, and using tables for page layout, and an expanded section on Cascading Style Sheets.

Like all the books in the Visual QuickStart series, this one breaks even the most complex tasks into easy-to-follow steps illustrated with hundreds of screenshots and the actual code. The book presumes no prior knowledge of HTML, making it the perfect introduction for beginners. But its tabbed format and info-packed appendixes (on special HTML characters and Web-safe colors, for example) also make it a handy and indispensable reference for those who build Web pages for a living. Find out why Amazon called the previous edition a "dream guide" to HTML.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Computers, Programming, Website Design, Technology, Science

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

Studied Spanish, Catalan, and Basque at University of Pennsylvania and University of California at Berkeley. Moved to Barcelona in 1987, found job in computer company translating documentation and software. Started Página Uno in 1990: publisher of Mac related books in Spanish. Moved back to US in 1993 to edit 5th edition of The Macintosh Bible. Wrote first edition of HTML Visual QuickStart Guide in 1995, now worldwide bestseller with more than 1 million copies sold in many languages. Also written books on Perl/CGI, XML, Blogger, iPhoto.

Most recently, wrote EPUB Straight to the Point, and accompanying miniguides, to help people publish ebook versions of their books.

Reviews

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not reading this book costs hours in tinker time.

I like to tinker around with new codes to see if I can learn their pattern or logic before reading. This time it backfired on me. Several places I could have saved time from rewriting and designing the site were pointed out in this book. The most glaring (and I hate to admit it) boo-boo was pointed out on page 41 where it says that word processors have a "save as HTML" option and do not use it. The code kept disappearing on me and I thought it was either bad syntax or a bad word processor. It never dawned on me that this option was for converting word documents to HTML.

I like Elizabeth Castro’s attitude about using individual HTML descriptors in place of CSS. It makes more sense to have control need the object. CSS has a COBOL-like attitude in having everything laid out in a section separate from the code. The bottom-line HTML is the lowest common denominator and can be used in any situation. And this book is the clearest on how and why to use it.

[PatronCelani · Rating 5 out of 5]

great

[Lafcadio · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are far newer versions of this book out now, but this is the one I own. Elizabeth Castro does an amazing job of explaining things step by step while not dumbing it down at all. This book assumes you already know what all the parts of your computer are, you're pretty comfortable using it, and you understand the concept of programming in general. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to write raw HTML code, or even just wants to tweak something generated by an editor.

[Thadd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book on HTML hand coding, a helpful guide with step by step instructions along with examples. Many books on this topic don't offer examples or step by step instructions. If you can't afford Dreamweaver or other expensive web creating applications, this title is extremely helpful. I keep using this as a reference tool.

[Yago de Artaza Paramo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well... I read this book back when HTML was useful other than for making small text formatting changes. I still think it is useful to learn some basic coding so you can resolve situations where your "new do it all" programs get stuck.

[Foxtower · Rating 4 out of 5]

I coulodn't agree more with the other reviewers.. this book has most anything a person would ever need to know to create Web Pages. It's written logically with lots af great examples so the commands are easily understood. A really nice book to have!

[X-ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heeeeey, this books is out of date.

[RJ]

HTML 4 for the World Wide Web, Fourth Edition (Visual QuickStart Guide) by Elizabeth Castro (1999)

[Zack Hinckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very practical book. Everything I tried in the book worked, and I cant say that for a lot of HTML books. The section on scripts was very useful.

[Bryan Doan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been recommended this book from a friend but have yet to actually read it. I really want to start learning html and I think this book will really help me understand the language.

[Aauvi House · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book... very helpful

[Rob McB · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this as a text in teaching Web Communication at College of Notre Dame. The students found it very accessible. It made me a permanent fan of Elizabeth Castro's web-related books.

[Polyvan Hak]

it is good for me to design wed site

[Grey Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best starter guide on HTML I've come across

[Hugh Chatfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

The format is interesting, instruction on the left page and detailed coded examples on the right page. Very useful for those starting out with XML

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back in the late 90's anyone who was working on computers read this pretty much

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this many years back to help me make my first website. It worked! A clear, good guide to designing with HTML and CSS.