A comprehensive and "user-friendly" guide to HTML/DHTML

Our NST/Engineers company reviewers found this over 1000 page compendium to be an ideal training text and desktop reference for a wide spectrum of web page designers. Individuals working to improve company intranet and extranet communications will be well-served by the examples given of code and scripting followed by what you can expect to see. Professionals seeking guidance in advanced HTML, DHTML, XML, and related internet savvy can expect to increase their understanding of these cutting-edge technologies.

We found excellent coverage of the pitfalls of page preparation without knowledge of the differences between popular browser capabilities. The browser versions expected to be in common use for the next few years of Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, WebTV, and a few others, and how to allow for their different interpreting capabilities , is covered throughout the book.

Hundreds of pages of appendixes explain what you can and can't do with HTML elements and style sheets. The function, power, and use of Java Script in its several variations are explained with examples. Author Thomas A. Powell, an expert Web consultant and Internet applications teacher at University of California at San Diego, explains the centrality of HTML while predicting changes that XML and other methods may bring in the future. He cites lots of free online Web sites, at all levels, to augment material in the book.

We found the writing style, loaded with useful examples and stabs of humor, to be an easy read. This is a body of knowledge that must be understood at higher than an entry level by industrial, academic, and small business practitioners alike who see the need for an effective Web presence.

The only HTML book you'll need

     My first "The Complete Reference" book was for Java 1.0. I was so happy with that book that when I went looking for an HTML manual, the first one I looked at was this one. And it's a good thing I did, because it's the only book I ever need to look at for a reference. It really does contain everything I can think I would need to write HTML code at any level of complexity or depth, and I've been writing HTML code since 1994, professionally since around 1997. If you're a beginner, the book spends some time in the beginning teaching you the basics and concepts, everything you should need to get started on your first pages. And if you're a novice or expert, the book will scale to your level of knowledge gracefully, it covers the gamut, even extending into Cascading Style Sheets, Dynamic HTML and a brief introduction to XML (if you need an XML manual you should get one dedicated only to XML, this reference is not complete for that purpose). The title couldn't be more appropriate, as inside the book, there is a complete reference of every single valid HTML tag and attribute you could use, even including explanations for what each attribute means! If you get just one HTML book, get this one.

Keep in mind that this book does not cover any WYSIWYG tools for creating HTML pages (such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver). This is just for writing the HTML yourself with a text editor, or to assist you in using the WYSIWYG tool of your choice, as most of them allow you to manipulate the HTML and attributes manually.

Simply awesome

     This book is just spectacular!
I have been a web developer for several years now, and I have read many books about HTML and related subjects. This book covers it all. But not only does the author cover HTML extensively, but he also covers XML, XHTML, CSS (extensively), CSS2, JavaScript, CGI, SSI, ASP, Coldfusion, and fonts.
Many examples are given in both code and URL, discussion, and the thoroughness of the author's coverage, makes this a first-rate book, in my opinion.
Most remarkably, the author discusses this subject matter very simply and in a way that anyone can understand (probably). I've honestly never read a technical book as lucid as this one. I highly recommend it!
If that was not enough, the book contains about 500 pages of appendices, covering extensively every topic related to web development that one might need. I'm not saying you won't need any other books to make fabulous web pages, but this book is amazingly comprehensive. The author's web site is nice too.