First Steps onto the Web
Chris Good plunges into HTML coding and needed a reference book...
With everybody and his dog producing Web pages these days I thought it
was about time I buckled down to some serious HTML coding. After a few
sessions I realised I needed an easy to follow quick guide for
beginners.
I borrowed "Using HTML by Neil Randall" to knock up the WAG user group
pages and went looking for a copy of this or something similar. After
browsing (sic) through numerous weighty tomes on the selves of my local
booksellers (some come complete with CD-ROMs/disks and advanced stuff
on CGI/JAVA/VRML coding with price tags to match) I plumped for "How To
Use HTML3 by Scott Arpajian" - one of the main reasons being it had a
œ5 off sticker on the front!
Seriously though, compared to some of the other books available, this
seemed to include everything I needed, large clear diagrams, easy to
follow tutorials and a tag reference section in the back.
The style of the book is easy to follow. Each page includes a picture
illustrating what the finished code should look like on-screen
surrounded by smaller illustrations the sequence in which the code
should be prepared. A running "Try it's" tutorial builds into a web
page for the imaginary "LawnBirds Inc." and provides an opportunity to
practice the code you've read about in the previous chapter.
The proprietary Netscape and Microsoft Explorer extensions as are video
and sounds file handling. There's also a brief mention of JAVA code
applets. Since CAB currently doesn't support JAVA this isn't a problem.
Overall an excellent beginners book to Web authoring I'm off to look
for something a little more advanced now.
Product name: How to use HTML3 by Scott Arpajian
Publisher: ZD Press
Contact: Ziff-Davis Press Line of Books, 5903 Christie Avenue,
Emeryville, CA 94608
ISBN: 1-56276-390-3
Price: œ22.99
Pros: Aimed at beginners
Cons: Rather PC/Mac oriented - but they all are!
Score: 80%
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