Rating:  - The First Step to Learn about Web Design
If you want to learn about web design, the first step is learning HTML and XHTML. The last official version of HTML (4.1) was released in 1999. In January, 2000, the W3C release XHTML. HTML and XHTML are very similar; XHTML uses the stricter syntax of XML.
I have been looking for a book to teach an introductory HTML class. Most books I reviewed were not up-to-date. I really needed a book that did NOT use deprecated tags, that used XHTML syntax, and that introduced cascading style sheets. HTML and XHTML Step-by-Step is the book I have been looking for.
The book is very well-organized with plenty of exercises. The explanations are clear. It's a great book to teach yourself HTML and XHTML even if you are a completely new to web design.
What is absent is a discussion about cross-browser compatibility. Being a Microsoft Press book, it only addresses IE. If you are using another browser, for example, Firefox, you will find that some of the css code will display differently in other browsers. But this is a basic book and a good web design teacher should be able to point out the differences. There are also a few syntax errors, but they a minimal.
On the whole, this a great book to start with if you are learning about web design.
Rating: - I absolutely love this book!
Using this book is the way all aspiring web designers or web developers should begin their journey.
HTML is the basis and foundation of everything relating to the web.
This book shows you the basic elements of a web page from a structural standpoint. The HTML code is presented neatly and consisely.
The method they use to help you learn is using Notepad.
Stripped of all WYSIWYG tools (if you don't know what this means...google it) the user acquires an understanding of what HTML does in regards to presentation and how the browser interprets everything that is written.
The simplicity and straightforward style of the book is greatly appreciated.
I am impressed and will use this book to train students in my web design classes.
The book does suffer from too much simplicity. Once you have gotten HTML under your belt you will want to know more about HTML or find out about other tags that are available.
The next book to add to your library would then be "The Complete Reference HTML & XHTML". This will make you complete in that regard as it also covers CSS and web practices.
Keep in mind that some of the web practices may or may no longer still apply given that the aforementioned reference was written in 2003.
As for the Step by Step HTML & XHTML...I highly recommend it!
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