I spent a large chunk of last Friday reading Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML (HF HTML). I really like this line of books. I find the books enjoyable to read and I learn well from their delivery style. The Head First Java book was great and I thought the Head First Servlet book was awesome. I’ve just started the Head First Design Pattern book, although, it’s on-hold while I spend a few more days with HF HTML learning a little more about CSS.
The main reason I bought the HF HTML book was because my wife has started a business (Katie Sews – Embroidery & Sewing Creations)and needs a simple web presence while she gets going. My presentation skills are bad. Yes, I can write HTML but I know practicly nothing about CSS. Heck, I’m a server-side Java/J2EE guy. I figured that reading the HF HTML book would sharpen my HTML skills (mostly giving me the XHTML knowledge I want) and get me well on my way to knowing enough CSS to be dangerous. Also, I figured that the website my wife needs is basic enough that she could probably write it if she read the HF HTML book.
Me thinking that HF HTML would be good enough to teach somebody with NO HTML experience enough to do a business website (my wife doing her own site) shows I think very highly of the Head First line. So after reading through the first half of the book, which covered HTML, I was surprised/shocked to see they didn’t mention the table or form tags. And without looking back through the book and confirming I think I can list the entire list of tags they covered (h1-h6, p, br, img, a href, blockquote, ol, ul, li, head, title, body, and html). I guess what I’m trying to say is that I think the HTML part of the book was lacking in their HTML tag content.
The material covered in the HTML section was delivered flawlessly in Head First style. I have a through understanding of the material presented. It is all crystal clear, but I just thought a little on tables needed to be there. And forms are pretty basic too, and should have also been covered.
Anyhow, the book is good and I’m anxious to start on the CSS chapters. I will give a final review of the CSS chapters when done.
To css guys. Table is evil and should be avoided. I guess that is why it is not mentioned.
I have that book too, so I checked it last night. Tables are discussed but developed using css not html tags so its been moved to later in the book. The last chapter is XHTML forms. I haven’t gotten that far either.
Jeez, Andy! Thanks for ruining the ending. 🙂
I assumed they would come back after going over some CSS basics and pick up on some more html tags. I’m reading through the chapter on div and span.
Erik