Head First HTML and CSS: A Learner's Guide to Creating Standards-Based Web Pages

After finishing two brilliant headfirst books, HF java, HF JSP and Servlets couple of years back, I knew, if I ever have to learn a new technology in detail, the first place would be headfirst. Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates are my legends, thanks to the awesome books they have written on java. However recently I was asked by a friend to code a small website for his company. His requirements weren't too fancy and I had some basic knowledge of html and css from various online tutorials. However his requirements got delayed and I got this idea of learning html/css basics from the ground level. I turned to amazon and found Head First HTML and CSS with 70% users giving it a full five stars.I ordered the book online and the minute I opened it, I was pleasantly surprised by the glossy paper finishing and color images. Somewhere in my mind I always had this grudge that headfirst guys even though trying to convey concepts through pictures and visuals but shy away from proportionately rich look by selecting black-and-white colors, may be they want to keep the costs down. Anyway, I loved this graphic novel/comic (don't judge :-)) style of printing. It has been six days since and I have completed almost 350 pages (half the book). The minute detail given behind every html element and css rule is commendable. I feel much more comfortable around them now. Like everyone else has mentioned, "there are no dumb questions" is undoubtedly the best feature of this book. Most of the questions felt like snatched straight from your mouth. Even though I am halfway through this book, I will give 10/10 to this wonderful book. Thank you Eric Freeman and Elisabeth Robson, you deserve a salute.

Book arrived on time, in pristine condition, & as specified. As far as science books goes it is extremely an unusually written book & at 1st glance more resembles "Cindi Lauper's take on HTML"!!!!! The book has many goofy pictures & odd seeming "writings (you have to see it to believe it!)", but I think it does work overall. It seems to give many clear, concise, & readable explanations on the items I have skimmed in the book. Take my review more with skepticism as it is not an in depth review as I never got a chance to read it through & am only writing this review as it is so long ago I ordered it that I thought I should write something to make review relevant. If you want an "alternative method of writing a scientific textbook" then this is definitely one you should consider as it is written about as "groovy" as the book cover images. Well, now I am going underground as my good review of this book is breaking the Bushido code of scientific writings which is make the darn thing (I.E. book) as difficult to follow as possible & thus am running for my life as I will be hunted down by nutty professors & other scientific nerds for giving it a good review (only kidding of course)!

I feel kind of overwhelmed by all the other good reviews and rarely write one myself, but I wanted to just thank the authors for helping me pull together a LOT of bits and pieces I had learned about over a number of years. I'm not into professionally designing websites or programming these days (the last time I really wrote programming was for an Apple II+!), but I want to do some things for my own website I haven't been able to get others to understand. I don't know if I can't explain what I want well enough or if they don't get it, but I finally decided to dive into the HTML programming for myself.Several years ago I started the wrong way around by getting a book on CSS before I understood HTML and picked up some useful information and by asking questions and looking at HTML from actual websites I was able to teach myself some of the language and put it together, but I was never confident about it and I didn't know how to determine if I had the correct syntax or other parameters. I'm only about half way through the book, but already I've seen a lot of what I did know pulled together and explained in a way that I really remember and can go back and use without constantly referring to the book. In fact I've started reworking a website I tried to set up several years ago and I've made more progress in about a week than I made in 6 months before!The takeaway for me is that it REALLY is important to do the exercises and finish each of the puzzles whether they seem simple or not. I don't know why it works, but for me it has put all the pieces I already knew into a greater whole that I can remember and use.I don't know what I'll tackle next, but I'm pretty sure I'll start with a Head First book!