Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics Author: Jennifer Niederst Robbins | Language: English | ISBN:
1449319270 | Format: PDF
Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics Description
Do you want to build web pages, but have no previous experience? This friendly guide is the perfect place to start. You’ll begin at square one, learning how the Web and web pages work, and then steadily build from there. By the end of the book, you’ll have the skills to create a simple site with multi-column pages that adapt for mobile devices.
Learn how to use the latest techniques, best practices, and current web standards—including HTML5 and CSS3. Each chapter provides exercises to help you to learn various techniques, and short quizzes to make sure you understand key concepts.
This thoroughly revised edition is ideal for students and professionals of all backgrounds and skill levels, whether you’re a beginner or brushing up on existing skills.
- Build HTML pages with text, links, images, tables, and forms
- Use style sheets (CSS) for colors, backgrounds, formatting text, page layout, and even simple animation effects
- Learn about the new HTML5 elements, APIs, and CSS3 properties that are changing what you can do with web pages
- Make your pages display well on mobile devices by creating a responsive web design
- Learn how JavaScript works—and why the language is so important in web design
- Create and optimize web graphics so they’ll download as quickly as possible
- Paperback: 624 pages
- Publisher: O'Reilly Media; Fourth Edition edition (August 24, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1449319270
- ISBN-13: 978-1449319274
- Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 8 x 1.3 inches
- Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
The book tells you not only how to do stuff, it tells you why and when it is right to do so. Proportionally speaking, if the book were 11 pages, you get 1 page for introduction, 3 for HTML, 5 for CSS and 2 for javascript. The book focuses on the important stuff, and says what is good on each. You can always learn the material online via web search, copying examples, etc, but it will take a while to grasp the 'why' of its intended usage.
If you already know some of the material and want a refresher on the latest (such as HTML5), simply go to the 'test yourself' section at the end of each chapter. The core of the book is the HTML and CSS content. It nicely explains what it's new in HTML5.
HTML5: the book tells you what to do for browsers that do not support HTML5. It is to the point in just what you need to know. It includes enough for the video tag but not too much. If you need to go deep into canvas tag, get another book.
CSS: the book gives you strategies for page layout, and covers nice stuff such as round corners, transitions, transformations, animations. Finally I was able to fully understand a number of CSS techniques that I have used in my sites.
JavaScript: the book covers enough to practically know what it is and why you may have to learn it in the future. If you need to go deep in JavaScript, get another book. Lastly, a small chapter on web graphics is what I consider 'filler' content for people that know nothing about image formats.
The book is big and pretty, in the same way that you can learn genetics online, we all know that the best is to get a genetics book and read through it. Similarly here, you wont regret getting the hard-copy, it is similar to a traditional college book (definitely less pricey than a genetics book).
I received this book as a part of O'Reilly User Groups program, although I'm interesed in many other topics, I was searching for a book that could help to eliminate the "ugly GUI" culture that I've noticed in my own developments and development for others, specially when the technology is Java.
In my developer phase I've noticed that the average developer becomes astonished by the Java GUI framework of the season and jumps from University to the work field with a little knowledge about HTML, CSS and JavaScript repeating always the sentence "let the designers design, I'm here for the hard work". In real world soon or later is necessary to match both roles or act as powerfull developer-designer, however most of times the lack of good HTML/CSS/JS knowledge is avoided using WYSIWIG editors or dragging JSF components from the IDE designer. At the end is functional but most of times, the lost of control over HTML generation also means ugly or non standard compliant GUI.
About the book:
As many experienced web developers already know, the real issue with HTML learning is not find the material. By the contrary the real problem is choose between the available free learning tutorials without being overwhelmed because of the repeated material. W3Schools is a good and reference start point, but I've seen every HTML tutorial claiming itself as the best, that I just avoid them because of they cause the contrary effect in me.
Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics Preview
Link
Please Wait...