Book Review

Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML 4 in 21 Days

By Mike Oliveira, Cyberwalker Media Syndicate

Everyone has a Web page these days. Your competition has one. Your grandmother has one. You don't?

Not to fear, it doesn't take a budget of thousands to get started. A few hours, some patience and SAMS Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML 4 in 21 Days will put you on the road to a Web presence.

A handy 1,200-page reference guide for Web veterans, this book is primarily aimed at those who know nothing about publishing on the Internet, but want to know everything.

It begins with a brief history of the Internet and HTML (hypertext markup language, the code that creates Web pages) and ends with information on Web servers.

The book tries to address everything and tackles a bit too much. While learning HTML doesn't compare to trying to master a computer language, it can be a slow, frustrating process until there are finally some results.

It might be wiser to focus strictly on HTML rather than trying to get involved with things like Javascript and Web server administration.
HTML is covered in depth and useful examples are provided, but the sections on the other facets of Internet design are too brief to be helpful.

Creating your first Web page is an accomplishment in itself, practice that before attempting to learn Java script debugging. Forget about other facets of Web site building until your HTML is solid. Then buy a book that adequately covers these other topics.

Luckily, the majority of the book is dedicated to every aspect of HTML, from title tags to complex frames and tables. If you're already familiar with HTML, you'd breeze through most of this but beginners will be pleased by its slow pace and a wealth of examples and screen captures.

Give it enough time (probably a bit more than the 21 days the book suggests) and you will be able to create your own Web pages.

For the price of the book, you could invest in a WYSISWG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor and allow a computer program to labor over the code instead.

Even professional Web designers are likely to use something like Macromedia's Dreamweaver these days, so why should you learn if you don't have to?

The answer is yes. Knowing how to change HTML code by hand is a skill worth learning. HTML editors are notorious for being quirky and buggy.

You could look up a tutorial on the Web and learn HTML for free. But you get what you pay for and often those tutorials assume you're a computer guru. This book is written without any presumption of existing computer skills and can be understood by anyone.

If you choose to design your Web page and decide that you need a book to learn, Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML 4 in 21 Days will get you there.

Reviewer's rating: 3.75 / 5

Comments: Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML 4 in 21 Days tries to cover too much in one book and isn't the cheapest alternative. But it does teach HTML as well as any other book and is a handy reference you'll want to keep.

Title: Web Publishing with HTML 4 in 21 Days
Author: Laura Lemay
Publisher: SAMS
ISBN: 0672317257

Price: $49.99 US, $74.95 Canadian