HTML 4.0 Sourcebook

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HTML 4.0 Sourcebook

It'shard to believe that the commercial Internet as we know it has been around forover eight years, exploded into popularity because of a simple four-letteracronym markup syntax. Since that time, the simple application of HTML has gonethrough various iterations, culminating in its version 4.0 state. Ian Grahamhas worked with HTML from the beginning, and shares his years of real-worldexperience in HTML 4.0 Sourcebook.

The bookprovides good introductory text to designers learning HTML for the first time.It supplies readers with clear, detailed listings and explanations of all HTML4.0 tags and their behaviors in multiple browser implementations.

Yet thebook is geared more toward Web designers than application developers.It contains irrelevant chapters on design suggestions and recommendations thatare mostly moot in light of today's Web design tools. Also, I would'vepreferred that the publisher print the appendices instead of only offering themon the companion Web site. The book's only programming examples includeantiquated Perl examples; no modern HTML editors are discussed.

Ultimately,the book's value is fading mostly because it reflects the time at which it waswritten. Even the author's later book on XHTML admits that the recommendationsmade in HTML 4.0 Sourcebook have been usurped by more appropriate syntaxmethodologies. Thus, for designers only now being exposed to the world of Webpage syntax, HTML 4.0 Sourcebook might provide insight. For moreadvanced Web authors and developers, there's not much this book has to offerbeyond what has already been published.

- Mike Riley

HTML4.0 Sourcebookby Ian S. Graham, Wiley Computer Publishing, http://www.wiley.com/compbooks.

Rating:

ISBN:0-471-25724-9

CoverPrice: US$34.99

(631pages)