Designing With Web Standards

Rating:
Summary: Useless book, don't waste your money
Review: This is the worst technical book I've ever read (and I've read thousands in my career).
It starts with 150 pages of advocacy: why it's a good idea to design with web standards. Mr Zeldman: if I wasn't already convinced that designing with web standards was a good idea, why would I buy a book called "Designing with Web Standards"?
The author is one of those humor-impaired people who think they are witty. Example: "If changing tag fashions were all there was to it, ...this book would be filled with delicious tofu recipes. Like tofu honey pie with blueberries. Yum! It's even better if you use cream cheese instead of tofu. And sugar - lots of sugar. And butter and eggs - don't forget the eggs."
If you enjoy reading drivel like that, you might like this book. Perhaps it should have been titled "Jokes that never made it to the Tonight Show". But if you want to read about designing with CSS and XHTML, don't waste your time on it.

Rating:
Summary: Straight dope
Review: Zeldman is revered in web-design circles. In fact, most aspiring web jockeys aspire principally to remain in his good graces. Have a look through the reviews - there are two kinds. The 4 and 5 star reviews are written by the ingratiating suck-ups hoping to win Zeldman's favor. The 1 star reviews are by those with the kahones to tell it like it is - there's no content in this garbage. It is the total abandonment of substance in favor of style - and not the CSS sort you're hoping for. It's all edge, attitude and posturing, giving the suck-ups what they crave.

You need a book that will show you how to do constructive things. You don't need to submit to a cult of personality, which is all Zeldman is.

Rating:
Summary: Nearly perfect
Review: Zeldman is a great writer and the book is a page-turner. He tells you that everything you've been doing is bad, but it's OK because that's just the way things develop. Instead of crying on the past, he helps you get excited about the future. The only thing (and I mean only thing) I wanted but didn't get from the book was: more technical details on CSS. I suppose that's what a pocket-reference is for, though. After opening the doors to the incredible power of the XHTML/CSS design, I was going nuts trying to find out how to tell CSS what I wanted.

Rating:
Summary: Almost perfect
Review: A great "Starter-Kit" for XHTML, CSS, light-weight coding and web standard! However, it's a pitty that Jeffrey decided to waste ink on practically 150 pages on the history of browsers, web standards and why you should use them. Honestly - I bought this book because I KNOW I should use standards, no need to convince me again ;-)

I would gladly trade in those 150 pages for a more in-depth coverage of CSS.

Rating:
Summary: MY EYES ARE BLEEDING!!!
Review: ... because I couldn't put it down ... I had a blast reading this book cover to cover. It had it's good times and bad puns, but overall it has obtained a permanent place on my desk.

When I started reading this book I found it intriguing. Discussing browser woes and how most websites are obsolete. It dared me to find out why the author thought this way. His points were clear, valid, very logical (a plus in any computer book), and sometimes funny... and then I started Part Due. A lot of very handy tips and tricks, but more than that; with the history that was read, along with a side by side explanation of the tricks, you not only learn what the tricks do and what they're good for, but why they exist and how people came up with them. The concepts described are intriguing and I couldn't put it down.

I myself am an aspiring web developer. I'll fully admit that I suffered from "class/divitis" as described in the book and I swear it was yelling at me (in a good way). I knew little about CSS, all about HTML (or what I thought I knew), and PHP (thank goodness this book didn't shun scripts) and took it in stride. I now believe (hallelujah!) that these concepts are fundamental to modern and future web design, and that's all I have to say.

I have NEVER written a review on Amazon for any book, but if your looking to make websites now and in the future, and aren't afraid to please EVERYONE on the web, definitely give it a shot.

Based on the suggestions of this book I just picked up "Eric Meyer on CSS". I am confident if this author recommended it, it will stay as another trophy on my desk - I vow to review that one as well. Kudos (chocolate chip ones at that) to Mr. Zeldman and friends!

Rating:
Summary: You've created a monster!
Review: It's a rare experience to come across a book, particularly one on a technical subject, that can't put down. Designing with Web Standards is that good; a wealth of information begging to be read non-stop. I'm now armed with the best tools available -- knowledge & inspiration -- to go back and rework every site I've worked on or administer and comment on every site I use.

While there are technical aspects clearly geared to web designers, site owners, and managers, that's only part of the story. Equally important is how clearly and thoroughly core technologies and fundamentals are addressed making this a valuable resource for end users of web content too! Never again would a user settle for non-standards compliant web sites, nor would they use an obsolete browser! Rather they'd be putting pressure on site owners, designers and browser developers to code to standards - creating a win-win scenario for everyone.

With over 40 book darts marking must have tidbits of information, my copy wore out two new highlighters and has become dog-eared, doodled on, and coffee stained in less than a week! Which is to say New Riders and Jeffrey have hit the right note with Designing with Web Standards.

If you work with, manage, or use the web -- or need to consult with folks who do -- Designing with Web Standards is a must have.

To Jeffrey Zeldman (and the cast of editors) - well done!

You've created a monster - and it is me...

Sincerely
(huc)
Brian Huculak

Rating:
Summary: Zeldman Tells It Like It Is
Review: Jeffrey Zeldman presents a thorough, concise, witty and practical treatise on the value of incorporating standards into web design. If you are still marking up web documents with tables, invisible spacer images, bloated browser detection and OS-dependant scripts, this book is guaranteed to change your perspectve. You will be shown a clear path to creating lean, attractive content that is both backwards-compatible and forward-looking.

Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Web Standards are good for you.
Review: This is an amazing read! If you don't know much about web standards, this is the book for you. Zeldman tells why and how designing with web standards will benefit your sites. From browser compatibility to saving bandwidth, it explains it all.

If you're still nesting your tables, pick this book up. It will do wonders for you. I know, it did for me.

Rating:
Summary: Not perfect, but really handy to have
Review: Zeldman gets a bit overzealous in his evangelism - I'm sold on web standards, you don't have to keep preaching to me 200 pages in.

Nonetheless, this book is a great tool for designing a scalable, lightweight, accessable, usable site. Big Z explains how to create a liquid design that you can apply to a whole site, then reformat easily. He shows you how to replace 25k of navigation-bar rollover graphics with a few lines of text. You learn to make sites that work in IE, Netscape, Opera, Safari, etc and degrade gracefully into Lynx and screenreaders. All that stuff is in here. A big thrust is on separating content and structure from presentation and design.

In a lot of cases it's a real bacon-saver. It does occaisonally lack in fully-fleshed out code examples, but if used in concert with Eric Meyer's book on CSS, you've got 98% of what you need to make a standards-compliant next-generation website.

Rating:
Summary: Good for a laugh and a start into web standardization.
Review: Let me first state that this will NOT teach you ALL of the workings of CSS. I thought that it would, but I was wrong. This book is all about accessibility and it is an evangelical book more than anything else.

With that said, I really enjoyed the book. It is a very easy read compared to most computer books. The book teaches you some css and then delves right into the problems that each browser has with CSS / XHTML etc.. and shows workarounds. With this book, I was able to get the index page of my personal site to validate with css and XHTML transitional. This is definately a great starter book, but it will leave you hungry for more. (thankfully, Mr. Zeldman has his suggested readings here and there in the book)

Oh and yes, the first two chapters are all about how browsers of the past don't work and the day of "table hacks, 1 pixel gifs" are numbered. Personally, I found it amazing how easy it was to remove all my table layout and use CSS instead! Only took me an hour!