Rating: 
Summary: Quick reference. . . but a little slop
Review: This book provides a concise introduction and reference to HTML 4, including an extensive section on styles. Nearly every tag description includes example HTML code along with a screen capture showing the browser results, all on the same page. This makes the book quite clear and easy to use for reference. Castro also gives thorough consideration to users of both Netscape and Internet Explorer as well as Macintosh and Windows. In addition to an index, the book includes useful appendices that cover special symbol codes and HTML tags with their attributes, and common colors are listed together with their hexadecimal codes on the back cover, all making the book a valuable reference. On the other hand, Castro is occasionally sloppy with her details, for instance suggesting that you can always examine source code by "downloading" it through View-Source. (If you can see a page in your browser, there is nothing more to download- -the source code is already available on your machine.) Her description of the differences between logical and physical tags is also not as clear as it should be. Nevertheless, the book will prove a useful reference to both new users and Web professionals.
Rating: 
Summary: Clear, entertaining, well organized
Review: This book doesn't need another good review - but I'm posting one anyway. It's amazing how much HTML is in this small book. The explanations are clear and unambiguous, and the models in the figures are creative and well integrated with the text. A lot of thought obviously went into organizing the material into coherent sections. The red coloring is used wisely and effectively and helped me follow the models. I haven't found myself driven to the companion Web site for help yet, but it's good to know it's there. If I have a minor constructive criticism, it is that the figures and captions are packed with useful models, but rather small for my eyes. Perhaps that's the price for so much cool stuff in a small book, or a limitation built into the VQS format. The section on CGI scripts might be overreaching the scope of the book a bit - but maybe I'll get more from it on a 2nd reading. The color chart at the end of the version of the book I purchased is a very valuable bonus. Whichever publisher wins the bidding war to sign Elizabeth Castro to a six (seven?) figure advance for her next book is a lucky publisher indeed!
Rating: 
Summary: Very hard to understand.
Review: The book jumps all over the place with references to pages throughout the book from the 1st chapter on. I did not find it easy to understand. It actually make creating a web page/site a lot harder than it actually is.
Rating:
Summary: Peachpit Prints Gold!
Review: Having been in the HTML world now for a number of years, I am constantly looking for better references and tutorials. Elizabeth Castro has done both with this excellent book on HTML. Again and again I find myself turning to this book to find ways of doing things that I used to do in JavaScript (the "Gee I Didn't Know HTML Would Do That!" syndrome). What I like most is the format of the book; an excellent index allows the reader to easily look up specifics. The book contains some of the following chapters: Text Formatting, Images, Layout, Links, Lists, Tables, Frames (a big problem area for a lot of web programmers, well presented and explained here with some pretty neat hints and tips), Forms, Style Sheets (happily, this is heavily explained with four chapters dedicated to it's many facets), Scripts (wow! An HTML author who finally admits there are other languages out there! The author even spends a little time on the basics of JavaScript, however, she stays true to the focus of the book, only showing enough to wet the appetite before moving on), debugging (this is another biggy rarely covered by HTML authors, again well done here). The author spend some time even on publishing a web site. The problems and solutions to getting: a domain name, web host, transferring files, getting listed on search engines, etc. Several appendices: Tools, Special Symbols, Colors, and Tag Compatibility are covered. The index is very well done. This book is a must buy for any serious web developer.
Rating:
Summary: Beats the competition, and you can't beat the price.
Review: This is not a complete, techno-pyro-poweruser guide to learning HTML from scratch. You won't find the official HTML spec sheet here (but you will find references to where it exists). The book was obviously designed as a quick-reference to good, responsible HTML practise. I found it very useful for understanding style sheets and frames and for getting up some starting examples of my own to see how it's done. There are some errors (not many) that are adequately covered on the book's website. Ms Castro has a sense of humor and a forgiving nature, and her examples make many HTML techniques crystal-clear. The book covers just about everything HTML-wise, and the profuse illustrations (though rather tiny in print) are excellent. If you don't learn some good HTML from this book, give up and try outsourcing the work. This quick guide makes HTML almost ridiculously easy. There is helpful reference stuff in the back. Even if you have other books on HTML and page design, you'll still find yourself consulting this easy-to-use guide on a daily basis.
Rating:
Summary: Required textbook for my Web Page Scripting class
Review: I was forced to buy this book for a class and I learned so much. The format is very easy to understand and follows a logical path. Things get more complex but it is always explained in plain english (which is more than I can say about my instructor). I had some previous knowledge of HTML but not nearly enough to be described as competent. The best part of this book is that the HTML code for whatever you are trying to learn is included in it's entirety in its own column on every page. Thanks for making an easy to follow HTML book, Elizabeth Castro!
Rating:
Summary: Good HTML Introduction, Very Good Value.
Review: Pro: Direct & to the point. Clean code as far as I could tell. A fast read. I really appreciate that. Con: It is not complete but does not claim to be complete. The printed examples are reduced so far that a magnifying glass was needed (All in the VQG series are like that.) There are no tutorial examples to work through. Unlike Patrick Carey's book, this one is worth your time and money if you want to start learning HTML/XHTML.
Rating:
Summary: This is not a beginner's book, I know I am a programmer.
Review: I wasted my money on this book. It says it is a beginner book;
but it is definitly not!!! Sorry, but I would like to give it
a good rating, but I just can't. In the first few pages it
jumps in to complexity. I read more to see if it was getting
better, but it got worse. I did find a good book for begginer's.
They are out there. I am surprised that the preface for this says
it is for beginner's. Number 1 best seller? Maybe I should write
a book then!! This book is a reference book, not a beginner's!
Trust me. I could go on and on, but if you are a beginner, all I can say is do not get it.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book!
Review: This is a great book. If you want to learn HTML or brush up on your skills this is the perfect book. It's exactly as it says on the cover "no long winded passages". It's to the point but it's not lacking, it gives you the info you need.
This is also a great reference book as once you learn HTML you can go back and look something up quickly to find a tip or brush up if you've forgotten. I would recommend this to everyone. And it isn't real expensive so you can pick it up on Amazon for under $20.00 (that's makes it an even better book).
Rating:
Summary: All you need to know. and then some....
Review: Elizabeth has done an amazing job of bringing the World Wide Web into the reach of Every Tom Dick and Harry that's looking to build a website. Just about the only thing she can't help you with, is exactly how you choose to design it.
My first website was created by a friend of mine with Dreamweaver. While it was quick and easy to use, it was almost impossible to understand what did what, in the HTML language! I had resorted to copying and pasting things from other peoples HTML files to add on to my web pages. It didn't work so well, because I had no idea what anything meant.
After picking up Elizabeth Castro's book (on the advice of a friend) I can now help other designers with technical problems in their source code!
I've honestly never understood anything about HTML before, and couldn't figure out how to make sure that text stayed inside the black border's I wanted. Now, I'm mapping out an 8 page site, with no worry about how I can make it happen. Just 2 days ago, someone called me asking how he could be sure that his site was showing up on Macs and PC's the same way. I was able to view his source information, explain how to fix the problem, and make some suggestions to make his site easier to update! I couldn't do that 2 months ago! If you want to learn HTML:
(1) EASILY
(2) Quick
(3) Competently
(4) with less technical mumbo-jumbo I'd definately suggest this book.
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