Wow, I Couldn’t Have Asked for a Better Review!
Well, I could have, and if you feel like writing a better review than this, then please feel free! But I have to repeat something that Kevin Yank posted at SitePoint today regarding some feedback from a total web newbie. Apologies for the rather long blockquote – I found it difficult to remove any part of it! The emphasis on certain words was added by me.
Now, Jess is studying to teach drama and English, so she could easily have taken the path of least resistance, but as we had just received our office copies of Ian Lloyd’s Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way Using HTML & CSS , I dropped one on her desk and hinted that she might find it interesting reading.
Less than a week later, she shot me an instant message one afternoon with a URL in it and asked me, “What do you think?” Bracing myself for the worst, I clicked through and blinked in astonishment at the green check mark that popped up at the bottom of my browser window. The site validated!
It turns out that Jess enjoyed the book so much, she even included an extra page on her site explaining how she had come by her newfound HTML and CSS skills:
And here’s what my happy customer wrote:
I read the book, which assumed no prior knowledge, and was quickly educated in how to use valid HTML and create snazzy web layouts in CSS, in a way that means I can apply my styling to a number of pages using one style sheet—very handy if I want to change something across all my pages.
The result? You’re looking at it. The fact that my first page I created, my homepage, is Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict is an achievement that very, very few first-time webpage builders can claim. In fact, all my webpages pass both HTML and CSS validation 100%, except for the Blogger code in my blog page. But that’s their problem, and another reason why I would ideally use hand-crafted weblogging technology if I were using blogging with students.
I should say, even though I know I’m pushing the boundary between exposition and just plain bragging – this website took me only FIVE days to make. From opening the book through to writing these closing words. That fact even has my head spinning.
And Kevin continued:
I’m still getting used to my girlfriend preaching the gospel of web standards, but I couldn’t be more proud – not only because Jess did such a professional job on her first-ever web site, but also because Ian has produced a book that can engender that level of enthusiam in building web sites the right way from someone with no prior web design experience.
And with that I’m going to sit back and crack open a nice cold fruit smoothie (well, I am at work – it’s a bit early for a lager!).
Buy The Book Here
Dan Champion wrote:
I recommended it to a colleague a few weeks ago. He was going to dust off his copy of Frontpage and buy a book for it, but I managed to persuade him to resist the lure of the dark side. Saw him today and he was raving about the book, said it was pitched at just the right level for someone like him who knows how to use a computer but has absolutely no web experience. Nice work! And no, I’m not stalking you, it just appears that way. ;-)
Posted on 07-Jun-06 at 9:19 am | Permalink