Learn web design the right way

Maybe you do, and maybe you don’t - or at least not as well as you thought you did. Paul Haine is certainly hoping that you don’t feel in any shame in putting yourself in the latter category otherwise his hard work on HTML Mastery will be for nothing. The book, which is due out in January (but you can pre-order on Amazon), goes beyond the simple basics that many of use on a day-to-day basis, looks at some of the lesser-known HTML elements and their uses (and, indeed, the lesser-known ones that deserve to stay lesser-known!). It’s a great refresher for people who think they know HTML pretty well but would like to really master the craft, a task that is helped greatly by the chapters on Microformats and a look at the development of XHTML 2.0 and Web Applications 1.0. But what really makes this book a great read is Paul’s writing style - if you’ve ever read any of his blog entries you’ll know he has a great sense of humour, and this has translated well to the topic at hand, a topic that, in the hands of others, could have been a very stuffy affair.

So, congratulations on the book, Paul - it’s another great addition to the web standards armory.

Pre-order HTML Mastery from Amazon

• Amazon US
• Amazon UK
• Other Amazon locations

[Disclosure: I provided the technical editing on the book, in case you’re wondering how I know what it’s like before its proper release!]

I’ve had a lot of things on the go recently and I’ve been remiss in not doing a bit of self-promotion (and promotion for fellow authors Dan Rubin and Jeff Croft) for a certain CSS book. Pro CSS is the title and it does exactly what it says on the tin - it teaches professional CSS techniques for web developers/designers who already have a good basic understanding of CSS and want to refine their skills even further.

The book’s publication date (as far as Amazon is concerned) is the 27th November, so hopefully I’ll be getting my hands on my copies very soon (and I can tell you from experience that it’s a great feeling, although probably not quite as momentous as the first time, so to speak).

I’m looking forward to seeing Jeff and Dan at next year’s SXSW Interactive where we’ll get the chance to raise a (no doubt Yahoo or Google-sponsored) pint for a real celebration.

• Buy it from Amazon.com
• Buy it from Amazon.co.uk

I’m thrilled to announce that my book, Build Your Own Website the Right Way Using HTML and CSS, is now out on SitePoint. I received my personal copies today and am really pleased with the end result (it’s surprising how much fun it is to re-read your own work in this format … but it’s a real bummer when you find a typo!).

I’d really appreciate any mention you folks can provide for me - that’s assuming that anyone other than family members reads this blog . If you feel like promoting a book about web standards that you could happily give to your mum and know that she’ll learn the right way, please do link to this page (and if you really want to help promote standards such that Google points people in the right direction, it’d be great if you used words such as beginners’ guide to web standards or similar).

Anyway, that’s my shameless marketing plea over - I really hope you can help in some small way

The book heads for the printing press the end of next week. Yeehaw!

Update: the book is now available for pre-order on Amazon UK and Amazon.com (thanks for pointing that out, Craig).

In the meantime, here’s what the book might look like if you just happened to have the world’s shiniest table to stand it up on:

Ever the apologist, here I am again justifying lack of activity on this site (and some others) over the last year or two (the list of other time-suckers can be found here). What’s the justification this time? Well, it’s a good one.

While travelling around the globe a couple of years ago, I started doing some technical editing for Sitepoint. It was a great way to earn a bit of money to pay my way while not getting in the way of moving from place to place - no bar work or fruit-picking for me! Much of this editing work was carried out in the back of my van in the late hours while my wife-to-be snoozed. When I returned to UK after travelling, I was approached about some more potential writing work. Despite the fact that I knew I had an extremely busy year ahead of me, somehow I felt brave enough to take it on. Over seven months, while dealing with two house sales, buying a new house and making tentative wedding plans, I spent many evenings working on this project. Today, for the first time, I saw the evidence that it was finally coming to fruition - Sitepoint have added the book to their ‘coming soon’ section.

So, what’s the book about?

At this point, it might be worth re-reading this post about the poor state of many beginner web design books on the market. The reason for my trip to the book shops was to really get a feel for what’s out there and to make sure that I was on track with what I was writing. I couldn’t have been happier at how bad it was - it made me realise that what I had started writing for Sitepoint was much needed and much overdue.

Who is this book aimed at?

Well, chances are it’s not aimed at you. As much as I’d like to say it’s a cutting edge book about CSS tricks that you and I love to peruse, or an accessibility book with a slightly different angle than those currently out there, it’s neither. This is what it is:

• It’s a book that you can give to your web newbie mother/sister/auntie
• It doesn’t presume any foreknowledge of HTML or ownership of any expensive/fancy web authoring software (nor does it suggest going out and buying any)
• While it’s for beginners, it’s not going to call anyone a dummy
• It’s a web design book that refuses to teach bad, outdated practices as a way of getting eye-catching results more quickly than the ‘proper’ method. For example, the first time you will see page layout covered is with CSS in chapter 4. Tables are covered - but in a chapter about managing data in tables, just where they should be .

In short, it’s a book that aims to teach complete beginners how to build web sites that conform to web standards such that they won’t need to unlearn bad practices at a later date, or even know that those bad practices exist.

Well, I’ve talked it up so much, about time I provided a link:

Build Your First Website The Right Way Using HTML & CSS

Publication date is March/April (I believe the latter ismore likely). If you think you know someone that this could be of benefit to, please do add your name to the notification list (by joining the Sitepoint Book Buyers’ Club). I am looking forward to seeing the finished result … and I really do wonder what bizarre and completely off-topic picture this book will have on the cover!