HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites

Sometimes I get bogged down in programming manuals, and I wish sometimes that there were more manuals like this. Even though I can code, my HTML is dodgy and I needed to take the plunge and learn HTML and (maybe more important these days) CSS. This book is a welcome change from just about any other book. It is lovingly designed, easy to read, and the format, though aimed at the beginner, is also fine for the intermediate user. The reason I think I can say this is that, because of the way it reads, it sinks in to your memory. Other courses I have done in the past I have simply forgotten with the passage of time, but this book really imprints the knowledge in your head. In fact I would say the book is actually a work of art in itself, and I really handle it with care as it feels more like an item of art than a text book - just wait until you see it. Jon Duckett has really put his heart and soul into this, whilst keeping it clean and accessible. The structure of how HTML and then CSS is laid out in a form that is as much an easy read as a manual and I really didn't mind getting out my text editor and having a go at the examples as I went along. This is significant for me as HTML and CSS usually bore me to tears. At last I have found a book I can learn from. And if I can learn from it then I reckon anyone can, young or old, beginner or computer programmer. At only £10 for over 500 pages it was also really good value, especially considering it is in full colour. I actually look forward to lending this to someone the way I would for a great novel I'd read that I wanted to share. If you are confused about what book to pick up to learn HTML5/CSS3 then I don't think you can go wrong with this. It is a superb book and the best I have seen on the subject.

Purchased this book after buying Javascript & Jquery by the same author and loving the layout & readability of the book. I know HTML & CSS well but have never actually sat down and learnt 'the right way' to certain things so felt it was time for some light evening reading. Even as an experienced web designer it was still an enjoyable read and I picked up enough new knowledge to make it a worthwhile read. As I didn't have to go away and play with half of what I read I finished the book cover to cover within about 8 hours but plan to use it for reference so it will remain on my shelf. I didn't use any of the demo content so can't comment on that but there's plenty of examples on the website that accompanies the book for those that want it. Brilliant book for beginners & an easy to consume read for those that already know their way around but feel they could use a HTML5 knowledge update. This book doesn't bog you down in information you're better off learning as you progress and instead focuses on key points, methods & techniques for you to delve in to and research more online at your own pace. It's worth noting that anyone looking for a comprehensive CSS reference, this isn't the book for you. Whilst it covers all the main CSS features, it doesn't go deep into what can be achieved with complex CSS styling.

This gives a great overview of HTML and CSS and is a really handy reference manual for those just starting out in web design. The layout and presentation is superb, and the content will get you going on your journey to design and build your own sites. That said, I really wish it had covered some more advanced topics before dropping you in the vast ocean that is web design. My biggest gripe with this book is that it quickly skirts over responsive design and the use of grid systems, a little more care and attention to these chapters and readers could be well on their way to making their ideas reality. These are the pillars of modern design and without a firm grasps of these concepts and you could be left drowning! If you think this will teach you everything you need to know about building websites, think again, it doesn't cover MySQL or PHP, nor does it claim to. It doesn't seem fair to drop a star on what would otherwise be a fantastic beginners resource, however I was left feeling a bit lost, you will never be able to build a modern, functioning website without a basic understanding of these subjects. I was left with a static website, that looks great but didn't really do anything! If you can afford to fork out the cash for this book it really does well at explaining the basics of HTML and CSS, teaching you just enough to wet your appetite, just be aware you will definitely need more materials to support your ongoing learning and development.

I purchased this book a while ago. I started knowing nothing about web design and being utterly confused when presented with HTML or CSS, however after spending a couple of hours reading this book and a few more hours applying what I had learnt, I have become quite proficient in reading and writing HTML and CSS. The book is laid out in a clear organised manner with enough illustration and color to keep the reader interested, yet keeps all of the important information that you need. This book is for those people that don't want to sit and read chapters of useless rambling that a writer had added to pad out his of her book, but just wants to get straight to the point with all of the information condensed into small manageable sections. I would strongly recommend this book for any novice, in fact it would still be a pleasant read for any expert that had some spare time on their hands. In fact I recommend this book so strongly that I am actually writing a review, that out of principle I usually avoid doing! Buy this book, it is worth the low cost I guarantee!

Having nearly completed this book, I can say that it is an excellent resource for those new to the world of web design and development. I have tried other tutorial resources but found them to be dated. This book is focused on HTML5 and includes CSS3 in it's examples and tutorials. This is also a very stylish book. It has a great structure with plenty of visual stimulation, not your average boring text and code only book. I'd have this on my coffee table it looks so smart. Throughout the book, Jon Duckett does well to give up-to-date online resources for futher development and interest. The tutorials in the book are not your standard step by step 'do as I say' type, but rely more on the reader being proactive and completing the coding and exercises as required. For example, all the finished products can be downloaded from the HTML & CSS website with no requirement to actually create any pages. I did manually write every example and played with the code to understand how it works before moving on. To summarise, this is a very stylish, well written, up to date book with very easy to follow tutorials. I would recommend this as a first book for anyone wanting to learn about HTML and CSS.

There is a running theme in the reviews for this book that I would like to reenforce. This book is presented in such a way that it makes it very difficult NOT to learn or understand the content within. Most technical books are just that - technical. As a result, after about ten pages, the reader's eyes glaze over and their brain shuts off and I'm stating this coming from an I.T. background. Duckett manages to make learning HTML & CSS interesting. Each page shows only the information you need to know, along with the code and the end result where applicable. The paragraphs are bite-size blocks loaded with relevancy. He details good practice methodolgies as well as the tags to use. This book is excellent for both beginner and accomplished web developers. It its a joy to read and other writers and publishers of technical primers should take note of the style and presentation of this book. I have his paperback JavaScript & JQuery: Interactive Front-end Web Development on my wishlist. I can't wait to read it.

Well structured book. Plenty of exercises. Demonstrates clearly the relationship between HTML and CSS. You need to keep your wits about you to follow the code line by line to really understand what the author is teaching. But that's the point, of course! Pasting the exercises from the website into a text editor (I use Sublime Text) and trying out the results in various browsers then modifying them to get to know the code from the inside is incredibly helpful. The book is clearly written, visually attractive and nicely produced.

I am a seasoned web developer. I have built sites using Drupal CMS and ASP Pages using .NET with c# in Visual Studio 2012. So I'm not a total beginner, but my knowledge of CSS was very sketchy. My concern was that this book would be too simplistic for my level of knowledge, but I have to say this is not the case. The layout is simple and concise - each double page spread covers an element of CSS, with examples of HTML code, CSS code and the results that appear in your browser. Reading it gives you all the information you need to use CSS, but it also gives you ideas and many 'Ah, so that's how they do that!' moments. In addition to this, it gives up to date hints and tips on website design that are relevant for modern websites. When you have read it, the design and layout of the book is such that it also works very well as a reference. I can see this book is going to stay on my shelf and remain useful for a long time.

I like ordering from Amazon because their items are legit,packed properly and and have customer care eventhough you dont like an order they can take it back and bring what you like

The book's take a wonderfully refreshing approaching to teaching the building blocks of HTML and modern CSS. It was ahead of it's time gambling on the future state of the modern web standards we have today and largely dispensing with the pain most of us suffered before wider adoption in browsers today. Two things preventing me from giving it 5 stars: - I did catch a fair number of grammatical/spelling mistakes as I read it. More of a minor annoyance rather than significantly affecting my reading. - I can't figure out if the book is deliberately styled as a throw back to older printing techniques/quality such that the colors appears to bleed slightly into the page (text in particular) or if there is a general print quality problem with the book. Again, it's annoying more than anything. In-spite of this I would still very much recommend.

Llegó un poco maltratado pero el contenido es muy bueno y gráfico. Es un buen libro para los que estamos iniciando en el mundo de HTML.

I need it for work

This book is excellent for people wanting to learn how to design websites. It's seperated into 3 parts: The first 9 Chapters teach you everything you need to know about HTML, the next 6 teach you about CSS and the remaining 3 tell you practical tips. The author really knows how to explain things well, every single element you learn has an example code with it and the book is filled with pictures and illustrations. Everything is well thought out and perfectly understandable. One thing I disliked about this book though is the quality of the book itself. It happened to me a couple times that single pages got torn out a bit easily just by turning them and the paper used in this book makes you see every single fingerprint you ever put on this book and its pages. But that doesn't change my 5 star rating for this book, because in the end its about the content. This book for this price can be bought without any regrets. :)