Rating: - Really Good Beginner Book
This book turned out to be really really good. It takes you through all the basics without getting boring, and its pretty thorough. At the end they even tell you "where to go from here" instead of leaving you hanging like most books. I found myself regularly keeping up with reading it, and as long as you pace yourself, you can pick up decent working knowledge within a week or two.
Rating: - interesting, but the real world is another thing
i read "head first html" with satisfaction, and it is very effective about learning theoretical good practices in web design (you definitely can't say complete, if you consider - just for example - how funny is the absolute positioning when you get the real mechanism in some third order blog)
i could say that there is no mention about serious advanced techniques to actually do what we all really see and experience in thousands of web pages, but this is not the point
the point is that in real world internet explorer is the pace maker, and the hearth of web is actually suffering from that
that means that this book does not say that (about) none of some serious css and design techniques will not work on internet explorer (you can say absolute positioning, floating, margins, pngs... check sitepoint css reference [...]-alphabetic and enjoy dozens of "red boxes" about internet explorer compatibility with css or run your acid 2 test at [...] or... well, it is a full time job)
what this book should have done THESE days (internet explorer 6 and 7 being still in use for years) is to teach the way to create real world webpages - "practice" (how WE can do it) after "theory" (how THEY at microsoft should do it)
but who cares real world? if you take the absolute positioning example again, you can see that it is one of main way internet explorer breaks your designs, but fortuity wants that there is no serious information about this topic in the book we are talking about (and you will complain that)
being serious, i see there is no critic and educational approach in head first series (you still think that java is the best language in the world? if you only read head first java you could think so)
so, no hope in next "versions" because head first is politically correct
Rating: - Absolutely no words!
I am a begginner starting from scratch. Currently on page 470 of this 650 pages book. This book is fun and its very hard for me to put it down and let it rest. I am learning so much! I bought this book less then a week ago and I only have 200 pages to go. Amazing!! I thought it would take me forever, and id want to return the book after a day or two. ABSOLUTELY NOT! This is the best text book let alone the best html guide I have ever read. Cant wait for their PHP AND MYSQL book that is coming out only in DEC 08.
I dont know what else to say besides, if you want to learn the core of html and css the right way, this is diffenetly for you!
Rating: - A Great Introduction
Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML was a great introduction to writing (x)html/css. The book is written in clear, simple language in a conversational style, and is filled with graphical cues to enhance recognition and comprehension. I particularly loved the focus on context -- it's so helpful to finally understand the *why* behind the rules! The authors are upbeat and practical throughout (although their jokes do get a bit old), and their Q&A sections frequently anticipated my questions with mind-reader accuracy. The exercises in the book were perfectly pitched - demonstrative, useful, and repetitive without being boring. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a solid, practical introduction to html / xhtml & css.
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