Build Your Own Website the Right Way Using HTML & CSS

by Ian Lloyd

Build Your Own Website The Right Way Using HTML & CSS teaches web development from scratch, without assuming any previous knowledge of HTML, CSS or web development techniques. This book introduces you to HTML and CSS as you follow along with the author, step-by-step, to build a fully functional web site from the ground up. However, unlike countless other "learn web design" books, this title concentrates on modern, best-practice techniques from the very beginning, which means you'll get it right the first time. The web sites you'll build

Genres: Nonfiction, Website Design, Reference, Web, Technology, Computers, Design

488 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 2006

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Jaret Manuel]

Ok but web standardistas html css is much better and teamtreehouse.com or Jeff Ways' 30 days HTML CSS are great primers.

[BradMD]

Good basic book.

[Mike]

My technical book collection consists of almost nothing but books published by O'Reilly. O'Reilly books are so good, it usually isn't worth the trouble to browse through all the other books on the bookshelf to figure which one to buy. Still, if I had to pick a favorite publisher for web technology, it would be sitepoint. The problem is they just haven't published many books.

I think "Build Your Own Web Site the Right Way" is the absolutely best book on the market to teach you the philosophy behind CSS. It's also a great book if you're just starting in web design, because it also covers a lot of non-HTML/CSS stuff like setting up your web site, obtaining free tools and integrating your site with other resources on the web.

But, having just read it for the second time, I would NOT say it is the best book to LEARN CSS. The second reading didn't really increase my knowledge because the philosophy stuck the first time. Unfortunately the technique didn't, and this book is not the book for learning technique.

[Trisha Cornelius]

In this book written for beginners Ian Lloyd presents the basic concepts of html and css. Overall it is fairly comprehensive and fairly well-written.

A couple of things that could be improved upon:
In the chapter on Jquery no explanation of syntax is given whatsoever, and while the book purports to build on markup that was written in an earlier chapter, an important technical aspect is glossed over with regard to using the #ids from the form processing code.

All in all, it's a good beginners book although some of the explanations could definitely be improved on.

Personally, I was very disappointed that Lloyd recommended the W3schools to learn Javascript, I would have expected better from such an esteemed author, although his recommendations for web development tools were excellent.

If you are a beginner looking to get your feet wet with HTML and CSS you could do far worse than picking up this book.

[Ida]

this book was much more helpful than any software based web design book I have been asked to pick up for school. By focusing on the languages you are using and compatibility standards, it gives a solid foundation for building more skills, rather than a scaffolding for cobbling together web pages. The one thing it does skimp on is relative div positioning, and the blog chapter is a bit weak. That's why I am moving on to Rachel Andrew's HTML Utopia.

[Shaphron]

Very useful primer for learning the basics of XHTML and CSS, and it points you in the right direction on where to go next. You don't learn any bad habbits, as the title says - you learn the "Right Way". The only detriment is that it doesn't go very far with the subnject matter - but then, it is a broad subject, and it is written for beginners (and those who want to make sure they have a solid foundation).

[Trish]

This was very, very useful in basics for building a website. I'm not saying that this is the only book one would need--in fact, I would suggest reading several others to see what you're missing. I learned useful things from other books, but realized that without the background given in this book, I would have been lost, or struggling. Good job, great background, thanks to the author, and the editors.

[David Hinckley]

This was a really great introduction to building websites using good code. It doesn't go into incredible depth into anything specifically, but gives a good foundation into how to do a lot of useful things, then points to additional resources to learn more in-depth. I came out of the book with much more confidence building sites and a good idea of the next steps I needed to take.

[Mindi]

I really liked this book because it gave me a really good foundation of HTML and using CSS as well. It didn't go too far in depth in any one particular area... so I can tell I will need to get other books to target specific topics.

[Kristi]

I know this is important so I'm trying to have a good attitude. It's the most informative of the 4 I checked out...
For a how to book that covers a subject I've resisted for years, it's pretty darn good. Almost done... then I'll read it again and apply as I go.

[Nathalie]

This is a good book if you want to learn HTML and CSS. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. It did help that I first spent an afternoon reading about the rudimentals of HTML and CSS on such websites as htmldog.com

[Erik]

Really great resource for building a web site for any noobs to web design. Used it to learn CSS while working on my own web site overhaul. It also improved my html and helped me to build a site the can be easily redesigned in the future rather than requiring a complete recoding.

[Andrew Fearn]

This book is a good introduction into creating web sites and I believe I could create a decent looking web site based on the information just in the book.

It may possibly try to cover too many topics, and possibly could have spent more time just covering html 5 and css.

[David Cross]

Not a bad book, I suppose. But I *so* wasn't part of the target audience. If you know next to nothing about building web pages then this could be a good start. If you want to update your existing knowledge, then you should look elsewhere.

[Leo Polovets]

Okay for novices, poor of everyone else. Has some random sections, like integrating Blogger with your site (who cares? what does this have to do with HTML and CSS?)

[Heather]

I wouldn't recommend this book as a reference, but definitely a good book for newbies - provides clear information explained in a way that makes it easy for everyone to understand.

[Jessica]

I didn't like this book very much at all. It has some good information that I was excited to learn, but it is now obsolete since blogspot discontinue their FTP service.

[Kimberly]

Nice examples to get a feel for web coding, but only a beginner book. Feels like a very basic self-taught course.

[Hazel]

Great for beginners like myself.

[Ferenc]

Simple explanations for people with no or little computing background, it will probably bore more experienced computer users and programmers. Covers essential xhtml and css.

[Adam]

Not really the information I was hoping to get out of this book, but probably is a good resource for true beginners to web development.

[Bhavya]

Great book for beginners! It is very interactive, easy to follow and fun to read.

[Lauren]

This book was really helpful for creating my website for my IT coursework.

[Dave Visaya]

essential book for web developing

[Francesca Tessari]

Ottimo manuale per chi vuole cominciare a studiare html e css. Spiegazioni semplici ed esempi concreti, ma mi �� dispiaciuto che le jquery fossero appena accennate.

[Mikhail GEYER]

My first book on HTML/CSS. Not the best.

[Eric]

This book provides a general picture of website building. As a book for guiding people to more advanced web building knowledge, it serves it's purpose well.

[Sarah]

Built my first website using this book - fantastic company!