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Book:   HTML Pocket Reference
Subject:   HTML Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition Review
Date:   2003-07-15 10:44:43
From:   Wortwart
Rating:  StarStarStarStarStar

Very sad and hard to understand that even the second edition is spiked with errors. One needn't to be a genius to put together all available documents from W3C and make a book of it, so the errors only weigh more. At least, the German edition ("HTML kurz & gut") has corrected the worst errata.


What I liked about the book were the document examples in the beginning. The %coreattrs, %events and %i18n attributes should be easier to find (they are not listed in the TOC). I think, required attributes should be listed before optional ones.


What is missing (as some readers also remarked in the errata list):


- color names


- some words about other character tables


- some words about http-equiv


- ... and about the use of other attributes like <area>-coordinates. A sentence like "The syntax depends on the form" is poor.


But still, as I don't know a better book of this kind, I do not regret having bought it. It's handy and useful, in spite of the errors. But maybe O'Reilly should think about withdrawing it and reworking it before damaging their reputation.