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Book:   HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide
Subject:   Excellent text for teaching HTML
Date:   2007-02-01 09:06:46
From:   Pam Kerensky, Berklee College of Music
Rating:  StarStarStarStarStar

I used O'Reilly books for years professionally, but have also found this particular text wonderful to use for my beginning web design course. I have been using it since the 4th edition. It gives a good introduction to the history behind the language, standards, etc. and gives the students a useful reference to use above and beyond the course requirements. Many books I reviewed were either too focused on CSS or XHTML in the very beginning, which I have found is difficult for beginners, or were strictly project focused, which meant only really showing one way of doing things. This text allows me to focus on the basics, yet also offers the opportunity to go back and look at other options as we advance. Students may find it a bit dry in the beginning, but once they begin to use it, they find it invaluable and tell me that they continue to use the book even after the course has ended, while the "hands-on project" books sit on the shelf! The pull-out reference in the back is very also very handy.

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"The book is approachable, thorough, and can be useful well beyond learning the meat of HTML and XHTML. "
--Taran Rampersad, KnowProSE.com