Creating a Web Page with HTML: Visual Quickproject Guide

I have been messing around for a year(!) trying various WYSIWYG software to create the simple website that I wanted. The software was much harder to master than was HTML as Elizabeth Castro explains it. I first did the projects in this book, then with the help of her HTML, XHTML & CSS book, I have finally been able to make the site I've had in my head for so long. If you are using a PC, I have one suggestion--use Notepad instead of Word to create your web pages, because it's harder to mess up on Notepad. Three cheers for Elizabeth!

This book is definitely for beginners, but then that's the whole point. The author starts out with the very basics showing you how to design a web page, telling you how you're going to do it and then taking you through all the steps one-by-one. There's a brief introduction to html and using css and then she jumps right in getting you to create a web page. There's lots of illustrations, and the html text and the css text are color coded so you know exactly where the author is at when giving instructions. It's a short book, only about 125 pages, but packed full of useful tips that only we *newbies* to web design can truly appreciate. At the end of the book is information on hosting, transfering files to the server and just some basics on getting started. The book only has you format two pages, but explains how to tweak this and tweak that using css. They're good, solid pages that just might survive the wrath of most browsers. You should have enough info to format more pages if you need them. I used my own images and have to admit that my pages looked just as good as the ones in the book. There is a somewhat lengthy section on formatting photos with Photoshop which I couldn't use as I don't have Photoshop, but the information clearly comes across that you do need to rework those photos to avoid lengthy download times. This would be a good beginner guide for someone wanting to put together some pages on their family, kid's softball team, vacation pixs, a short sight-seeing excursion, etc. Again, this is definitely for beginniners and remember that it doesn't begin to cover all aspects of html, css or page design, but it gives you the opportunity to turn something out that looks nice without getting too bogged down. I'm glad I bought the book as it certainly accomplishes what it set out to do. Besides, where else can you get an afternoon of creativity, have something to show for it and only spend $10.00?

If you want a book that can show you how to create a simple HTML website quickly and without the distraction of long explanations of HTML code, this is a good book for you. The author, Elizabeth Castro, walks you step-by-step through the two webpage project that is the focus of her book. By using easy to follow instructions and illustrations, Castro gives you the basic knowledge you need to create this simple website. So what exactly will this book help you accomplish? You will make two HTML webpages and accompanying Cascading Style Sheets (standard for formatting webpages). This two page website will have a home page and one inner page. From just these two webpages you can go on to create an entire website by creating any number of inner pages. Castro begins by telling you what you will need to complete the project and then she jumps right in with the bare bones HTML webpage. She then starts to add the images and text that are the main focus of the book. She first shows you how to add a simple image to the webpage and how to make a navigation bar from a few small images. She then shows how to use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to position this navigation bar on the webpage and control the appearance of the navigation links. Castro then moves on to demonstrate CSS more thoroughly. She starts with formatting and positioning text on a webpage. She then shows how to divide a webpage into sections and how to control the position and appearance of each section with the CSS. Once you have completed your two webpages, you are ready to publish to the web. Castro discusses hosting your site and FTP software for transferring your webpage onto the web. Castro has included some useful charts at the end of the book which contain the HTML and CSS code used in the project, HTML color and special character codes. You can find more helpful information and download the project files and images used in this book from the accompanying website, cookwood.com. Castro has also written many of the Visual QuickStart Guide books for Peachpit Press.

I'm already a fan of Elizabth's Castro's books, but I got this one to give to a friend who needed a quick start, and I have to say it's truly wonderful. A very good source of the basics in a very straightforward presentation, and the design is gorgeous as well. More than worth the money.

One of my biggest problems with computer books is that they have a difficult time getting you started. It seems like they skip the first twenty or fifty pages that should describe just what it is that you're trying to do here. This book is different. It starts out with let's build these two web pages. First you create a folder, then you type in a few characters into what you'll save as a file. You know, that headline would look a lot more like a headline if it were bigger, here's how you do a heading. No, it's not going to teach you everything about HTML. But it provides the initial getting started phase. Good Idea!