Beginning HTML with CSS and XHTML: Modern Guide and Reference

In 1999, I bought a book about the web. This brave and still relatively new world had
caught my interest, and the pocket-sized Rough Guide to the Internet featured four or so
pages of rudimentary HTML. After about three hours I had built a web page and linked to
another one. This first web page looked awful, but I was excited. Later that day I somehow
managed to upload it to a domain, and I realized I had created a website—an actual website.
So naïve was I back then that I assumed I’d need to leave my home computer on in
order for other web users to see my pages! How amazed I was at work the next day when I
successfully called my little website up in front of the boss.
So, I decided to buy another book, called Learn HTML in a Weekend. It was a very long
weekend. This and other preliminary books taught me a lot, but much of it badly; my code was
littered with font tags, frames, and tables for layout. CSS had not really taken hold back then.
In the beginning, we used HTML to do all the hard work because we didn’t know any
better. This difficult, limiting, and weighty approach to building websites was born out of
HTML’s generosity, it being a rich language with early specifications offering rather too
much scope for abuse. I can accept that now, but I’m unsure why so many recent books
still preoccupy the reader with ill-advised and outdated techniques that can be achieved
much better and more easily with web standards.
I care about how people learn to build websites, and I know it can be impenetrable for
beginners. Equally, I worry that many professionals are still ripping off clients with shoddy
workmanship. This is why I’m so happy to introduce this book. David Schultz and Craig Cook
understand that building websites is a craft, and with Beginning HTML with CSS and
XHTML: Modern Guide and Reference they bring you years of experience condensed into
an enjoyable, carefully structured reference focused on responsible, powerful HTML,
CSS, XHTML and even JavaScript—the perfect introductory package.
You’ll find a wealth of practical examples that you can actually use. As a stickler for
top-notch code, I’m especially impressed that everything within validates as HTML Strict
(which you’ll learn more about soon) and that David and Craig have ensured all methods
work cross-browser and will stand up to whatever twists and turns the Internet takes next.
You are embarking upon a great adventure, but you have in your hands the best possible
map and two expert guides to hold your hand. Soon you’ll reach your destination and will
be waxing lyrical to anyone who’ll listen about your grasp of web standards, wondering
why the old boys still work with their outdated methods. Mighty explorers, this book will
tell you all you need to know.