I find the book very interesting and will come in handy when I start to build my web site. I feel the book is very useful and easy to read. Thank you for selling such a book. Thank you.

This is the perfect book to start with - very clear instructions and explanations, the layout with the examples in the middle is very helpful and the book is written in a conversational and very readable manner.
Great book for a beginner or to reference the basics.

I'm a reasonably computer savvy person. However, I've been wanting to develop more marketable skills in design... so, recently I've started taking classes in FLASH, ILLUSTRATOR, etc. Then I was told that it would be very beneficial for me to learn HTML and CSS, so, after reading many reviews on Amazon, I bought this book. In a matter of hours, I was designing an XHTML website for myself. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book to entry-level web designers. It is extremely well written and clear. It gives some good foundational background for web design, the differences and purposes of HTML, XHTML, and CSS, and it's a great resource for all aspects of designing web pages! If you want to break into web design, BUY THIS BOOK!

Ok, I must admit I haven't even cracked this book. I am relying on everyone else's reviews that say that it is easy to follow this book. I am not a computer junkie, although I'm not terrible with basic commands on the computer, and I'm not a complete dummy. But boy do I feel like one sometimes, and I'm hoping that when I get a chance, I will learn to do HTML finally. I'd like to create a webpage in the future that will help in future career/hobby endeavours. I'm sure this book will help me out, if it's as good as everybody says it is.

I am relatively new to coding and this book was just what I needed to get going!! Several of the topics are somewhat beyond me at this time, so I think it would be helpful to non-beginners too! Well written, easy to understand with great examples!

You will use this book as a constant reference. The Appendices alone are worth the purchase price, making Elizabeth Castro's straight-forward, practical lessons complete bonus. A great book for coding upstarts as well as seasoned pros looking for a day-to-day reference.

This is an excellent, step by step guide for anyone learning HTML! I use it all the time, great index and easy to follow language. Highly recommend.

I have been a fan of peachpit press for years, and this book has a lot going for it. As a beginner, I was quickly able to establish a foundation that I am building on. I strongly recommend this book to anyone BEFORE they buy a Dreamweaver book. In other words, get comfortable with handcoding html and css before you even think about dreamweaver. There are also excellent sections on organizing a website, attracting visitors, etc.

WARNING: The binding has fallen apart on my book making it a hassle to use. This is an issue that is evidently common with peachpit books. I am in touch with the publisher to get another, and hopefully they will come through.

I'm sure that Ms. Castro had the best of intentions when she wrote this book, however, she apparently wrote it from the point of view of a person already experienced in HTML and XHTML and CSS. I get the sense that some of the important instructions have been left out.

Ok... this book is the last thing I would've bought if I had just browsed around the web (that's the I-already-know-everything talking).

My roomate bought it and the second I started turning the pages I actually told my students to get a copy for class. I got one for myself and even though I have 8 flaming years of experience in web design (note the sarcasm please) I really found every single bit of information extremely valuable.

Elizabeth restructured the way I work in the web and the I-already-know-everything guy recieved his lesson as in the old days.

Simply get a copy. I can't say much more.

I'm just starting to learn HTML and find this book to be helpful. This book was recommended by my professor as well.

This book arrived quick and in new condition. It has been a real help for my class at school this semester (and WAY less expensive than if I had bought it at the school bookstore)...Thanks!

Very good book. Offers very detailed examples which you can write and will work as described. Its divided in sections so you know what to look for. Very great examples which is good for beginners which I am and it seems relatively easy. Would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learnign HTML, XHTML and CSS.

This book was "recommended" for a class I was taking at the local JC called web page tips and tricks. It has a few interesting ideas however it condones using deprecated tags such as blockquote, , b, i, and the like. After doing a lot of XHTML and CSS, this is a backward step and I don't know why it was even recommended for the class as it is really rather out of date.

This is the class text for my Intro to Web Design at the University of Louisville and it's really a good tool to have when trying to learn the basics of building websites. I use it as a reference between class meetings when I get stuck on a topic. Very easy to understand and pretty straight forward. The language of web design was like Greek to me and this book is helping me understand things a little better.
I would recommend it.

Elizabeth Castro is an excellent technical writer. HTML for the World Wide Web is easy to read and easy to understand. Anyone who is a beginner to HTML should have this book in their library and/or on their desk for quick and concise learning and reference.

Great reference guide, if you are just beginning it can be confusing but perfect for reference as you learn.

It is very disappointing and discouraging that since 14th December 2007, that I bought this book and paid for it including posting charges I have not seen the book. The enthusiasm and trust with which I ordered and paid for this book has vanished into the thin air; the program I'm doing that necessitated that book is coming to an end soon, AMAZON! AMAZON!! AMAZON!!! BUT WHY?

I use this book in school. We just started, but seams promising. Preety detailed. As a beginner, only bad thing I have to say is mix of html, xhtml and scc. Maybe will be easier if all of them are separated(html and xhtml) and after that scc. Anyway, positve review.

I use this book in school. We just started, but seams promising. Preety detailed. As a beginner, only bad thing I have to say is mix of html, xhtml and scc. Maybe will be easier if all of them are separated(html and xhtml) and after that scc. Anyway, positve review.

It's hard to believe such a thin book could be so valuable. They only say it once and they say it well. The book is richly cross-referenced and well indexed, so wherever you are, you can page to the right spot for more if you need it. For me, this is the perfect design. I never read a software book front to back. I scan through it to find that one nugget that will get me going again. I'm always learning stuff "that I really don't have time to learn."

Ms. Castro has written this book especially for that style of use. The writing is concise and you can find your way to the topic you need. The examples are very very good and the author has put special care into how well they commmunicate. My favorite is Llumi the cat, who's picture becomes a tiger ("what Llumi is thinking") when you mouseover the photo. Very memorable.

I recieved this book about 3 years ago, not knowing anything about html, and I still use it today. I started out wanting to add a couple things to a web page another program made, now I'm thinking about a whole app. interface. In fact I just realized, I've finally read the whole thing, one bit at a time. Yes, you can read it chapter by chapter and it flows well. But if you're like me, you'll love the way you can find the relevant part, learn what you need to and move on.

Overall, this book is good for beginners and is a good basic reference. It sticks tightly to it's subject, so it doesn't teach Javascript or CGI, other than to explain where they fit in. It makes great use of your time because of the clear concise writing, excellent examples, experience of the author, and rich cross-referencing throughout the book.

I'm now in a spot where "I don't have time to learn" ... CGI. So I'm visiting Amazon looking for a CGI book by Elizabeth Castro based on my experience with this book.

It staggers me that this book has received high ratings from so many people. Good luck if you're a beginner trying to learn HTML and CSS from this book. Before you even see so much as one HTML tag, the author leaps in to talking about the W3C, cross browser issues, HTML extensions, the web standards project, CSS workarounds, XML, markup languages, is XHTML dangerous, the difference between serving a page as XML or XHTML, text content, the identical properties of XHTML and HTML (just in case you're wondering, no, we still haven't seen a working example of a HTML tag yet, and we are now on page 27), elements, attributes, values, elements containing other elements, empty elements, tags, hex colors...

OK! Now we have seen our first few tags. But oops.. rather than receiving a proper introduction, the tags shown are merely displayed in side columns, to assist in making points about "attribute pair values" and layout.

And so on we go hearing about Uniform Resource Locators, block vs inline, parents and children (still no proper introduction to our first tag), plug ins, helper applications, file names, absolute and relative urls, web accessibility... and on to page 40 which gives theory about DOCTYPES, standards and quirks mode.. now here's some theory about building web pages for an intended audience, saving web pages, creating default pages, editing and organisng files (page 52, still haven't seen our first tag), how to get web design inspiration, more on DOCTYPEs, character encoding, the HTML and HEAD tags.. what's this?! Oh my gosh! Page 58 and finally the HTML tags start getting introduced!

I'm sorry, but this is garbage. If I don't have a solid, working understanding of HTML (which I don't, hence why I bought this so called guide to "learn" XHTML and CSS), then there is NO WAY I am going to have the *FAINTEST CLUE* what the author is talking about in those first 58 pages. NONE.

Here is something along the lines of what I was hoping to see, perhaps no later than about page 3:

Type this in to your text editor, and save it as myfirstpage.html:

Hey! This is my first web page!

Now view it in your web browser. Now put some

tags around it (explain what a tag is, and what h1 means), now save again, and view in your web browser. See how the text has now become more enlarged and prominent? That's because the web browser can see the

tags around your text, so is now displaying your text as a heading.

THAT is how you introduce someone to HTML.

In summary:

If you're a beginner, stay as far away as you possibly can from this book. It will probably turn you off trying to learn HTML and CSS.

For the intermediates, the best this book will do is act as an occasional reference for ideas you already have some knowledge of. It is only for this reason that the book was saved from receiving a 1 star rating from me.

Although not every page of material is useful for me, it is a good and easy book to learn html. Author also has her own opinion from time to time. CSS is popular and the mainstream, yet traditional style tags are still useful.
Also, I won't buy it if it isn't a good book which got tons of good reviews already, so don't need to say more.
One thing I am not aware of before is, for the input data, we will need php to process the data, which is another big topic. I am quite disappointed at this, since I do want to play with input data on site.

This text is well written and very helpful. The problem with it is that I had difficulty seeing the type. I would be better for me if the type was a dark black.

This is a great book, highly resourceful and useful to have around. I didn't read it cover-to-cover (but plan to eventually) but it's a good read and a great introduction. It's written to be quick and easy to pickup with lots of sidebars of extra information which is much appreciated.

I purchased this book I believe about two years ago when I decided that I wanted to learn about web design. I had good previous experiences with Peachpit Press in particular their Visual Quickstart books so I naturally looked for an HTML book from this series. Fast forward till now and I've been able to create a few interesting web pages from what I've learned and certainly HTML For the World Wide Web was certainly a good start. My impression of Ms. Castro is that she is one of those rare people who are not only good at their subject matter but also very competent in effectively teaching it to people from different levels of experience.

Please note though that as I said its a good book for beginners but you'll quickly outgrow it once you get a feel for the basics. I recommend that you purchase, "CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions" within three months from when you begin reading this book. My analogy of these two books are this: Ms. Castro's book is a course in using all of the tools in the carpentry shop and doing small projects. The CSS Mastery book is like then taking an apprenticeship under a master carpenter to build some really nice things with the basic skills that you previously acquired.

My NEW book fell apart! I was studying it flat on the table, and it split right down the binding, top to bottom. Now the pages are falling out! Arggghhhhhhh.
This is the BEST book I've seen on XHTML & CSS. I refer to constantly (and carefully), while studying another class-required "dummies" textbook (that drives me up the freaking wall). I can't think of one instance where I've not found exactly what I needed to know, within seconds. I'm very happy with the content of the book! The binding sucks! I tried to email Peachpit to let them know, but they don't have any contact info on their page. :o(

This book was a helpful tool in a class I was taking on-line. In fact, it was the designated textbook for the class. I am not sure it is the best book for total beginners like me in some cases. Having said that, however, I was able to follow the instructions in the book on certain subjects and get a web page up and running. I feel sure I will refer to this book for years to come for assistance.

If you want to teach yourself & get up to speed quickly, this is the book to get. It is clear, easy to read, and has alot of step-by-step illustrations with both the code and the output side-by-side. The format and the illustrations really make this the easiest book from which to learn.

The book is very useful for those beginning their webpages. The end of the book contains a very useful list with all the tags in HTML and CSS described during the book. Excellent book in my opinion for beginners.

the book describes very clear in html and CSS,
it is good for beginner who want to learn web design.

The sixth edition has continued to live up to its name. It is indeed a 'Visual Quickstart Guide.' Unlike other books, it presents clear and concise instructions, and no lengthy text. Everything is delivered in point forms. Useful tips are sprinkled over the text here and there as well.

It can also serve as a quick reference tool that is easy to look up to. The appendices consists of the following: some commonly used (X)HTML elements and attributes, CSS properties and values, and some javascipt events. It is definitely worth it to own a copy of it.

It is a beginner's book and it offers more than enough to get you a decent layout for your web pages. Ideal for any novice designer to wants get productive fast.

This updated edition is welcomed as it was written with standards in mind. Very well done.

The binding on this book is horrible. Most of the pages in my copy have come out of the binding!

Anyone who picks up this book will be extremely pleased! This introduction to xhtml/css by Castro delivers concise and clear step by step instructions on how to make webpages work. She also has a cool color chart on the back that you can check out for style sheets and the book is in color for easier reading!

Liz Castro makes it as easy as it can be to learn how to code and control your own web site. You don't need expensive WYSIWYG design applications. In fact, you probably own text editors that will do the job nicely. Purchasing this book in tandem with "Creating a Web Page with HTML" by Liz Castro will have you up and running in, literally, a few hours.

Very good book. A little heavy on the deprecated tags good intro material for JavaScript and CSS.

The book is obviously for beginners and does have a lot of information that can be useful. The author uses a contradictory style of presentation in the book - easy to read with visual examples; however nearly every page I read had references to other pages in the book. This is a real nightmare having to flip all around the book and try to stay with the flow of learning.

Because the author's "style" is to write on half the page and show examples on the other half - each page has half the content. Yet, in that reduced page content there are many references to other parts of the book. As only one example, look at page 105.

On this page you'll find references to page 151, page 69, page 114, pages 106-107, page 108, page 112 and page 113. Again, this is only one page and example because nearly every page is filled with these types of references that make the "Yellow Pages" look tame.

I got through the first six chapters and couldn't deal with it any longer. In those 118 pages that I went through, there had to be several hundred (if not 1000+) references to other pages. Considering there are 436 pages in the book (not counting the index) I didn't feel it worth my time or effort to continue.

Working in the IT industry for more than 25 years, I can only thank my lucky stars that the author was never a part of our planning committees or programming departments. Flow charts, logic, etc would have been all over the place with connectors out of control.....and then try to get staff to follow/understand that flow. Yeah, right!!!

I gave the book to a co-worker with cautionary remarks about how difficult it might be to follow along. I'll give my co-worker credit - she got nearly 200 pages into the book before giving up on it for the same reasons I did.

Continuity!
Fluidity!

You won't find it in this book!
So if you're willing to put up with paging through the book that often, and you can keep track of the "train of thought", then more power to you. There are other books available and they have got to be presented better than this one.....I continue to search Amazon for such a book and will order immediately!

The book is obviously for beginners and does have a lot of information that can be useful. The author uses a contradictory style of presentation in the book - easy to read with visual examples; however nearly every page I read had references to other pages in the book. This is a real nightmare having to flip all around the book and try to stay with the flow of learning.

Because the author's "style" is to write on half the page and show examples on the other half - each page has half the content. Yet, in that reduced page content there are many references to other parts of the book. As only one example, look at page 105.

On this page you'll find references to page 151, page 69, page 114, pages 106-107, page 108, page 112 and page 113. Again, this is only one page and example because nearly every page is filled with these types of references that make the "Yellow Pages" look tame.

I got through the first six chapters and couldn't deal with it any longer. In those 118 pages that I went through, there had to be several hundred (if not 1000+) references to other pages. Considering there are 436 pages in the book (not counting the index) I didn't feel it worth my time or effort to continue.

Working in the IT industry for more than 25 years, I can only thank my lucky stars that the author was never a part of our planning committees or programming departments. Flow charts, logic, etc would have been all over the place with connectors out of control.....and then try to get staff to follow/understand that flow. Yeah, right!!!

I gave the book to a co-worker with cautionary remarks about how difficult it might be to follow along. I'll give my co-worker credit - she got nearly 200 pages into the book before giving up on it for the same reasons I did.

Continuity!
Fluidity!

You won't find it in this book!
So if you're willing to put up with paging through the book that often, and you can keep track of the "train of thought", then more power to you. There are other books available and they have got to be presented better than this one.....I continue to search Amazon for such a book and will order immediately!

The author "breaks-down" what (x)html is and what it isn't--in a manner that an absolute beginner would appreciate and for those that was poorly introduced to it (you know some, but it's sloppy) this book is for you.

From what I have read so far, I have enjoyed learning xhtml and css. I have bought many books on html and css and this book is the first book you should read before taking on deeper web-related languages.

You will get your money's worth, especially when the author says that you need to add a space after... most would assume that the reader will really scrutinize but Castro doesn't; what a joy it is to have a complete and thoughtful facilitator.

*Clear, concise writing, easy to understand
*A wide host of common subjects(RSS, video, scripts) covered to get you going on any site
*Nice graphics to help with understanding concepts
*A must have

The book is an excellent guide. It is written so that anyone can understand it. Unusual for technical writing because it is humorous,also.
The only problem I have with the product is that after only using it three times, the book fell apart (not because of any misuse or mishandling). I have to get it rebound.

Being a professional web designer you can never know too much and theres always new information that you have to learn because website standards and techniques change almost overnight. What use to work yesterday will no longer work today. But being a professional designer, you don't have time to read through tons of useless and boring information. You need clear and concise imformation that gets to the point and explains in detail without getting too complicated to get the job done.

I bought the original 5th edition when it came out and I learned so much from it. [...]

That's why when the 6th edition came out I couldn't wait to buy it. The 6th edition is in full color and has even more imformation, which is surprising because I didn't think that anything could get better then the 5th edition, but I was sure surprised.

If you want to learn some very valuable skills that will eventually make you money, BUY THIS BOOK!
[...]

This book couldn't describe anymore clearer on how html code is written and used. I have dreamweaver 8 and done a few websites but with this book I saw how sloppy my code was and now I'm able to improve dramatically with all the work I'm doing now. This book is a must have if your a beginner to html

As a man of 70 years with no clue as to how to create a web page, I purchased this book along with its primer, "Creating a Web Page with HTML" by the same author, and in no time I was able to structure a web page for an architect friend of mine which received rave reviews. Castro's ability to walk you through the process of the protocols with ease made the project a cakewalk. I had previously purchased Dreamweaver thinking it would be easier to not have to learn the html language. However, I got frustrated with the software which is what precipitated my going out to try to find a simple, easy but complete book on how to build a site. After building my first website, I now feel quite comfortable with the html language and with the ability to create more sites.

This is a great reference book written in a clear and concise manner. The author has an excellent grasp on subject and a very user friendly writing style. The book teaches you a very solid fundamentals on XHTML/CSS and prepares you for the next level, advanced web based development. Each topic is backed with appropriate example for better understanding. Back in 1996, while pursuing my master in an electrical engineering major, I learned very basic html code by taking an optional class in computer science department. But then I got into a job and spent last 10 years working on writing code in c/c++ for embedded controls as a Software Engineer. Recently then I took a class on basic web site development at a local community college (MATC Madison, WI). Even though this book was not a text book, I ended up using this book mostly throught the length of class and it helped immensely over the official text book.

I used an earlier edition of this book to learn HTML at a vo-tech school years ago and have been getting each new edition as it comes out. The author has really kept up with the times and I couldn't do without it.

If you want to learn to create web sites, I can't think of a better book. When you first see HTML and CSS they look pretty arcane and scary. Ms. Castro quickly makes you comfortable with the task you are about to undertake. (Well, OK, she does use a considerable amount of space in her Introduction concerning the "Browser Wars" and the various reactions to the new standards that are trying to be imposed on the browser makers. You'll probably do well to skip this initially, and get back to it when you're more knowledgeable about HTML and CSS.)

The format is very useful. The book is written in two column: her explanations are in the outside columns, and very clear examples are in the inside columns.

The first two chapters are necessary for the beginner, but might be the among the more difficult. You'll need to learn about how text editors work, what URLs mean, etc. Once your done with this, you get on with learning to create webpages, and things pick up very nicely.

The more experienced developer will likely refer back to this book to refresh himself on the myriad ways CSS can be used to display an layout webpages.

I'd give this book a fifth star if some of the last chapters on Podcasting, etc. were removed, and additional information on Javascript, and perhaps PHP were included.

Sure, maybe this book was helpful a few years ago, but now it's too out-dated and doesn't cover enough topics. I can't speak for the more updated version of this text, but I'd advise getting a book from sitepoint (like the CSS Anthology) instead.

This was my first intro book to HTML and CSS. The writing by Elizabeth Castro is actually very clear and pleasant to read, but the style of writing is not conducive to learning the material in my opinion. Every page is like this: a brief intro paragraph at the top, then a list of steps for writing the HTML laid out in nauseating detail, then another list of "tips" that didn't fit anywhere else. The steps for writing the HTML are so wordy, it destroys your train of thought and makes me want to put the book away for another day. For example, and this is just a small example among countless others, she feels the need to write this, and I quote:

7. To add the final parentheses, type ")".

That's nothing. Unnecessary details and wordiness like this abound in this book. It is definitely clear enough, but it borders on sounding like it's written for the mentally challenged at times. Personally I would prefer well written paragraphs integrating any info from the "tips" sections, and to do away with the verbose steps, which probably take up half of the book's content.

To make matters worse, the format of the book, like all the Peachpit Quickstart books, breaks the page into two columns, one for text and the other for pictures. This is just poor typography in my opinion, with an average of 6-7 words / line, and it makes actually trying to read what is written very irritating, and it will try your patience. Maybe it's just me, but I really don't like the format of this book at all.

Now, for the actual content of the book. It advocates some things I find questionable in this day and age. For example, in the chapter on Tables, it actually advocates that you use tables for the structure of your website, and CSS for everything else, suggesting that this would be easier than jumping fully into CSS right off the bat. Tables are NOT easier to use than CSS, first of all. Personally, and I think most people would agree with me, tables are not the way to go at all for website structure these days. Yet she uses most of the chapter on tables to explain how to use them for exactly this purpose. Granted I'm sure this is just carried over from older editions of the book when CSS had not taken root yet. But for a 2007 edition book to continue down this path is just bad advice. This is but one example of several where the book advocates using outdated techniques in making websites.

As this book gave me my first formal intro to CSS, I think it actually does a disservice to those wishing to learn to use CSS effectively. It explains the basics such as selectors, properties, and values (although that takes only a page or two to cover). And it tells you how classes and ID's work at a basic level, which is simple. But it doesn't do nearly enough to show you how to write neat and concise markup, so that you don't find yourself adding extra div's, classes, and even style attributes in your markup.

HTML is incredibly simple, but this book treats writing it like a difficult proposition. How many times do you have to be told how to type an element and close it properly? Do we have to constantly be reminded that attributes should be in lower-case and be enclosed in quotations? An HTML book should serve as a reference of HTML elements and common attributes. But many CSS books already include that stuff!

So, what I'm saying is, if you want to learn CSS, just skip this book and get Simon Collison's "Beginning CSS Web Development: From Novice to Professional", an excellent intro to CSS, which I think includes enough HTML that you probably don't even need to get an HTML book. It will tell you everything you need to know about creating a great looking website that is easy to style using concise markup and CSS. That's my opinion. If you feel you need more grounding on some basic concepts of HTML, you can probably find what you're looking for on the web and save yourself the cost of this book.

I'm still giving this book a 3 out of 5 though, because I think it's well-written and does contain a lot of useful, factual information, and it can serve as a good reference. It's just not the best way to go if you really want to learn how to make great websites. If you get it, read the first six chapters, and bits and pieces of some of the others, and then go get a good CSS book!

I chose several books on (x)html and css off the bookshelf, and this is the one I took home. Liz has a great writing style, and the visuals are extremely helpful. Lingo is not introduced without description, therefore you're never left scratching your head wondering what a term meant. There is a companion site where you can view the html and css from the book or download a .zip of the examples from each chapter. This book has made learning html and css alot easier for me. I am already pleased with the results I'm getting, and will probably get the VQS books on PHP and JavaScript!
Steve.