Larry Aronson, an information systems design and development consultant, brings the basics of good HTML (HyperText Markup Language) to his readers in a clear, concise, easy-to-follow style that doesn't leave you snoozing with your nose wedged in the binding.
Throughout the book, Aronson, a self-described "devoted Internet explorer," uses a combination of screen shots, source code and easy- listening narrative to propel his readers through the intricacies of creating dynamic HTML documents.
The book is divided into four chapters. The first gives readers a plain English overview of HTML and Hypermedia and a working sense of what they are all about. In a matter of few sentences, Aronson manages to disrobe Web documents of their mystique and get down to the basics.
The second chapter explains structure and syntax, covering the various elements of HTML. Again, there is generous use of screen images, source code and narrative. Chapter three carries readers into the differentiation between correct and incorrect, and chapter four is devoted entirely to home page images and the source code that created them. Essentially, Aronson is doing what any good teacher would do. He is leading you through the first steps and then gradually weaning you off the narrative, eventually leaving you in solo exploration of the cause and effect of source code and page design.
The HTML Manual of Style appendices provide readers with a quick reference guide to coding and tags as well as the keyboard character sets to use for graphic character representation. Also included are some of the Netscape HTML extensions. And, way back in Appendix C, is a directory of developer resources that can be found out on the Web.
Overall, HTML Manual of Style is a nice reference manual that gives the average user enough information to produce solid HTML documents. It may not be as up-to-date as the HTML style guides you can download from the Web, but the basics never change.
WEBster says: RUN don't walk to your nearest book store, and buy your copy today.
On 14 Feb 1995 02:13:33 GMT, Michael Crestohl <mc@shore.net> said:
This book is essential if you want to master the Hypertext Markup Language known more familiarly as HTML. What is HTML you may ask? Its an easy-to- use language that is used by anyone who wants to make information available to Internet users through a World Wide Web "Home Page".
The book is primarily for those who are already exploring the Web with programs such as Lynx and "browsers" like Mosaic and I feel safe in stating that it is not for "newbies". But it will give the advanced user a clear and concise reference to the HTML language, its syntax, formatting tags, links and input forms. In addition, author Aronson gives us tips on writing HTML documents from scratch, how links work and how to convert existing documents to HTML. Also, there are several HTML examples, a HTML quick reference section, some information on HTML+ (versions beyond the Level 2 specification) and Netscape extentions to HTML.
Finally, there are many Net resources and "where to get" listings to HTML guides and references, Web browser programs (for free!!) and HTML conversion tools. Its all packed into 132 pages. This is a very useful and informative reference work for any serious Net user!
HTML Manual of Style by Larry Aronson,
Ziff-Davis Press, Emeryville California, 1994. ISBN: 1-56276-300-8, 132 pp.
keywords: Internet, World Wide Web, HTML, Mosaic browser, Home Page.
(C) 1995 Michael Crestohl Nahant Massachusetts USA mc@shore.net
DISCLAIMER: I have no interest, financial or otherwise, in the success or failure of the book or materials reviewed herewith, nor have I received any compensation (other than a review copy requested by me) from anyone who has. All opinions expressed are strictly my own.
Other Internet and Aviation book/software reviews by me can be obtained by anonymous FTP from: ftp.oulu.fi in the /pub/books/crestohl directory.
This book presents a clear, concise introduction to how to write effective HTML documents. I took about 3-1/2 hours to read it closely, cover-to-cover, and when I got done I could write HTML fluently. I've never seen a better introduction to a language.
It starts by explaining the basic concepts, then provides a well-organized tour of the facilities available. This is followed with some good examples, with helpful stylistic commentary, then reference appendices. It describes the essential features found in HTML Version 2, describes the differences between that and version 1, discusses HTML+, and also describes some vendor-specific extensions.
Unlike many books out there, this one isn't burdened with hundreds of pages of elementary material. If you already understand programming and document preparation, this book can get you up to speed in HTML in no time. Highly Recommended!
L. Aronson,
Ziff-Davis Press, Emeryville, CA,
ISBN: 1-56276-300-8,
132 pp, paperback,
US$19.95
The Internet and World-Wide Web (WWW) have now become valuable learning, teaching and training resources. Consequently, over the last few years books on these topics have become very popular. Essentially, these deal with three basic issues: the underlying theoretical and technical matters relating to using distributed networks; accessing Internet and WWW services; and web publishing. An important aspect of publishing material on the World-Wide Web is the use of an appropriate markup language so that search engines and web browsers (such as Lynx, Cello, Mosaic and Netscape) can access the information and interpret it in the correct way. The markup language used on World-Wide Web is HTML (an acronym for HyperText Markup Language) - which, through the use of an appropriate DTD (Document Type Definition), is essentially a 'subset' of the ISO 8879 standard SGML (Standard Generalised Markup Language). Obviously, anyone wishing to publish material on the WWW would find some knowledge of HTML useful. This monograph provides a helpful introduction to the topic.
The book contains just four chapters, three appendices and a subject index. The opening chapter (entitled 'What is HTML?') is very short and provides a brief introduction to HTML, hypertext and hypermedia, Mosaic, WWW and the Internet. Chapter 2 is more substantial in size and is devoted to the HTML (Level 2) language itself. It covers such issues as: HTML syntax; formatting tags (for headings, paragraphs, lists and styles); anchors and links; images; and forms (which facilitate input from users). In chapter 3 the author discusses how to write HTML documents. The chapter is organised into four major sections which together cover such issues as: general principles; identifying good HTML style; how to create a home page; and the conversion of existing documents into HTML format. The final chapter of the book is by far the largest and is devoted to a series of eight case studies.
In each case study the author describes various existing web pages accessible through the net and then goes on to discuss the HTML encoding underlying their appearance. The particular examples presented in this chapter include: a personal home page; typical home pages for small and large organisations; an electronic brochure; a web survey; and pages for a number of subject guides and specialisms. The site addresses (URLs) for the examples are given and, surprisingly, they can all be accessed relatively easily. I used a full-screen, text-based browser (Lynx) to access them. Indeed, I explored the home pages described in the book using an old DOS-based computer (an Amstrad 1640) as a remote terminal running at 1200 baud (using VT100 emulation). Not surprisingly, however, most of the pages (except the web survey) were in many ways different from those described by Aronson. Obviously, since the book was originally published much of the material has been updated and restructured.
I was interested to find that on page 107 of the book, the example used to illustrate the home page for the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the ACM's Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (BayCHI) was advertising a talk entitled 'Too Much Hypertext or Too Little?' by Jacob Nielson (to be given on Tuesday, October 11th, 1994). When I accessed this same page almost a year later (while writing this review) I was excited to see the BayCHI page advertising a lecture to be given by two of my 'HCI heroes' (William Buxton and Stuart Card) entitled 'Radical Human-Computer Interaction' - scheduled for Tuesday, October 10th, 1995 at 7.30 pm! Wouldn't it be lovely if the Internet could be used to transmit this lecture live to interested people in Europe? Unfortunately, herein lies some of its basic limitations. Maybe the future Information SuperHighway will provide enough bandwidth for this type of thing to happen. Who knows?
In addition to the case study examples described above, the three appendices at the end of the book are also very useful. The first one provides a 'quick reference guide' to HTML (based on the HTML 2.0 DTD specification). The second appendix gives an overview of HTML+ - this describes many of the new features and extensions that are to appear in new versions of the language. The third of the three appendices gives details of various HTML resources (such as guides and references, browsers, conversion tools and list-servers) many of which can be obtained using the World-Wide Web itself. Unfortunately, since the book was published, the 'info.cern.ch' documents have been relocated to 'www.w3.org'. This meant that my initial attempts at accessing some of the guides and references failed when I entered the URLs quoted by Larry Aronson.
Overall, although the book has some very minor limitations (such as out of date URLs and the occasional spelling error), I found it quite interesting and fairly easy to read. The author is thorough in his explanations and has chosen some good examples in order to illustrate the points he wanted to make. It is my belief that the text will make a useful 'first reader' for those wishing to launch themselves into markup techniques and web publishing. It is also a book that I would definitely recommend to any student who wants to find out about HTML and what it has to offer.
Philip Barker University of Teesside Cleveland, UK