HTML: The Complete Reference

Most HTML books don't bother to give beginners an introduction to the workings of the World Wide Web because the Web doesn't directly influence writing HTML documents. Powell provides this information because it eventually makes it easier for readers to understand why their HTML Web sites behave as they do. The result is a book well suited to beginning, intermediate, and advanced readers. Beginners learn HTML from the very basics. Intermediate users will gain the knowledge to become advanced, and even old pros will discover new details and updated information.

Powell begins the book with introductory chapters that discuss HTML and Web background and set the limits of what HTML coding alone can accomplish. From there he moves into lessons in basic HTML and progresses chapter by chapter to such high-end topics as advanced layout techniques, how to standardize Web-page presentation among browsers with style sheets, programmed Web pages, and client-side scripting and programming. The six appendices finish the book with a wealth of easy-to-use quick-reference information. --Elizabeth Lewis