Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML and XHTML in 21 Days [Paperback]

It's a readable text book with summaries, workshops, question/answer, and exercises at the end of each chapter. A good way to test what you've learned in an interactive way.

It's step by step, ground-up approach helps you to get a rounded understanding of html and web page building. It not only tells you how to do things, but why you are doing it. It has plain english definitions and a nice reference section too.

The book has a slow "walk you through it" start. Within your first week you'll have a nice well-planned web page. A basic one, but one that will fill you with the confidence to say, "Yes, I can do this!". But as the pace picks-up, you will soon realize that the more you know... the more you don't know.

As much as it explains what to do, I still found myslf going "huh?". An absolute beginner may find this book a little confusing and overwhelming.

Don't let the "21 days" in the title fool you, this is a comprehensive book. As a beginner, it takes some studying. And this will take some time.

I give it four out of five stars. Lots of information with a friendly stlye. A good slow start that won't scare off the beginner, while not talking-down to the more advanced readers.

It's good for a beginner and it is good for the intermediate user. But it doesn't transition well between the two skill levels.

This book is simply outstanding. Laura Lemay presents the markup language in a clear, easy-to-understand manner with excellent, real-world examples. You need no prior programming skills of any kind. Reading and working through the examples of this book has enabled me to create my own website in a matter of weeks.

For anyone who wants to learn HTML, I would strongly recommend this book.

None of them are perfect, but Lemay's book seemed to be the best of the bunch - at the time (more on that later). I worked through it the hard way - from cover to cover. Now I can share with you my observations:

PROS:
1) Comprehensive coverage of almost all the important topics, from site planning, the HTML language itself, sound/video to design tips, site marketing and server admin. Its unrivaled breadth gives the novice a good survey of the entire field.
2) The comprehensiveness extends to the well-written appendices - HTML, CSS, Javascript, charset, color and MIME charts make this book a great all-in-one reference long after you've finished the lessons.
3) Commitment to XHTML1.0 means you will learn to do things the right way
4) The three meaty chapters on web server set-up and admin set this book apart, as are the chapters on site marketing and testing.
5) As for the basics, good coverage of text formatting and wrapping
6) Clean, readable writing and layout

CONS:
1) The only major shortfall - insubstantial CSS coverage. The future of page design deserves more than one rather generic chapter. Particularly annoying is Lemay's practice in early chapters of introducing classic formatting tags/attributes only to tell you it's deprecated in HTML 4.0. A comprehensive chart of old-vs-new practices at the end of the CSS chapter would have been helpful, as are re-implementations of all previous examples in standard-compliant HTML (especially for tables).
2) There should have been a few color insert-pages - to help explain the Using Colors section, at least! (I am thinking about the Color Wheel model in the old <i>Teach Yourself Web Design</i> book)
3) Laura Lemay is not a professional designer, and it shows. Look at any HTML book and you can tell whether the author is a Developer, a Tech Writer or a Designer. Lemay writes well and gives some good general design advices, but her example pages are uninspiring. Typography, an issue dear to designers and problematic in the web world, receives scant attention. To learn design, go to chapter 6, 7, 8, 12 of Robin William's "The Non-Designer's Web Book" for sharp and practical advices.
4) Skimpy on: WYSIWYG tools, Java, streaming, Flash, META tags, DNS and domain registration; no mention of the AOL browser
5) Needs better explanation of the DHTML concepts, especially diagrams that show how HTML, CSS and Javascript work together
6) Examples not consistently standard-compliant, Ch.20 errorneously states that Javascript array index starts with 1, and other minor editorial errors

What worries me though, is that the book is not being maintained. Its companion site is gone, and Laura herself stated on her site that she's retired. In contrast, Molly Holzschlag is an active member of the web designer community and her "Special Edition" was just updated last May - so that may be the new Gold Standard now.