HTML, XHTML, and CSS... what are some good resources?

Question

What's a good book, or a good way to learn HTML, XHTML, and CSS? I recently graduated from school and I only know Java, and C++.

I would like to learn some web development so I am looking for some good books and resources.

Answer 1

doctype.com could be your friend here

Answer 2

If you're looking for reference information, W3 Schools is a great place to start. Smashing Magazine is great for pretty much everything to do with web development. I'd also recommend A List Apart, which often has great articles about some of the more difficult CSS concepts. And last, but certainly not least, I'd check out the atricles on 24 ways; while they only have 24 updates every year (in December), they are written by some of the best people in the industry.

Ans since you're interested in web development, you'll probably end up wanting to learn some Javascript as well. ppk's site quirksmode.org is a great place for that.

Well, I hope this can be some help to you, and wish you best of luck. Also, of course, you can always ask any question that you have here at Stack Overflow.

Answer 3

If you ask me, whatever introductory level book you can find at your public library on html or css or "web programming" is a great place to start as far as books go. Typically, those kinds of books are a little bit "stale" as far as you're likely to find something that's not the latest greatest version of HTML, but for the most part very few parts of the HTML spec get deprecated or removed from version to version, so anything you'd learn from slightly obsolete books will generally still exist, but

There's a ton of great stuff online too about every specific topic you could want, for the most part, you could get by without buying any books Here's a link (http://jwinblad.com/webprogramming/webdesign.php) to some of my personal bookmarks on web-development that I like to keep handy like the specifications for CSS and HTML that enumerate every possible tag or CSS property and give you a brief description of what each one means and is used for.

Of course, actually trying out different tags and CSS experimentally is sometimes much more helpful in learning. If there's a website that does something cool, you can often times learn how to they do their cool feature by viewing the source-code of the page or its style sheet using the tools provided in your web-browser. Create a hello-world demo-page and then work from there on adding extra tags and a style sheet and so on. If there's something specific you want to do, you can search for tips on how to do that particular thing

If you already know Java and C++, it should not be difficult to learn HTML/XHTML and CSS. But if you're looking at learning this with the hopes of it being a career direction or paying job, you will probably want to delve into more than just HTML, nobody seems to be looking for people to write webpages that look like they came out of 1998 or 2001, you can get nicer looking stuff that that with almost no HTML knowledge using WYSIWYG tools...once you get the basics of HTML understood and know where to look up tags and CSS descriptors, you may want to branch out either into a client-side scripting language like Javascript or a server-side programming language or framework (PHP, Ruby on Rails, etc) or trendy web-technology like Flash. It kind of depends what your goals are in learning web-programming.

Answer 4

If you know programming languages like Java, then I'd recommend checking out the HTML4 spec on the W3C site.

It is as close as you'll come to the official docs.

I'd also recommend learning the differences between HTML and XHTML, why XHTML has no benefits to today's web (IE, content types, error handling too unforgiving) and also I'd look into HTML5, just to keep current.

Here is a quick overview of differences between HTML and XHTML that I found whilst surfing Jessica's website.

Answer 5

I'd recommend Professional CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for Web Design. There apparently is a second edition now, but my first edition has:

Chapter 2: Best Practices for XHTML and CSS

The book (first edition) is basically comprised of case studies of css and xhtml implementations at ESPN, PGA Championship, and the University of Florida, with many great tips and explanations of why things are done a certain way.

Answer 6

If you are interested in online resources, The SitePoint Reference seems good. It covers HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The information seems clear, and there is the capability to add user notes as well.

If you prefer printed material, I started out with HTML for Dummies - despite the common opinion on For Dummies books, they are actually useful for picking up a new subject. I keep handy the HTML/XHTML Definitive Guide and the CSS Definitive Guide - both from O'Reilly. Those two are good for references.

For JavaScript, I recommend Simply JavaScript from SitePoint, and Dom Scripting from Friends of Ed.

Answer 7

Based on personal experience, coming from no programming experience at the time:

1. View source is a great tool. Read other people's code. [EDIT: To access view source, right click on the page in your browser and choose view source from the context menu. Alternatively, you can look in the browsers "Page" menu, although the menu name and placement varies by browser and OS.]

2. I used a tutorial site on geocities (may it rest in peace) but there are many other good sites. Use a search engine.

3. Books - Jeff Zeldman's book "Designing with web standards" was one of my first reads a number of years back. Books do tend to get outdated, but that one is a keeper. I think that there is a new edition in the works. Also, Visual Quickstart books are a personal favorite, but hey teach particular things and not the whole languages. There is a Visual QuickStart book with fairly recent code and a great reference for your desk. ( I forgot the title...)

good luck! Bing is your friend!

Answer 8

I'm working through Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML. I have found it to be quite useful in staring me off with these technologies.

Answer 9

IMHO, the best way to learn it is by doing it, make a plan for a website, and have a go at making it happen (repeat as required), by the time you put html, css, javascript, and eventually a server side framework together, it can be a bit of a dark art, and there is much learning that can only happen when you are actually doing it (and feeling the pain of IE 6).

As mentioned by others, Sitepoint, Smashingmagazine, W3Schools (to name a few) are all handy references.

Would also suggest learning jquery as you learn javascript, some good starting tutorials here http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials.

Also install firebug in firefox so you can start digging under the hood of sites you like.

With regard to books, from personal experience, I have a stack of outdated technology specific books that I have not touched for quite a few years. The ones that focus on why rather than how get much higher rotation.

If you have learnt java and c++, the mechanics of the technologies shouldn't be too hard to pick up, but many programmers tend to suck at things related to UI, so if you were to get a book, I would recommend "Don't Make Me Think" or other books related to usability and interface design.

HTH. Good Luck.