generalist book for web2.0

Question

I need to learn web20 frontend. Javascript, jquery, dom, ajax, css.

A quick search reveals the best JS books which don't cover all of my goals. From reading the table of contents:

• JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockford is the defacto JS intro book, but covers syntax only, no intermediate web
• JavaScript-Definitive-Guide-David-Flanagan is also well regarded JS intro, covers web a little bit, but but only at a superficial level

Posters in best-book-to-learn-web-development-for-a-professional-developer had some suggestions:

• Secrets-JavaScript-Ninja-John-Resig
• Pro-JavaScript-Techniques-John-Resig

which have a a bit more ajax/dom coverage but nothing about more modern stuff like jquery, for example. I also don't really see how you can separate CSS from this topic.

Question: I want to buy one or two books and come out a frontend rockstar. What books do you recommend?

Answer 1

jQuery is a tool that greatly simplifies manipulating the DOM with Javascript and working with AJAX. I find I'm spending most of my time working with jQuery and my javascript is reduced to simple if statements, etc. I'd recommend starting with jQuery and CSS. I can recommend two books:

jQuery In Action

CSS: The Missing Manual

Answer 2

I don't think that becoming a Frontend rockstar would be as simple as reading books, there are a lot to learn and tryout that are not included in most of the books. There are only a few books that cover advanced JS (DOM, BOM & COM) and 'Secrets of Javascript Ninja' is one such book.

jQuery is just a framework that simplifies the work, to become a real FE star you gotta go deeper into it and start learning & exploring how the frameworks work, understanding the browser quirks, reading the specs, browser features and so on.

FE is one of the most complex field in Web Engineering as it requires not just the expertise in HTML, CSS and Javascript, but also requires clear understanding of HTTP protocols and related status codes, browsers and their features, Usability, Accessibility, image optimization, RIA to name a few and also basic understanding of server-side programming too.

The video by Nate Koechley of Yahoo! on 'Professional Frontend Engineering' - gives you an idea of what Frontend Engineering is all about.