There is, however, a lot to gripe about. This book was pretty obviously rushed to press (No surprise there; at two years old, it's already something of a relic); there are clues to this throughout. The most obvious of them is the "Chapter 8" footer that you find running through Chapters 1 & 5; yes, they split up Chapter 8, but they forgot to rewrite its footers. Those last-minute reshufflings might account for why you've got some impossibly indecipherable code as early as Chapter 2 (The authors say at the outset that their objective in each chapter is to build on what they've covered so far; no joy there).
Every page has got at least one thing wrong with it -- murky graphics, graphics as many as five pages late, irrelevant graphics subbed in for the real McCoy -- never mind the bad grammar. And then, of course, there is the title: "HTML Artistry". There is at least as much JavaScript in this book as there is HTML.
My copy I managed to pick up cheap in an amazon.com auction. Would I have paid full price not knowing what I know now? No, thankfully. If you yourself aren't sure whether or not you want to then why not check out its accompanying website first. You like what you see ...?
I first thought i would just read it and then it would sit on the shelf. But i was wrong. Even though i have several HTML reference books right next to this one on the shelf, i keep getting back to HTML Artistry, because it is well-written, nicely illustrated and so easy to understand and apply the techniques.
A nice book for those just beginning to build webpages, and an inspiration for experienced designers! I enjoy using it very much!
The way this book progresses is excellent. It starts off with classic HTML, then goes on to site navigation including the incredibly useful rollOver effects and client-side image maps followed by coverage of graphics and colors. All of these areas alone were enough to drastically improve the way I approach desiging my websites and make purchasing this book worthwhile. What this book does is give you a whole new mindset about what good web design really is by talking about practices that work and those that don't and reiterating their points through helpful real-world examples.
The reason I have given this book 4 stars rather than 5 is because of it's second part. I feel that chapter 8 tried too hard to be almost a Dynamic HTML tutorial rather than an overview of the important subjects which they had been excelling in doing all along. I think that the DHTML coverage became too detailed and specific at certain points. If you want a complete tutorial on DHTML, I strongly reccomend Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Resource by Danny Goodman.
All in all, I feel that Mrs. Ibanez and Mrs. Zee did a superb job at cutting the fat and getting to the important stuff so that you could instantly become a smarter web designer. I strongly reccomend that you buy this book.
I do agree with those who say the main intent here is to keep you in mind of the bigger picture: dreaming up intriguing and appropriate ways of creating a dynamic and "alive" interface for your site.
The fact that the design of the book is every bit as pleasing as the design and functionality of the sites covered in it just adds to the impact. And their own companion site is a really dynamite tool, the icing on the cake. And then of course the tone and humor of the copy from Ms. Ibanez and Ms. Zee also helps to keep a potentially dry subject interesting. It's hard to read though...you want to put the book down and go design some cool sites quick! I'm definitely looking forward to Volume 2 due out in April 2001.
