Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Websites, by Robin Nixon
Filed under: book review, Javascript, Non-fiction, PHP, web design
This excellent book by 
Nixon is well versed in these techniques, and does a great job in showing how the powerful combination of PHP and MySQL workds together and how adding JavaScript can contribute to the creation of rich Internet applications and websites.
Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript explains each technology separately, shows you how to combine them, and introduces valuable web programming concepts, including objects, XHTML, cookies, and session management. You’ll practice what you’ve learned with review questions in each chapter, and find a sample social networking platform built with the elements introduced in this book.
Using this book you will learn to:
- Understand PHP essentials and the basics of object-oriented programming
- Master MySQL, from database structure to complex queries
- Create web pages with PHP and MySQL by integrating forms and other HTML features
- Learn about JavaScript, from functions and event handling to accessing the Document Object Model
- Use libraries and packages, including the Smarty web template system, PEAR program repository, and the Yahoo! User Interface Library
- Make Ajax calls and turn your website into a highly dynamic environment
- Upload and manipulate files and images, validate user input, and secure your applications
I have spent lots of time with this book and have learned a lot from it. I have looked into several of the coding examples, and all of the ones I looked into worked. In addition to the great content, I also appreciated the crisp and clear presentational style, and do not hesitate to recommend it to others!
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.Styling Web Pages with CSS: Visual QuickProject Guide, by Tom Negrino and Dori Smith
This book offers a very quick introduction to CSS. 
The book starts with the basics – rules, selectors, classes, IDs, the cascade, internal and external style sheets, Divs, boxes, floats, padding, margins – everything is covered, both in a very basic manner. Next are styling elements, working with images, menus and navigation, and moving styles from internal to external style sheets. Rounding out this project-based guide is working with browsers, both old and new, and debugging CSS.
Styling Web Pages with CSS is very succinct and to the point. However, there are some minor mistakes in it, and there are lots of things that are not explained – so while most of the recommendations in the book work, it is very hard to understand why, and the book provides very little in the way of recommendations for where to go to learn more about particular topics or find more in-depth information.
I would consider this book an introduction for people liking to learn visually. However, it has limited value at all beyond the very first introduction. Generally I would say that this is one of the weaker Visual QuickProject books, and it was not as good as I had expected it to be.
Beginning HTML5 and CSS3: Next Generation Web Standards, by Christopher Murphy
Filed under: book review, CSS, CSS3, HTML5, Non-fiction, web design
This is a new and very exciting book on modern use
Beginning HTML-5 and CSS3 provides an in-depth look the new capabilities—including audio and video—that are new to web standards. It also addresses the new HTML5 structural sections, plus HTML5 and CSS3 layouts. You see how to create transitions and animations with new technologies.
- Cutting-edge web development techniques with HTML5 and CSS3
- The new features of HTML5 and how to work with HTML5 and CSS3
- The new web standards being implemented by all the major web browsers
- How to work with the new HTML5 structural sections
- How to create HTML5 and CSS3 layouts
- How to create transitions and animations without using Flash
- New web typography solutions
- A new vision of web development with HTML5 and CSS3
This book is for web developers and anyone involved in web design who wants to embrace the new web standards and cutting-edge features of HTML5 and CSS3. With a practical, accessible approach, this book is for anyone who wants to push their websites forwards with the latest technologies.
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.Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML, by Eric Freeman and Elisabeth Freeman
Filed under: book review, International bestseller, Non-fiction, web design
This is currently the #1 book on the amazon bestseller list for computer and 
Head First HTML with CSS & XHTM breaks down elements of HTML, XHTML, and CSS so that it beomes possible figure out what is going on and what needs to be done in web page design using these technologies. Also, this is a great choice for a textbook if you need to upgrade your skills!
This book covers the basics of HTML, putting your webpage on the Internet and linking to other web resources. It also tackles XHTML. Next, it introduces CSS along with the properties that can be controlled via CSS. And it does it all in a plain, nice way with lots of illustrations.
The authors show you how to do pretty advanced layouts using the tools available to you without you even noticing that you’ve been “studying”.
The book’s final chapter is appropriately entitled “The Top Ten Topics We Didn’t Cover”, and thus acknowledges that this is not an advanced book on webpage design.
Syndicating Web Sites with RSS Feeds for Dummies, by Ellen Finkelstein
Filed under: blogging, book review, Non-fiction, web design
RSS or
- Use RSS to drive traffic to your Web site and build brand awareness
- Choose and install the right software, set up RSS feeds, and decide on the format that meets your needs
- Create RSS feeds from scratch, or put a news reader on your Web site
- Improve your site’s ranking in search engines and build customer loyalty
- Enable your customers to choose when and how they receive updated information
- Tailor information for your audience and publish all your updates quickly and easily
- Promote your RSS feed and explain to your customers how to use it
- Provide added value for your customers
Making the most of RSS can make life easier for both you and those who do business with you. Syndicating Web Sites With RSS Feeds For Dummies will help you maintain fresh content for your Web site, blog, or e-zine, promote your site and establish links to it, and even update vital documents like employee guides, price lists, and procedures manuals, quickly and easily.
The Non-Designer’s Web Book, 3rd Edition, by Robin Williams
Filed under: book review, Non-fiction, web design
While the second edition of The Non-Designer’s Web Book won’t 
Any artist can tell you that you have to know how a medium works to get the most impact from working in it.
A basic understanding of how the Web works enables the good designer to create the most effective sites. This book thoroughly discusses the different kinds of graphics that are used on the Web, when to use one over another, how to make the most of text styles, and how to design navigation systems.
The comparisons are the best stuff here–good design vs. bad design, why designing Web pages is different from designing printed pages, and why a site looks terrific on one monitor but terrible on another. Two chapters on properly preparing graphics and setting typography for use on a Web site describe how to avoid obvious mistakes that would make your work look amateurish.
Not limited to design, the Non-Designer’s Web Book shows how to get a site up and running, register the domain name, and add it to search engines. After the design is finished and implemented, the site has to be uploaded and updated; this is explained, too.
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