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Murach's HTML5 and CSS3

 
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Author/s    : Zak Ruvalcaba, Anne Boehm
Publisher   : Mike Murach & Associates
Category   : Web design, HTML and JavaScript
Review by : Jeanne Boyarsky
Rating        : 9 horseshoes

"Murach's HTML5 and CSS3" covers HTML and CSS from the ground up. It's a great book for starting out as it shows basic constructs. It's also a decent book even if you know "old" HTML and CSS. The repetitive parts are easy to find/skim. Granted the book is heavy (600 pages) for skimming. There are good guidelines/tips on browser compatibility, SEO and accessibility.

The book has a bit of an identity crisis on whether you should know JavaScript. They say you don't need to know it. Then they show a bunch of JavaScript. Then they say it is ok if you don't know it. Then they talk about how to debug it. I think they meant you can copy/paste without being able to write your own.

I do learn some things from the book and the material was well presented. Unsurprisingly, it uses the standard Murach style. One side of the book is text and one side is examples/bullet points. I also like that the book used HTML 5 and CSS 3 properly rather than tacking it onto an older book as an afterthought.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

More info at Amazon.com
 
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Review by : Mohamed Sanaulla
Rating        : 8 horseshoes

This book covers all the aspects of web development- HTML, CSS, Javascript, Hosting, tools. The coverage of HTML5 and CSS3 has been blended into the existing approaches of HTML and CSS, so you may not find HTML5 being discussed in a special section. This way one can get an hold of how the HTML5 enhancements can be used with the existing HTML.

The book takes a more practical approach which is what is expected from web development. The code sample is given on one page and the explanation on another- this might be a bit annoying while reading a ebook as one would have to scroll up and down repeatedly.

If you are familiar with HTML, CSS, Javascript then lot of sections might be redundant, but there are lot other content which can be used as a reference. So the initial sections are good for those starting new with HTML and then few sections in jQuery which can be read on demand basis.

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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

More info at Amazon.com
 
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Review by : Rob Spoor
Rating        : 8 horseshoes

The book follows the Murach style - on the left pages there is text, on the right pages there are screen shots, code snippets, and short summaries of the text on the left. Unlike the previous Murach books I've read, I was never tempted to read only the right pages, as it's all just very good to read.

Although the title is "HTML5 and CSS3", it doesn't limit itself to those new techniques, instead covering large portions of both old and new HTML and CSS versions. That makes the book good for both beginning and experienced web developers. Where needed it also mentions how to create workarounds for browsers that don't support HTML5 and CSS3.

Though in general HTML5 is discussed pretty well, it does fail in a few chapters. These all require knowledge of JavaScript, yet the authors claim this isn't is necessary. I disagree with them. The sections on GeoLocation and Canvas are nowhere near as complete as the previous HTML5 book I've read, and that's really a shame. The JQuery chapter is by far the worst, showing several snippets of code but explaining very little. I'm an experienced programmer, and I once was really wondering what the code was doing because it wasn't explained properly. Surprisingly, the JQuery Mobile chapter is a lot clearer, but that's probably because it actually contains very little JavaScript as JQuery Mobile does a lot under the hood. All in all, I'd definitely suggest getting a proper JavaScript / JQuery book to fill these gaps.

Finally, one thing really annoyed me. The introduction section looks very familiar. It looks as though it's a required section of Murach books about web development. Having already read a few Murach books it really felt repetitive.

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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

More info at Amazon.com
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