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Do you speak HTML? Books and Web sites stand ready to teach programming language Friday, June 05, 1998 By Mitch Gitman, Special to the Post-Gazette
If you've ever tried to learn another language, you know what a prolonged pain in the brain it can be. And that could just as well go for a computer programming language.
But there is one language that's easy to learn. Honest to goodness. And it's a language well worth learning if you ever want to create your own site on the World Wide Web.
It's HTML, hypertext markup language - the universal language of the Web.
All Web pages are written in HTML. Your Web browser then reads those HTML instructions and presents the page accordingly.
Now, there's no shortage of software today that will enable you to author Web pages just by typing and pasting the text and images, without having to know HTML; the programs automatically generate the HTML for you. But even working in an environment like that, a healthy working knowledge of HTML can only help.
So how easy is HTML?
So easy that one book promises to teach it to you in a week, and a selection of Web sites can impart the fundamentals in a lot less time than that.
Here's a list of recommendations, starting with some Web sites and ending with some books.
The Sevloid Guide to HTML.
www.sev.com.au/webzone/sevhtml.htm
This site from Australia makes just a great little place to start an HTML education. Its simple, colorful, readable pages progress like a storybook from the very basics through to creating hyperlinks, lists, tables and the front ends of forms.
NCSA Beginner's Guide to HTML:
www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications is best known for spawning Mosaic, the Web browser that spun off into Navigator. But NCSA can make another claim to fame with this comprehensive tour through the fundamentals of HTML.
HTML Quick Reference:
www.cc.ukans.edu/~acs/docs/other/HTML_quick.shtml
As the name implies, this scrolling-screen page from the University of Kansas doesn't provide so much a tutorial on HTML as a place to look up what the core commands do. Even so, this is a good one to read from beginning for end, especially for reinforcement after you've been through the two preceding sites.
Webmonkey/html/reference:
www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/html/
Speaking of cheat sheets, this single page from the cybermagazine HotWired consists of a list of HTML tags (the individual instructions that are the building blocks of HTML), written in their proper syntax, followed by what they do. Like the Kansas Quick Reference, but quicker. Of course, even for learning Web publishing, the Web itself just doesn't pack the power of something published on paper . . .
HTML 4 for the World Wide Web: Visual Quickstart Guide:
Elizabeth Castro. $18. Peachpit Press. 800-283-9444. www.peachpit.com
If you're looking for a book on which to begin your HTML writing adventure, make this the one. The explanations are presented in clear, straightforward step-by-steps. And adding to the accessibility is the consistent "Visual Quickstart Guide" format, with the text running down the outer half of each page and the examples down the inner half. And those examples are meticulously annotated, often in red, easing the way through tricky topics like frames and Cascading Style Sheets.
The book goes to lengths to distinguish which features are exclusive to Netscape and which are exclusive to Internet Explorer and what the alternatives are. Some passages are even marked by an "N Only" or an "IE Only" logo.
This latest edition, which just came out in May, also takes pains to point out the changes wrought by the latest version of HTML, HTML 4. The book even has its own Web site at www.cookwood.com that keeps up with recent changes in HTML.
Simplifying such complications is the book's own cheat sheet of HTML tags and their "attributes," Appendix D, which notes for each and every element which version of HTML, and which browser, supports it.
If all that is not argument enough, this 300-plus-page volume makes a bargain at only $18.
Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML 4 in a Week:
Laura Lemay. $30. Sams.net Publishing. 800-428-5331. www.samspublishing.com
If you're going to read only one book on HTML and want it to be as comprehensive as can be, then make this the one. At 600 pages, this guide progresses from preliminary topics like 10 pages on "What Is the World Wide Web?" (Day 1) to power topics like "Beginning CGI Scripting" (Bonus Day 1). All the while, Teach Yourself sticks to its own conventions geared to grease the wheels of learning: indented "Notes" and "New Terms," abundant figures and excerpts of HTML code, and end-of-Day Q&A's and summary charts of newly introduced HTML tags.
HTML: The Definitive Guide:
Chuck Musciano & Bill Kennedy. $33. O'Reilly & Associates. 800-998-9938. www.oreilly.com
O'Reilly & Associates has become such a respected name in computer books, techies have come to collect the distinctive animal-covered paperbacks the way connoisseurs collect fine wines.
Yet, something so beginner-bent as HTML probably doesn't make the best forum for O'Reilly's academic approach that emphasizes breadth and depth over Web-like layouts and flashcard-like snippets. HTML: The Definitive Guide doesn't post nearly the number of sample screens of the two previous books - visual reinforcement so vital to such a visual medium. And the language is more abstract, starting more from the commands themselves than from what you want them to accomplish.
Still, HTML: The Definitive Guide does start at the beginning, it does supply numerous samples of code, it does present the most usable "Quick Reference" appendix of HTML tags of any of these primers. And it does cover an awful lot.
So consider this book if you're the type to cover all the bases. Still, if you are the type to cover all the bases, you might want to wait until September, when the third edition covering HTML 4 is due for release.
Web Authoring Desk Reference:
Multiple authors. $50. Hayden Books. 800-428-5331. www.hayden.com
Try reading this heavy, hardbound, 800-some-odd-page tome front to back and you're bound to become a walking encyclopedia of HTML and its sister schemes. That's because this title, well - it is an encyclopedia.
Use it as intended, and the Web Authoring Desk Reference is the furthest thing from daunting. Each entry starts with an info box showing what-abouts like browser support and syntax, before turning to an often-illustrated explanation.
Free-lance consumer technology writer Mitch Gitman can be e-mailed at mgitman@usa.net.
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