2008-01-13 Good content but...

what about the white space?

The book has been written by an author that obviously knows his stuff and there's plenty in here that'll help anyone get started with using XHTML (or HTML for that matter), and in a way that'll ensure that content and presentation are well separated and that the best possible use is being made of CSS features. Even those who feel they've got a grip on the whole thing will find there's something here to make them think again about what they've been coding.

The writing style is chatty and for the most part it manages to seem like someone 'older and wiser' in the office offering help and advice from their vast experience. It's a book you can browse.

The main thing that's missing is information on dealing with the differences between browsers, and you'll probably need another book for that. The CSS Anthology is pretty good in this respect and would complement this book quite well.

So, what about the white space? I really thought I'd seen the last of books with acres of white space around the page and using widely spaced lines. But apparently not. In fact this is one of the worst offenders I've seen in quite a while. It's so bad I actually measured the pages and borders. A page is 170mm by 230mm and the text on it is 115mm by 147mm. That's close to a third of a page that's blank. In addition, there are appendices for CSS and HTML specifications that are equally generously proportioned. The book could have been small and light enough slip into a bag without noticing it if the space had been better used.

5 stars for content, 3 for that wasted paper