I decided that I wanted to learn Web Design and so logically, I am starting out with HTML. This book had rave reviews as most of the VQS books, so I was anxious to get started with it.
Just so you know, the approach that I took with this book is since it is set up in a step by step format, I decided to build a page along with the examples so that 1) I could practice, which would help me remember better and 2) to make sure that everything worked. Well, at first things were going great. Then I ran into a section of code that did not work. I spent at least a 1/2 hour of my study time trying to figure out what in the heck I did wrong, only to find out that if I had read a little further that IE does not support this code. Why in the heck wasn't that said at the outset before I starting inputting the code??!!
Then don't even get me started on Chapter 8 on CSS. I spent so much time on this getting really frustrated because the code did not work on selectors. I started even doing searches on the net to find out what I was doing wrong. Apparently, additional code is needed. Keep in mind there is nothing in the examples on the page to show that this code is needed. I feel this is pretty much NEED TO KNOW information especially since this book is targeting the beginner. If you are anything like me, time is a commodity and I don't have time to waste on trying to figure out information that should already be in the book. I am still in Ch 8 and sitting here debating if I want to continue to use this book to learn HTML/CSS. It's hard now to continue because I have lost interest feeling that I may possibly be wasting valuable time typing useless or depracated code.
From what I have read, I do not understand why there are 5 stars all over the place for this book. If you are an absolute beginner, you may be confused and frustrated. I understand that confusion and frustration may be a part of learning anything, but I think it is a little too much. I may skim through a few more chapters to see if it improves, since everyone is raving about it, but ultimately I think I am going to try another source for learning HTML/XHTML/CSS.
Something else I learned new though ~~ Just because people rave about a book here, no matter how many raves, the book can still really stink.
