Editorial Reviews:
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is revolutionizing the way people work with the Web. In XML, markup tags are readable by humans and machines, making XML a well-supported way to create, distribute, and present information. Hundreds of thousands of readers learned HTML from Elizabeth Castro with HTML 4 For the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide. Now, using concise instructions and plenty of screen shots, Elizabeth Castro teaches beginning users all they need to know to write XML codes, XSL, and Cascading Style Sheets, as well as providing the scripts required to generate each piece. For anyone wanting to learn XML and use it to generate dynamic Web sites, Castro's book is an excellent and affordable resource.
The Visual QuickStart Guide series from Peachpit Press is known for boiling topics down to the essentials, and presenting them in an engaging and efficient way, to get the reader up to speed quickly. In applying this model to XML, author Elizabeth Castro had her work cut out for her. Fortunately for her readers, Castro has identified successfully the core components of XML, and presented them in a streamlined way. This book doesn't tackle any of the advanced elements of XML technology, such as SOAP, SAX, or integration with the Document Object Model (DOM). Instead, it focuses on teaching the basic nuts and bolts of creating XML documents, styling them, and defining their structure. This book moves at a fast pace. Document Type Definitions (DTDs), for instance, get only 30 pages of coverage. This tight format comprises simple examples that illustrate commands and concepts, instead of pages of text. The pages are presented in a two-column format, so that code fragments can be placed (wisely) side by side with the step-by-step explanatory text. Each topic example is supplemented with one or more useful implementation tips. For a true grasp of XML and all of its potential, you'll need to follow up this introductory tutorial with more reading on the applications of the technology and case studies. But this little book is a great way to learn the basics of XML in a weekend. --Stephen W. Plain Topics covered: - XML documents
- Document Type Definitions (DTDs)
- Schemas
- Namespaces
- XSLT and XPath
- Cascading style sheets (CSS)
- XLink
- XPointer
Customer Reviews:
Displaying 6 to 10 of 57 total reviews (Page 2 of 12):
 Editor needed
Admittedly, I'm only up to the second chapter in this book, but it's clear that Castro needed a better editor. She relies on a frustrating "Type this, then we'll come back to it later" approach (example: naming your DTD, then finding out four pages later HOW to apply that information). Disappointing as her XHTML + CSS and Flash MX books were much tighter in execution. Good overall XML review, but it has gaps
This book does cram a whole lot of information into a tiny space. I will say that, if you are interested in getting started with XML, the book tries to include all the "pieces" you need - like not just XML code, but DTDs and XSLT, etc.
However, the section on XSLT is seriously lacking. I worked on trying to make a VERY BASIC stylesheet yesterday and have yet to get one working. (I'm not new to programming either.) The book gives a lot of "do this, do that" examples, but without explaining the concepts of XSLT more completely and logically, it doesn't really equip you to go out and write stylesheets yourself. I'm disappointed.  Visual QuickStart Guide XML
I have many of this series of books. It is always my first choice when I need to learn about something new.  This author is a loser
Look I just purchased the book "Web Page Collection" by this author, it is "Visual Quick Project" Nothing works, the links given do not work, the instructions are NOT correct and the book is a waste. No address was given to write directly to the author so this my best way to say I would not buy another book by the author. mostly syntax and little semantics
The author spends almost the entire book typing out the syntax of the various statements and seems to lack in conveying an over all structure or framework in which to better understand XML. After the 1st few chapters the book becomes very repeative in it's approach. More Customer Reviews:
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(57 reviews)
