Great for newbies
This book provides a great overview of XHTML, from its origins and relationship to HTML, to adjacent technologies designed to work in conjunction with it. You'll primarily learn (1) how to migrate legacy HTML markup and (2) how to write new XHTML from the ground up. This book does well to cite available software to help you with both the conversion as well as the creation of XHTML. Towards the end of the book, the authors go into application-specific XML vocabularies and technologies designed to transform or style XHTML.Novices will do great with this approach, but experienced web developers already knowledgeable with XML technologies may find the coverage of XSLT, CSS, etc. redundant with their other readings and/or life experiences. I've been in web dev for 6 years, so I was able to stop reading after Chapter 5. Perhaps this book may be construed as too shallow for the experienced developer. Or, perhaps there really isn't much more to say about XHTML to justify a thicker book. I won't know personally until I read at least one other book on the subject.
If you are new to XHTML -- as well as XML technology in general -- this book is great way to learn about the related technologies quickly.
Ashmith.com Web Designer Review
This book has good explanations. If you are planning to migrate from HTML to XHTML this is a good choice. Other than migrating, this book offers great working examples in the provided CD. The book covers CSS with XHTML, Intoduction to XML technologies like XForms, Xlink, and XSL. So get this book to be ready for the future. Note : Some chapters are hard to understand. You might have to read again to understand it correctly.
Is it an intro, migration guide or reference?
What is XHTML? Is it just another trendy acronym for web developers to toss around? Is it the child of a marriage between Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Extensible Markup Language (XML)? Is it worth worrying about?The authors of XHTML have chosen to answer in a variety of ways. This book takes several approaches to explaining XHTML. They range from a high-level view of "Where did XHTML come from?" to an attribute-by-attribute listing of valid XHTML syntax to an in-depth look at Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). There are also several chapters of "What's next?" topics, each touching on an aspect of internet development (multimedia, forms, graphics, and scripts).
So what is XHTML? It is the Extensible Hypertext Markup Language. It's brings order to chaotic world of HTML by forcing adherence to XML standards. It promises to separate presentation from information (data). It can force a web page to act like data, with the benefit that anything that can access data can use your web page (like text-to-speech devices, mobile devices, and more). It's a W3C standard that has progressed beyond the 1.0 specification referred to in this book (and this book was published in 2001!).
This book could have easily been called XHTML and CSS - because they devote many pages to the key role that CSS will play in the deployment of XHTML. CSS is the way that the presentation elements are extracted from the HTML document - leaving only the data behind.
The book mostly succeeds in bringing XHTML to a wide audience. It tries to be an introduction, migration guide, and language reference. I recommend it to anyone interested in taking their internet development to the next level.
I'm On My Way
I got this as I felt that XHTML was going to help me in my job. Now I'm hoping the knowledge I've found in this book will help me
GET a job.
It's a good way to help an HTML designer make the transition to XHTML, but a good XML reference may be in order!
You do need some knowledge of HTML(at least know how to do a CSS!)
Non-reference Downfall
Know your goals. If you expect to have mastered XHTML after this book, look elsewhere. As said by another reviewer all the details are not covered and one is referred to other sources, but it is a good place for beginners to start. You will have to visit online tutorials to complete this book and you'll still need to purchase a XHTML book that can be used as a reference.The author's expertise provides one with an excellent historical section, but I personally found it to be more on the side of information overload.
XML related subjects are mentioned, but only seasoned HTML'ers will be able to comprehend the explanations, which I found too brief to really be enriching.
For those with some HTML experience there are better books out there and one should continue their search for another XHTML book. Beginners will be will served with this book.
