This is yet another in the "Dummies" series of books. The series presents information, in a friendly manner, on about just about every topic that could be imagined. The idea is to present a fresh look at a topic and present it in a way that even dummies could understand. These books are not really for dummies (creating web pages using HTML is not a task for dummies). The title is just a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor to suggest that these topics can at least be presented in a friendly and easier-to-read format (each new section in the book starts with a job-related cartoon).
The book begins with an introduction to, in the authors' words, "the wild, wacky, and wonderful possibilities inherent in the World Wide Web." After a not-so-brief internet history lesson, they begin the analysis of how the internet works, describing what is behind the scenes of web pages (they call it "under the hood"). They provide an overview of clients and servers, responses and requests, and the roles of front and back ends. That leads to a discussion of serving up web resources which, of course, leads directly to the role and function of HTML. The HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is described as the way web servers and clients talk to each other.
While most books on HTML start with the basics, this book starts with a focus on what the viewer of a web page sees. It takes several chapters to begin the introduction of HTML syntax. While some more experienced programmers might get impatient with this approach, it is an easy-to-digest method of providing the necessary background in web function for the less experienced. The review of history and structure of the internet makes for interesting reading, no matter what your level of expertise.
HTML is a collection of markup codes that must be recognized by the user's browser. But not every new tag is determined by the standards committee: some special tags are recognized only by certain browsers. And, as the authors point out, the number and kinds of HTML tags continues to grow with each new iteration of the markup language. The book describes all of the currently recognized HTML tags and it provides an overview of which tags are supported by which browsers.
The CD-ROM that comes with this book contains an excellent collection of ready-made web page designs, along with other useful information.
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