This book is the one resource you’ll need for understanding and implementing the vast array of Web standards information. Web Standards Design Guide is really three books in one?a detailed overview of standardization, a reference book for the standards, and a step-by-step, how-to guide for creating standards-compliant Web sites. The book details the essential Web standards, including XML, CSS, accessibility, xForms, and xLink. It uses practical Web page examples throughout to help explain why you should work within standards, which ones are relevant to specific projects, how to use them, and how to convert existing code. The ultimate goal of the book is to teach you how to write standards-compliant code; however, you’ll also learn about workflow and processes that will help ensure your code’s compliance and increase efficiency and turnaround time for your projects. Future insights to where the Web is headed are also provided with tips on how designers can prepare for it. Using the skills and wisdom provided throughout the book, you?ll be well prepared to create high-quality sites that meet today’s standards.

This book is the one resource you’ll need for understanding and implementing the vast array of Web standards information. Web Standards Design Guide is really three books in one—a detailed overview of standardization, a reference book for the standards, and a step-by-step, how-to guide for creating standards-compliant Web sites. The book details the essential Web standards, including XML, CSS, accessibility, xForms, and xLink. It uses practical Web page examples throughout to help explain why you should work within standards, which ones are relevant to specific projects, how to use them, and how to convert existing code. The ultimate goal of the book is to teach you how to write standards-compliant code; however, you’ll also learn about workflow and processes that will help ensure your code’s compliance and increase efficiency and turnaround time for your projects. Future insights to where the Web is headed are also provided with tips on how designers can prepare for it. Using the skills and wisdom provided throughout the book, you’ll be well prepared to create high-quality sites that meet today’s standards.

KEY FEATURES: * Provides a comprehensive, easy-to-read reference to essential Web standards, including XML, CSS, accessibility, xForms, and xLink * Explains where standards come from and why it is important to work within them * Teaches designers which ones concern them, how to use them, and how to convert existing code * Includes a companion CD-ROM with tutorial files, useful Web software, and all figures from the book

On the CD! * TUTORIAL FILES - Contains the files you need to complete each tutorial in the book * SOFTWARE (PC Only) - J2SE™ SDK from Sun Microsystems™; FormsPlayer from x-port.net; XFormation (trial version) from Focus Solutions Group Plc.; X-Smiles Web browser from X-Smiles.org * FIGURES - Contains all the figures from the book

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS PC: Pentium 486 MHz Processor or equivalent, 32MB RAM or higher, Windows 98 or higher. MACINTOSH: Power PC 400 MHz or higher, 32 MB RAM or higher, OS 10.2 or higher. You should also have Notepad or any simple text editor, Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher (PC), Internet Explorer 5.2 or higher (Mac) Safari 1.2 or higher (Mac), Mozilla 1.0 or higher, Firefox 1.0 or higher, Netscape 7.2 or higher, and Opera 7.5.2 or higher. Please also check individual software\ on the CD-ROM for specific requirements.

Boring and useless
Blablabla. What a waste of words and what few relevant information for webdesigners! When I read the chapter about accessibility I thought: the author should have studied accessible writing first.
It was so useless I left it in the train. By far the worst webrelated book I ever read.

Learn how to create standards-compliant web sites
Web standards are essential to good design, yet most titles covering web design don’t focus nearly enough on standardization options and techniques. Learn how to create standards-compliant web sites using Web Standards Design Guide, which explains XML, CSS, xForms and much more. Designers learn when and how to use them, how to convert existing code, and how to fine tune workflow and processes to ensure both compliance and better service efficiency.

Great informative Book
I really enjoy this book. The one thing that i like the most is the fact that i can keep refering to the book. It is Not just a Read once Book,Web Standards Design Guide is THE book to have to help make great web sites for everyone to enjoy! The Examples and tutorials are awesome, very real life samples.

Where the Web is Going
It used to be that designing a web page was so simple. You learned a bit of HTML and started coding. You looked at what you had and altered it to suit. Then Front Page came along and you didn’t even have to learn HTML.

Alas, no more. ==Why standards? Because you want to get the most interaction possible between your web site and things the might be visiting it. Things? Yes, things. You normally think of a browser visiting your site to display the page, but search engines use robots to visit as well, and you want your site to show up when when Google or Yahoo come to call.

The particular standards covered in this book include:

XHTML, the logical extension to HTML,
CSS, which has been around a while, but is largely ignored,
Accessibility, where you need to consider that your visitor might not have a mouse or a screen,
XForms, the upcoming replacement for HTML forms (note upcoming, don’t use them yet),
XLink, the same thing to replace hyperlinks, eventually.

This book is kind of a heads-up on what web development is going to become. It’s the information someone wanting to stay up to date or just starting to learn needs to know.