Think you have to be a technical wizard to build a great web site? Think again. If you want to create an engaging website, this thoroughly revised, completely updated edition of Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual demystifies the process and provides tools, techniques, and expert guidance for developing a professional and reliable web presence.

Whether you want to build a personal website, an e-commerce site, a blog, or a website for a specific occasion or promotion, this book gives you detailed instructions and clear-headed advice for:

• Everything from planning to launching. From picking and buying a domain name, choosing a Web hosting firm, building your site, and uploading the files to a web server, this book teaches you the nitty-gritty of creating your home on the Web.



• Ready-to-use building blocks. Creating your own website doesn’t mean you have to build everything from scratch. You’ll learn how to incorporate loads of pre-built and freely available tools like interactive menus, PayPal shopping carts, Google ads, and Google Analytics.



• The modern Web. Today’s best looking sites use powerful tools like Cascading Style Sheets (for sophisticated page layout), JavaScript (for rollover buttons and cascading menus), and video. This book doesn’t treat these topics as fancy frills. From step one, you’ll learn easy ways to create a powerful site with these tools.



• Blogs. Learn the basics behind the Web’s most popular form of self-expression. And take a step-by-step tour through Blogger, the Google-run blogging service that will have you blogging before you close this book.

This isn’t just another dry, uninspired book on how to create a website. Creating Websites: The Missing Manual is a witty and intelligent guide you need to make your ideas and vision a web reality.

Think you have to be a technical wizard to build a great web site? Think again. For anyone who wants to create an engaging web site--for either personal or business purposes--Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual demystifies the process and provides tools, techniques, and expert guidance for developing a professional and reliable web presence.

Like every Missing Manual, you can count on Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual to be entertaining and insightful and complete with all the vital information, clear-headed advice, and detailed instructions you need to master the task at hand. Author Matthew MacDonald teaches you the fundamentals of creating, maintaining, and updating an effective, attractive, and visitor-friendly web site--from scratch or from an existing site that’s a little too simple or flat for your liking.

Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual doesn’t only cover how to create a well-designed, appealing, smart web site that is thoroughly up to date and brimming with the latest features. It also covers why it’s worth the effort by explaining the rationale for creating a site in the first place and discussing what makes a given web site particularly aesthetic, dynamic, and powerful. It further helps you determine your needs and goals and make well informed design and content decisions.

Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual includes a basic primer on HTML, working with JavaScript, and incorporating services like Paypal’s shopping cart, Amazon’s associate program, and Google AdSense and AdWords. It delivers advanced tricks for formatting, graphics, audio and video, as well as Flash animation and dynamic content. And you’ll learn how to identify and connect with your site’s audience through forms, forums, meta tags, and search engines.

This isn’t just another dry, uninspired book on how to create a web site. Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual is a witty and intelligent guide for all of you who are ready to make your ideas and vision a web reality.

OK
This is a good reference book. However, if you know nothing about creating web sites it may be of little use. Also, if you wish to start a blog or a blogging business, this book is NOT for you! It only talks about [...], which is so easy to use it hardly deserves a chapter.

The "Don’t" Missing Manual
A great book for any novice trying to build a web site. The book is divided into clear sections each giving excellent advise and information. I recommend this to anyone starting a web site. If you are fortunate enough to have Dreamweaver software for web creating I also strongly recommend "Dreamweaver 8 - The Missing Manual.

Novices need to read, experts should read and keep as a resource
Now a days, creating a web site is more about design than development; resources exist on the internet where millions of web developers will share their ideas and creativity for free - but how does one access it and where are these resources located?? The Missing Manual Series, Creating Web Sites addresses these questions and more. This book is an excellent starter book for those who are just getting their feet wet in the world of web design, development and programming, but that’s not to say that an expert wouldn’t find this book a handy resource. Creating Web Sites also answers a lot of questions that I had about different aspects of web development. The section on e-commerce and the other web resources referenced within the book, points you to the right places in which to grab code, and get ideas to build great web sites. The Missing Manual series is one that I recommend to everyone (this is the 2nd book from the series I own) - all the books are very thorough, but easy to follow; if you’re a novice this book should be required, if you’re a pro this should be a handy resource to add to your library.

Absolutely great book!
I have been searching for a good, fairly insightful, starter book on what to do to set up a website, that wasn’t too advanced or way to boring.

This is it! The author knows his stuff, brings it into the learning forum in such a way that you are excited to read the next section and re-read for additional insights previously completed sections.

I am going to use this book, and will probably buy more by the same author/publisher.

Web Sites: Missing Manuel
Some of the introductions are a little dated (i.e. jokes that reference beanie babies, etc.), but the other content of the book is still pretty current. This is a really helpful book for the beginning web designer. It is definitely a good reference to have, espically for design students.

The perfect book for beginners
The book is clear, concise and comprehensive. It covers from how to get a domain name to how to accept credit card payments.I like the emphasis in formating using CSS instead html. This was a new concept for me. The author introduces java scripts and dynamic html. I missed a chapter about how to organize, and keep update the whole web site (sometimes with hundreds of web pages, pictures, icons, etc...). It was one of my first book about the topic and I really think that it’s a powefull introductory book.

An enjoyable walk through the essential steps in web site creation.
Title: Creating Your Own Websites
Author: Matthew MacDonald
Publisher: Pogue Press/O’Reilly
ISBN: 0-596-00842-2
Pages: 535 pages
Reviewer: Philip High
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars


I’m sure we all have experienced the frustrating incompleteness and illogic of many software manuals. This book is part of an impressive series billed as: "The book that should have been in the box" put out by Pogue Press. It’s the first one I have read but I would have to agree with their tag line, and if the others are anything like it I would definitely be interested in checking them out.

Of course a comprehensive set of web building tools doesn’t come in one box -- no matter how hard some publishers try to bundle and brand it as such. That’s one reason this overview is so handy. It ties together all the major issues in one current (for the moment) volume. A lot of territory is covered here: HTML, style sheets, graphics, tables, frames, site-promotion, merchandising, JavaScript, Audio, Video, Blogs, and more. Obviously there is only room to layout the basics for each of these topics, but the coverage is well selected, to the point, and surprisingly useful. At the same time it isn’t an off-putting encyclopedia but an enjoyable walk through the essential steps in web site creation.

For web beginners this is an excellent place to start. Even the introduction is worth reading! The major subjects covered are: creating web pages, making pages look beautiful, putting it online, attracting visitors, making money, and adding frills. These topics and related material are presented in five divisions, each with several chapters. Along the way you’ll find plenty of good advice on such things as what software to use, how to choose service providers, and where to go for more information.

Although the book seems to speak to the aspiring beginner, those with experience will probably find it fills in some gaps in their knowledge and serves as a great reference to have on hand. You might especially appreciate it if you have friends or clients who ask you web related questions about things you’ve done, but not recently, or without much thought. In other words, it can make you look as if you actually know what you’re doing -- very handy indeed! For me it was a pleasure just to read a manual that was so well written and contained genuinely useful information, even if some of it was review. Personally, I have been interested in learning more about CSS lately and originally picked up the book for this section alone.

There are two useful Appendixes. "A" is HTML tags. It’s a pretty basic list but the descriptions are good and fairly detailed. Appendix "B" is a healthy selection of links that are conveniently grouped by the chapters they relate to in the text. I found this much easier to use than just having them scattered throughout. There is also a note on the inside back cover that reads: "The Missing CD-ROM. -- There is no CD-ROM with this book; you just saved $5.00." It’s a clever way to point you to the website, www.missingmanuals.com that contains files referenced in the text, additional information, and updates. Sure it’s a gimmick to keep your attention, but it’s also a useful feature and an extended digital benefit we’ve come to expect with our analogue pages. Who needs another disposable CD anyway?

An enjoyable walk through the essential steps in web site creation.
Title: Creating Your Own Websites
Author_ Matthew MacDonald
Publisher_ Pogue Press/O’Reilly
ISBN: 0-596-00842-2
Pages: 535 pages
Reviewer_ Philip High
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars


I’m sure we all have experienced the frustrating incompleteness and illogic of many software manuals. This book is part of an impressive series billed as: "The book that should have been in the box" put out by Pogue Press. It’s the first one I have read but I would have to agree with their tag line, and if the others are anything like it I would definitely be interested in checking them out.

Of course a comprehensive set of web building tools doesn’t come in one box -- no matter how hard some publishers try to bundle and brand it as such. That’s one reason this overview is so handy. It ties together all the major issues in one current (for the moment) volume. A lot of territory is covered here: HTML, style sheets, graphics, tables, frames, site-promotion, merchandising, JavaScript, Audio, Video, Blogs, and more. Obviously there is only room to layout the basics for each of these topics, but the coverage is well selected, to the point, and surprisingly useful. At the same time it isn’t an off-putting encyclopedia but an enjoyable walk through the essential steps in web site creation.

For web beginners this is an excellent place to start. Even the introduction is worth reading! The major subjects covered are: creating web pages, making pages look beautiful, putting it online, attracting visitors, making money, and adding frills. These topics and related material are presented in five divisions, each with several chapters. Along the way you’ll find plenty of good advice on such things as what software to use, how to choose service providers, and where to go for more information.

Although the book seems to speak to the aspiring beginner, those with experience will probably find it fills in some gaps in their knowledge and serves as a great reference to have on hand. You might especially appreciate it if you have friends or clients who ask you web related questions about things you’ve done, but not recently, or without much thought. In other words, it can make you look as if you actually know what you’re doing -- very handy indeed! For me it was a pleasure just to read a manual that was so well written and contained genuinely useful information, even if some of it was review. Personally, I have been interested in learning more about CSS lately and originally picked up the book for this section alone.

There are two useful Appendixes. "A" is HTML tags. It’s a pretty basic list but the descriptions are good and fairly detailed. Appendix "B" is a healthy selection of links that are conveniently grouped by the chapters they relate to in the text. I found this much easier to use than just having them scattered throughout. There is also a note on the inside back cover that reads: "The Missing CD-ROM. -- There is no CD-ROM with this book; you just saved $5.00." It’s a clever way to point you to the website, www.missingmanuals.com that contains files referenced in the text, additional information, and updates. Sure it’s a gimmick to keep your attention, but it’s also a useful feature and an extended digital benefit we’ve come to expect with our analogue pages. Who needs another disposable CD anyway?

An enjoyable walk through the essential steps in web site creation.
Title: Creating Your Own Websites

Author: Matthew MacDonald

Publisher: Pogue Press/O’Reilly

ISBN: 0-596-00842-2

Pages: 535 pages

Reviewer: Philip High

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars





I’m sure we all have experienced the frustrating incompleteness and illogic of many software manuals. This book is part of an impressive series billed as: "The book that should have been in the box" put out by Pogue Press. It’s the first one I have read but I would have to agree with their tag line, and if the others are anything like it I would definitely be interested in checking them out.



Of course a comprehensive set of web building tools doesn’t come in one box -- no matter how hard some publishers try to bundle and brand it as such. That’s one reason this overview is so handy. It ties together all the major issues in one current (for the moment) volume. A lot of territory is covered here: HTML, style sheets, graphics, tables, frames, site-promotion, merchandising, JavaScript, Audio, Video, Blogs, and more. Obviously there is only room to layout the basics for each of these topics, but the coverage is well selected, to the point, and surprisingly useful. At the same time it isn’t an off-putting encyclopedia but an enjoyable walk through the essential steps in web site creation.



For web beginners this is an excellent place to start. Even the introduction is worth reading! The major subjects covered are: creating web pages, making pages look beautiful, putting it online, attracting visitors, making money, and adding frills. These topics and related material are presented in five divisions, each with several chapters. Along the way you’ll find plenty of good advice on such things as what software to use, how to choose service providers, and where to go for more information.



Although the book seems to speak to the aspiring beginner, those with experience will probably find it fills in some gaps in their knowledge and serves as a great reference to have on hand. You might especially appreciate it if you have friends or clients who ask you web related questions about things you’ve done, but not recently, or without much thought. In other words, it can make you look as if you actually know what you’re doing -- very handy indeed! For me it was a pleasure just to read a manual that was so well written and contained genuinely useful information, even if some of it was review. Personally, I have been interested in learning more about CSS lately and originally picked up the book for this section alone.



There are two useful Appendixes. "A" is HTML tags. It’s a pretty basic list but the descriptions are good and fairly detailed. Appendix "B" is a healthy selection of links that are conveniently grouped by the chapters they relate to in the text. I found this much easier to use than just having them scattered throughout. There is also a note on the inside back cover that reads: "The Missing CD-ROM. -- There is no CD-ROM with this book; you just saved $5.00." It’s a clever way to point you to the website, www.missingmanuals.com that contains files referenced in the text, additional information, and updates. Sure it’s a gimmick to keep your attention, but it’s also a useful feature and an extended digital benefit we’ve come to expect with our analogue pages. Who needs another disposable CD anyway?

Creating Web Sites - The Missing Manual Book Review


Title: Creating Web Sites - The Missing Manual

Author: Matthew MacDonald

Publisher: Pogue Press/O’Reilly

ISBN: 0-596-00842-2

Pages: 535 pages

Reviewer: Philip High

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars



I’m sure we all have experienced the frustrating incompleteness and illogic of many software manuals. This book is part of an impressive series billed as: "The book that should have been in the box" put out by Pogue Press. It’s the first one I have read but I would have to agree with their tag line, and if the others are anything like it I would definitely be interested in checking them out.



Of course a comprehensive set of web building tools doesn’t come in one box - no matter how hard some publishers try to bundle and brand it as such. That’s one reason this overview is so handy. It ties together all the major issues in one current (for the moment) volume. A lot of territory is covered here: HTML, style sheets, graphics, tables, frames, site-promotion, merchandising, JavaScript, Audio, Video, Blogs, and more. Obviously there is only room to layout the basics for each of these topics, but the coverage is well selected, to the point, and surprisingly useful. At the same time it isn’t an off-putting encyclopedia but an enjoyable walk through the essential steps in web site creation.



For web beginners this is an excellent place to start. Even the introduction is worth reading! The major subjects covered are: creating web pages, making pages look beautiful, putting it online, attracting visitors, making money, and adding frills. These topics and related material are presented in five divisions, each with several chapters. Along the way you’ll find plenty of good advice on such things as what software to use, how to choose service providers, and where to go for more information.



Although the book seems to speak to the aspiring beginner, those with experience will probably find it fills in some gaps in their knowledge and serves as a great reference to have on hand. You might especially appreciate it if you have friends or clients who ask you web related questions about things you’ve done, but not recently, or without much thought. In other words, it can make you look as if you actually know what you’re doing - very handy indeed! For me it was a pleasure just to read a manual that was so well written and contained genuinely useful information, even if some of it was review. Personally, I have been interested in learning more about CSS lately and originally picked up the book for this section alone.



There are two useful Appendixes. "A" is HTML tags. It’s a pretty basic list but the descriptions are good and fairly detailed. Appendix "B" is a healthy selection of links that are conveniently grouped by the chapters they relate to in the text. I found this much easier to use than just having them scattered throughout. There is also a note on the inside back cover that reads: "The Missing CD-ROM. - There is no CD-ROM with this book; you just saved $5.00." It’s a clever way to point you to the website, www.missingmanuals.com that contains files referenced in the text, additional information, and updates. Sure it’s a gimmick to keep your attention, but it’s also a useful feature and an extended digital benefit we’ve come to expect with our analogue pages. Who needs another disposable CD anyway?

Creating Web Sites - The Missing Manual Book Review

Title: Creating Web Sites - The Missing Manual
Author: Matthew MacDonald
Publisher: Pogue Press/O’Reilly
ISBN: 0-596-00842-2
Pages: 535 pages
Reviewer: Philip High
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I’m sure we all have experienced the frustrating incompleteness and illogic of many software manuals. This book is part of an impressive series billed as: "The book that should have been in the box" put out by Pogue Press. It’s the first one I have read but I would have to agree with their tag line, and if the others are anything like it I would definitely be interested in checking them out.

Of course a comprehensive set of web building tools doesn’t come in one box - no matter how hard some publishers try to bundle and brand it as such. That’s one reason this overview is so handy. It ties together all the major issues in one current (for the moment) volume. A lot of territory is covered here: HTML, style sheets, graphics, tables, frames, site-promotion, merchandising, JavaScript, Audio, Video, Blogs, and more. Obviously there is only room to layout the basics for each of these topics, but the coverage is well selected, to the point, and surprisingly useful. At the same time it isn’t an off-putting encyclopedia but an enjoyable walk through the essential steps in web site creation.

For web beginners this is an excellent place to start. Even the introduction is worth reading! The major subjects covered are: creating web pages, making pages look beautiful, putting it online, attracting visitors, making money, and adding frills. These topics and related material are presented in five divisions, each with several chapters. Along the way you’ll find plenty of good advice on such things as what software to use, how to choose service providers, and where to go for more information.

Although the book seems to speak to the aspiring beginner, those with experience will probably find it fills in some gaps in their knowledge and serves as a great reference to have on hand. You might especially appreciate it if you have friends or clients who ask you web related questions about things you’ve done, but not recently, or without much thought. In other words, it can make you look as if you actually know what you’re doing - very handy indeed! For me it was a pleasure just to read a manual that was so well written and contained genuinely useful information, even if some of it was review. Personally, I have been interested in learning more about CSS lately and originally picked up the book for this section alone.

There are two useful Appendixes. "A" is HTML tags. It’s a pretty basic list but the descriptions are good and fairly detailed. Appendix "B" is a healthy selection of links that are conveniently grouped by the chapters they relate to in the text. I found this much easier to use than just having them scattered throughout. There is also a note on the inside back cover that reads: "The Missing CD-ROM. - There is no CD-ROM with this book; you just saved $5.00." It’s a clever way to point you to the website, www.missingmanuals.com that contains files referenced in the text, additional information, and updates. Sure it’s a gimmick to keep your attention, but it’s also a useful feature and an extended digital benefit we’ve come to expect with our analogue pages. Who needs another disposable CD anyway?

Creating Web Sites - The Missing Manual Book Review

Title: Creating Web Sites - The Missing Manual
Author_ Matthew MacDonald
Publisher_ Pogue Press/O’Reilly
ISBN: 0-596-00842-2
Pages: 535 pages
Reviewer_ Philip High
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I’m sure we all have experienced the frustrating incompleteness and illogic of many software manuals. This book is part of an impressive series billed as: "The book that should have been in the box" put out by Pogue Press. It’s the first one I have read but I would have to agree with their tag line, and if the others are anything like it I would definitely be interested in checking them out.

Of course a comprehensive set of web building tools doesn’t come in one box - no matter how hard some publishers try to bundle and brand it as such. That’s one reason this overview is so handy. It ties together all the major issues in one current (for the moment) volume. A lot of territory is covered here: HTML, style sheets, graphics, tables, frames, site-promotion, merchandising, JavaScript, Audio, Video, Blogs, and more. Obviously there is only room to layout the basics for each of these topics, but the coverage is well selected, to the point, and surprisingly useful. At the same time it isn’t an off-putting encyclopedia but an enjoyable walk through the essential steps in web site creation.

For web beginners this is an excellent place to start. Even the introduction is worth reading! The major subjects covered are: creating web pages, making pages look beautiful, putting it online, attracting visitors, making money, and adding frills. These topics and related material are presented in five divisions, each with several chapters. Along the way you’ll find plenty of good advice on such things as what software to use, how to choose service providers, and where to go for more information.

Although the book seems to speak to the aspiring beginner, those with experience will probably find it fills in some gaps in their knowledge and serves as a great reference to have on hand. You might especially appreciate it if you have friends or clients who ask you web related questions about things you’ve done, but not recently, or without much thought. In other words, it can make you look as if you actually know what you’re doing - very handy indeed! For me it was a pleasure just to read a manual that was so well written and contained genuinely useful information, even if some of it was review. Personally, I have been interested in learning more about CSS lately and originally picked up the book for this section alone.

There are two useful Appendixes. "A" is HTML tags. It’s a pretty basic list but the descriptions are good and fairly detailed. Appendix "B" is a healthy selection of links that are conveniently grouped by the chapters they relate to in the text. I found this much easier to use than just having them scattered throughout. There is also a note on the inside back cover that reads: "The Missing CD-ROM. - There is no CD-ROM with this book; you just saved $5.00." It’s a clever way to point you to the website, www.missingmanuals.com that contains files referenced in the text, additional information, and updates. Sure it’s a gimmick to keep your attention, but it’s also a useful feature and an extended digital benefit we’ve come to expect with our analogue pages. Who needs another disposable CD anyway?

Good basic resource that ties a lot of different concepts together
Finally someone has written a book about creating a web site that pulls together the scattered points of focus of the programming, design, and marketing components. Generally each of these has their own viewpoint of how a website should be designed or used and they often conflict. In this book Matthew MacDonald teaches the basics of html programming but then follows that up by moving the reader forward into the world of website design. In this section he points out that while programmers may think one way another design might be better from a user interface standpoint and explains why this is the case. He does an excellent job of explaining why one method is preferred over another and when it would not be the preferred choice. Beyond programming the author also includes information on connecting with your audience, using keywords to get search engine rankings and similar marketing information. The book includes some basic information on JavaScript, Dynamic HTML, creating Fancy Buttons, and even creating a blog. This book does not cover any of those areas in detail and if you are an average programmer in any of those disciplines you will find no programming information that you don’t already know. On the other hand, the programming books delve deeper into programming without ever giving the reader the entire picture of how it all must work together to provide a complete experience for everyone involved. In short Creating Web Sites contains all the basics you need in order to create a basic site that is attractive and creates a pleasant experience for a visitor and is a recommended read.

Excellent
This book is a great starting point for people wanting to set up their first website, or even weblog.

The book is broken up into four sections, covering how to plan your site, find a good webhost and register your funky new domain name, through to a primer for HTML and CSS and web graphics and finishing off with some excellent advice on how to attract visitors to your site, and how to get them to stay! The final section looks at ’web frills’, adding javascript, audio and video to your site.

The book is firmly aimed at the web-novice - some of the sections on html and css are fairly basic, but cover the material well, staying clear of the too much jargon pitfall that dogs other books on the subject. Even so, there are some excellent tips and examples which taught me some new things!

As with all O’Reilly books, the style is clear and concise, with clear examples and pictures illustrating key points.

So. Recommended for beginners and worth chccking out for those past the first steps in building a website. Overall, a fine book.

Indespensable
I am a web design student and I stumbled across this book by accident and bought it on a whim and am really glad I did. Great book.

Use sophisticated tools without a programmer’s background
Matthew MacDonald’s CREATING WEB SITES: THE MISSING MANUAL is for any who want to create a slick web site without the programming savvy of being a web guru. CREATING WEB SITES covers everything from choosing a place on the Web and picking and buying a domain name to choosing a hosting firm, uploading files, and creating the site using pre-built tools ranging from PayPal shopping carts to Google. Sophisticated appearances such as cascading style sheets are also covered, as well as java script: CREATING WEB SITES tells how to use these sophisticated tools easily to incorporate powerful features without extensive programmer’s background. A ’must’ for any who would create a web site without a college degree in programming.

Lots of basic information in an intelligent style.
I wanted to know the basics of HTML and creating a web site without being bound to one software package. This book provided just what I wanted. I intend to keep it as a reference.

What You Need to Know About the Web
One of a series of "missing manuals" books, this book is very thorough. It is divided into five overall sections: an overview of the Web, building better Web pages, connecting with your audience, Web site frills, and Blogs. It includes more information than we have learned to expect from manuals, even from those few programs that include them. Each chapter includes some step by step instructions for accomplishing various tasks, such as coding, or how to use a given program or Web site. These are often accompanied by illustrations for some of the steps that might be confusing. Despite this, the book is not operating system, or program specific. In the case of software, the author includes these directions for more than one program or operating system. Instead of including a CD, there is a companion Web site. There you will find a zip file with code that is in each of the book’s chapters as well as links to each of the URLS in the book; saving the effort of trying to correctly type in code or URLs. Interspersed throughout each chapter are tips and boxes of additional information.
Section one provides a bit of history of the Internet and Web as well as a thorough explanation of how the Web works. The first chapter explains the types of, and ingredients of a Web site. It asks Web site designers to consider the types of browsers their intended audience will have and emphasizes good design. Chapter two introduces readers to creating a Web page. It first explains coding vs. the appearance of a site in a browser, discusses tags, when and how to use them, and parts of an html document. It also includes a table of the basic html tags, information about common mistakes, and xhtml.
In chapter three the author familiarizes readers with how to put a page on the Web. There is a discussion of how Web hosting works, the anatomy of an URL and how browsers use them. Domain names, what they are, how to select an appropriate one as well as how to get one is given a good airing. Information about selecting a host and analyzing your needs is also provided as well as illustrations and instructions for registering with some Web hosts. The last chapter in this section discusses html editors from the free to the professional Dreamweaver™. A detailed discussion, instructions, and illustrations on how to use several of these are also part of this chapter. Several freebies are presented and evaluated.
The second section focuses on building a Web page. Readers will get the most from this unit if it is read with the computer on, and the files from the Web site readily accessible. Plain html coding is included for all topics in this section, but the reader can save the trouble of entering the code by downloading and using the files from the Web site.. The first chapter in this unit (chapter 5) provides an overview of Web page construction plus more information about html tags. The author starts with describing layout problems, provides information about logical structure versus physical formatting, and cascading style sheets. A discussion of html tags is woven into examples along with a discussion of how each is used. The author stresses that formatting the Web site should not lean too heavily on tags, but instead for maximum control and ease of updating, style sheets should be used.
Chapter 6 presents an overview of cascading style sheets (CSS). Then the author gets down to brass tacks. He breaks down the rules in CSS to their three parts: selector, property, and value, and describes each along with examples. Step by step instructions for creating and applying a style sheet are then presented. There is an explanation of the concepts of CSS such as the anatomy of a rule, the cascade and inheritance. A detailed discussion of color with help for finding the right color is included. The description of fonts includes a table of browsers which support various font properties. Determining which font size to use provides information about the difference between absolute, relative, and exact sizes and expresses a preference for absolute sizes because they will always be proportional to the browser’s setting. A detailed description of borders is also included.
Graphics are the topic of chapter 7. The tags associated with images are examined and described along with an explanation of the necessity of limiting picture sizes, and picture file formats. The author favors making an image background the same color as the page background to avoid a jagged edge that often surrounds images when a transparent background is used. Placement of images from inline to wrapping text around them are examined along with borders and captions. Information about background images, using graphical bullets in a list, and finding free clip art round out this chapter.
One of the basic tenets in html, the ability to link, is examined in chapter 8. Details about coding a link in subfolders are presented as is information about image maps. The necessity of checking links is discussed along with a link to the World Wide Web Consortium’s page checking link. What makes this chapter so valuable is that the author adds an explanation of all of the options available when using this link checker. The chapter closes with a discussion of redirects.
Page layout is addressed in chapter 9. In this chapter the author presents detailed information about tables from the basic codes through cell spanning, sizing, and aligning tables and their parts. Using style sheets to format a table is also discussed. Then the chapter demonstrates how to use a table to layout a page. The principles of layering are also examined in this chapter. The last chapter in this section, chapter 10, examines frames. Despite a box that examines the controversy about frames and concludes that frames are probably not the best way to design a page, the chapter goes on to describe how to create them and how to target where links open. The site navigation problems with a static URL are addressed as is nesting frames. Given the downside of frames this is probably a chapter that could have been eliminated from the book with no loss.
The third section titled: Connecting with Your Audience" consists of only three chapters. As the title suggests, the overriding topic of each chapter has to do with attracting visitors to a site. Chapter 11 addresses promoting the site including some ins and outs of adding your site to search engines. Chapter 12 focuses on interaction with you and your visitors while Chapter 13 addresses making money with your site. Like many of the features included in this book, using Google AdSense is explained in a step by step process that makes it easy to accomplish this task.
Section four, aptly named Web Site Frills, examines the features that can be added with Java Script such as fancy buttons and menus. Tricks involved in adding audio and video to your Web site are also included in this section. Like all features that involve html, examples of the needed scripts are given. The last section, Blogs, has just one chapter. This chapter explores the ins and outs of blogging including step by step instructions to create your own blog using the free software, Blogger.
There are also appendices. Contained here are many html tags that are useful, but not well known such as the acronym tag that allows a site visitor to discover the meaning of an acronym by moving the mouse pointer over the acronym, plus a list of all the Web sites mentioned in the book which given that they are listed at the book’s Web site in a "clickable" manner is probably unnecessary.
This book would be a valuable addition to the library of anyone who wants to expand their knowledge of creating Web pages. The emphasis in the book is on creating html from scratch, but anyone who creates Web pages, even with a high end Web site creator such as Dreamweaver™ or Front Page™ knows that there are times when it is necessary to get into the code to make things look the way he or she wants. This book can provide help for just those times.

Good Stuff
This is my second "Missing Manual" book (FrontPage 2003 was the first), and I must admit that O’Reilly is really on to something with this series. (Assuming the rest are in the same vein as these two.)
The author has the knack of presenting technical information in a clear and straightforward - yet folksy - manner. Of course this knack is pretty useless if the material itself isn’t helpful - and this is where this book really shines. If you’re planning on building a website, this book covers pretty much everything you need to know. I thought that the topics and the depth to which they were covered was perfect. Not only was need-to-know technical information presented, but a lot of you-really-outta-know-about-this knowledge was imparted as well.

A Great Resource
If you spend much time on the Internet at all, at some point you’ve said to yourself, "Maybe I should have a web site." It can be a bit intimidating, and many people don’t get beyond that "Maybe I should ..." phase. If you want to progress further, this book is for you.

The book is laid out in a logical progression from concept to interaction to making money with your site. Each stage of web "development" has its own section in the book -- which is a huge plus: you don’t have to wade through a lot of basic information to get to what you want.

The first section covers the planning stage of website design. There’s a discussion about choosing a hosting service (including the problems with using the free space that many ISPs give to their subscribers) and an overview of HTML editing software. There’s also a brief introduction to HTML -- just enough to get you started.

Section two takes it from there. You’ve found a hosting service, you’ve got the software, and you have the skeleton of a site. NOW you want to make the site look good. This section covers pictures, links, and tables, and even goes into some basic CSS. You learn to turn a bunch of separate web pages into a web site, add content so people want to visit your site, and make the site look good so people want to come back.

Section three goes where the average HTML tutorial doesn’t go and talks about driving traffic. Getting search engine hits, creating your own message boards, and even (once you get the traffic) making money on your site. This is the part of the book that will have broader appeal -- the information will be valuable to novices as well as more experienced webmasters. The only disappointment in this section was that the subject of hit counters and stat tracking services wasn’t covered in much depth. I would have liked to have seen more information on the various tracking services, rather than a one-page mention.

Part four starts to enhance the site. Javascript menus and buttons, and audio and video. This is a dangerous section, and the book does preach caution in adding many of these features (I noticed that there was little mention of animated GIFs, which I was very thankful for). The section on creative menus using Javascript and DHTML was very useful, and I plan on implementing some of what I have learned on my own site after the first of the year. The section covering audio and video was brief, but contained enough information for the novice designer to completely annoy visitors with embedded audio. Thankfully, the council in this section was moderation in all things -- they make sure that novices realize how annoying embedded audio can be.

Part five covers blogging, specifically working with Blogger. This is a good idea, though most new bloggers will eventually want something more powerful. Syndication is also briefly explained (though they don’t tell you how to create your own RSS feeds). Blogger-specific tweaks are covered briefly, and budding bloggers are encouraged to use the skills they’ve gained by reading the rest of the books to customize their basic Blogger templates.

This book is a valuable asset for novice website builders, and contains many useful tips for more advanced users (though most power users will find little in it that they don’t know already). It’s up to date with the latest standards, though they spent more time talking about using table tags for layout than I would have liked, and not nearly enough time on div tags. I understand CSS a lot better now than I did before, and I’ve got some great ideas for improving my own sites. I think that the most valuable part of this book -- and, really, one of the reasons I love O’Reilly books so much -- is the fact that you can do everything in this book with free software. You can use Dreamweaver or Frontpage, but you can make a great site using free software that’s readily available on the Web. Highly recommended.

Get Your Web Site Up In No Time!
’Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual’ keeps the outstanding tradition the ’Missing Manual’ line has been known for, and I personally think it’s one of the best new lines of books to come along in some time. Matthew MacDonald takes you from start to finish as you go from being a HTML, CSS, and Javascript nobody to a major player in no time at all. The price on this book is a joke, it’s well worth the retail and so much more for anyone that is new to the web site creating business. If you want to learn how to get your web site up and running in no time at all you NEED this guide YESTERDAY.

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Ridiculously good
This book is brilliant! I expected good coverage of basics like HTML and style sheets, but this book is just PACKED with good stuff. The author’s insight on all areas of web design is nothing short of amazing. On every topic you come across, whether it’s making a navigation system, fixing some pictures, adding sound effects/music (yes, I know it’s irritating), selling stuff, etc., the author has great tips on doing it and doing it well (and doing it on a budget, if necessary). The next greatest thing are the pointers to other sites on the web. The author shares a huge wealth of resources for getting more information, downloading good tools, using online services, and just plain getting free stuff ([...]).

I put the book down a couple of days ago, and I’m already making money (although not much) with Google ads. I may go ahead with PayPal next. This is just too easy! I predict this book will become a legend.

Worth it even at retail
I purchased this book yesterday and it has helped me better understand what goes into developing a web site. I am relatively comfortable with technology, but definitely not a techy and this book puts techy stuff into understandable terms. I am only on page 97 of the 500+ pages and it has already demystified HTML for me. Of the half dozen books I was considering, this one seems to have the right balance of practical information and online resources to give me a better understanding of how and where to start. It also rates the various applications and web hosting companies, pointing out strengths and weaknesses. Definitely a good purchase.