Hey all,

Just needed some input on something. One of my Summer goals is to write a book on web design (HTML and CSS) for beginners. The book will definitely not be a bible (lowercase "b") on web design, but be more of a stepping stone that would help people to get started quickly making their first website.

I'm just wondering if any of you would be interested in owning something like this (I'd probably offer it for a really low price in ebook format, as well as self-publish a hard copy through Lulu)? Also, does anyone have any suggestions on what I should include in this book?

I know there are hundreds of books like this, but I want to start people off with good habits from the get-go and not teach them unnecessary things. And, mostly, I'm doing this for my own entertainment--it's one of my goals to publish a book (even if it's self-published).

I wouldn't be interested since I already know HTML and CSS and I find anything I don't know can easily be discovered with a quick google search.

But the way you describe it, it sounds a little better than that HTML for dummies book. XD

Originally Posted by lawleypop

I wouldn't be interested since I already know HTML and CSS and I find anything I don't know can easily be discovered with a quick google search.

But the way you describe it, it sounds a little better than that HTML for dummies book. XD

I actually mention in the intro to the book that I won't be going too far with some concepts, and to use Google and w3schools to delve deeper once the reader is done.

Even though you know both, do you think that some people you know who don't know HTML/CSS would be interested in something like this?

Keep in mind that the ebook would probably be something like $10 for quite a bit of stuff, definitely undercutting the competition (excluding pirated books ).

I would buy it. Not an eBook though, only in print....

what a lofty summer goal!

good luck.

interesting goal. if it's for beginners you'd have to invest a large amount of time including images/screenshots of where everything is and for reference so they can understand it clearly.
reading giant pages of text to learn how to code is extremely exhausting and will definitely not keep the interest of beginners.

i personally wouldn't buy it, everything you really need to know as a beginner has been put out on the web.

how far do you planning on going with concepts?

Originally Posted by TTHX

interesting goal. if it's for beginners you'd have to invest a large amount of time including images/screenshots of where everything is and for reference so they can understand it clearly.
reading giant pages of text to learn how to code is extremely exhausting and will definitely not keep the interest of beginners.

i personally wouldn't buy it, everything you really need to know as a beginner has been put out on the web.

how far do you planning on going with concepts?

Well, the scope of this book is probably going to vary as I write it. As of now, I plan to start off with a very, very simple obligatory "Hello World" example, then in an "Advanced Topics" chapter at the end introduce the reader to simple JQuery effects and perhaps some CSS3 animation.

I'm sticking to HTML 4.01 for this book, because it's been finalized. HTML 5 is still new, and once you know the concepts of 4.01, you can easily pick up on HTML 5 using http://diveintohtml5.org/

Put in a small section on choosing fonts and good visual principles. When I see comic sans or gaudy colour combinations on a website I want to hurt the developer.

Originally Posted by wahaneebelly

This book does nothing but have you reading code which is fine if you want to write code. The purpose of expression web is to cut down on writing html. I love how the code editor aids in the completion of tags in XHTML and I would love for it to do the same for HTML5. Is there an easy not time-consuming way to get Dreamweaver CS4 to recognize and work with HTML5 elements et al..

If you look at most of the sites you use, almost 99% of the time they are designed by coding. While Dreamweaver and Expression Web are good for simple sites, it's very hard to go any further than that. What's more, both of these products produce lackluster, unstandardized, and quite frankly, terrible code.

What I aim to do is show beginners the power of DIY in web design.

Nice goal for the summer!

I would make it more of a 'tips and advice' type book if you aren't going to go into great detail. List off the sites you use for getting help and inspiration.

If you're actually going to show them how to setup a website, telling them how to code 'hello world' probably won't help much. While DIY and programming in PHP is nice, they won't want to 'code it from scratch' if they are super new to everything. Instead, show them how to use something like Wordpress to get started visually

Originally Posted by Forthex

When I see comic sans or gaudy colour combinations on a website I want to hurt the developer.

I don't understand why it's now a fad to hate the comic sans font. It's not that bad, and there are so many worse fonts out there. Have you ever seen "joker"?

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

I don't understand why it's now a fad to hate the comic sans font. It's not that bad, and there are so many worse fonts out there. Have you ever seen "joker"?

It's funny, because I've seen in a few of HTML Books where the authors specifically warn people to avoid using comic sans =p.

As for OP, no probably not. I've got enough books, and to be honest, it's an already saturated market. If you're not introducing anything new, it'd probably not be of interest.

However, if you did HTML 5, I would probably reconsider. But you mentioned sticking to 4, so I probably wouldn't. Soz =(

Comic Sans is ugly and makes any design look bad haha.

I just bought a thick HTML intro book for 25 cents at the thrift store. GG.

LOL


Make your book look pretty when printed pls.