oup Press; ISBN 1-57169-049-2; $39.99 with CD-ROM
Web Graphics Sourcebook
by Ed Tittel, Susan Price, and James Michael Stewart; Wiley Computer Publishing; ISBN 0-471-15692-2; $44.95 with CD-ROM
The Visual J++ Handbook
by William H. Murray and Chris H. Pappas; AP Professional; ISBN 0-12-511915-1; $39.95
The Web Server Handbook
by Pete Palmer and Adam Schneider, with Anne Chenette; Prentice-Hall; ISBN 0-13-239930
-X; $39.95 with CD-ROM
Are you ready to improve your Web site building skills? Five recently published books that are well written and organized will show you how.
Ambitious newcomers to site building might want to first read Sandy Ressler's
The Art of Electronic Publishing
. This book presents a good overview of the tools and techniques available to Web publishers. It covers much ground, from Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), and everything in between. Unfortunately, that's also its biggest weakness: Ressler sacrifices depth for breadth. He provides little hands-on information about using the tools he describes. Numerous references to other sources -- mainly Web sites -- compensate somewhat for the lack of depth. Technically savvy Web novices will appreciate Ressler's logical organization, clear explanations, and unpatronizing style, however. The book gives a clear picture of how to approach your Web project.
Web Publisher's Construction Kit
, by Jonathan Angel, is a Web publisher's introduction to Netscape Navigator plug-ins for end users and developers. End users will likely be thrilled just to have the bundled CD-ROM of plug-ins. Developers will learn just enough to implement the different data types on their sites; if you need more than basic competency for any one of them, you'll need a more focused reference. However, Angel does a good job of sorting out the wide variety of Netscape plug-ins.
Graphics can make or break a Web site, and the
Web Graphics Sourcebook
helps you use images wisely. This soup-to-nuts, hands-on guide will teach you everything from how to scan images to building a Shockwave animation. (For advanced topics such as VRML, however, you'll need a more specific reference for greater depth.) The tips included in the
Web Graphics Sourcebook
You can't talk about Web
building these days without mentioning Java. Those ready to go beyond HTML should check out The
Visual J++ Handbook
, which is essentially a supplement to the Microsoft J++ documentation. It takes you through installation and basic structure, and into building simple multimedia applications (you will have to look elsewhere for advanced techniques). Having code on a floppy disk or CD-ROM would have been useful, but none of the examples are onerously long.
Site content resides on a server, which has its own setup and maintenance routines. Novices will find
The Web Server Handbook
an excellent introduction to the topic, and it's a good introduction to building your first Web site in general.
The Web Server Handbook
breaks up the main server content by platform: Unix, Windows, and Mac. The bundled CD-ROM contains three popular shareware server packages and a trial version of the Website Windows NT server.
Book Review: Five Guides to Better Site Building
