Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual |  | Author: Matthew MacDonald
Publisher: Pogue Press
Category: Book
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Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Pages: 608
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Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7 x 1.3
ISBN: 0596520972
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.72
EAN: 9780596520977
ASIN: 0596520972
Publication Date: December 30, 2008
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Amazon.com Review
Get everything you need to plan and launch a web site, including detailed instructions and clear-headed advice on ready-to-use building blocks, powerful tools like CSS and JavaScript, and Google's Blogger. The thoroughly revised, completely updated new edition of Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual explains how to get your site up and running quickly and correctly. 5 Tips for Budding Web Site Creators
By Matthew MacDonald These days, aspiring Web site creators like you pick up a lot of Web-design theory before you start working on your pages. But as deadlines loom and the value of “do it right” falls victim to the imperative to “do it right now,” even the best of us sometimes toss good practice out the window. That’s perfectly understandable and no cause for panicâafter all, if Web weavers waited until their pages were perfect before uploading them, the Internet would be a very lonely place indeed. However, sometimes innocent-seeming shortcuts can cause headaches later on. Here are a few pieces of Web advice that site creators ignore at their own risk: 1. Always include a doctype.
Web browsers can translate two languages into Web pages: old-school HTML and today’s XHTML. You have to tell the browser which language (called markup) you use, and you do that with a document type definition, better known as a doctype. Doctype is arcane code that looks like this: < !DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN” "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> If you forget to include a doctype, your pages will appear annoyingly inconsistent. That’s because some browsers, including Internet Explorer, switch into a backward-compatibility state known as quirks mode when they encounter unidentified markup; in essence, they attempt to act like an outdated browser from the 1990s. Common problems that result include text that appears at different sizes in different browsers and layouts that wind up in different configurations depending on your browser. | 2. Keep formatting instructions out of your markup.
In a rush, it’s easy to get lazy and apply inline styles (or even worse, formatting tags like < font > ) to a page’s XHTML or HTML. But it’s rare for a web site creator to use a particular format just once. Most often, you’ll use a design--say for a column, heading, or note box--elsewhere on the same page or on another of your site pages. To ensure consistency across your site and to make it easier to fine-tune the look and feel of your pages, move all your formatting instructions to a central location: an external style sheet. That way, when a browser processes a page, it grabs this central set of instructions and applies them to the page (see the illustration for the sequence of events). | 3. Be under renovation, not under construction.
Think of your favorite store. Now imagine shopping there if you had to wander around half-lit floors while dodging ladders, pylons, and heavy-duty construction equipment to find the aisles that still have products on the shelf.
It’s a similar story on the Web, where a site with empty pages, “under construction” messages, and vague promises of upcoming content will send visitors away in droves. Yes, it’s true that your Web site won’t be complete when you first upload it. But make sure that what’s there is genuinely useful on its own, and don’t draw attention to gaps and shortcomings. Instead, keep improving what you’ve got. | 4. Think twice before you adopt copy-and-paste design.
Typically, Web sites use the same page design across all their pages. For example, noodle around Amazon and you’ll always see a menu header at the top of the page and a sidebar on the left.
There’s a very special circle in Dante’s Inferno reserved for Web developers who try to achieve consistent design by copying and pasting their XHTML from one page to another. It’s almost impossible to manage or modify this mess across all your pages without making a mistake, even if you have a small Web site.
If you need a repeating page design, pick a suitable solution from the available options, each of which comes with its own caveat. Your can use server-side includes (which require Web host support), page templates (provided you have a Web design tool like Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression Web), frames (which can exhibit quirks), or a Web development platform (if you’re willing to take a crash course in programming). | 5. Keep an eye on your visitors.
Is anyone here? There’s no point in having a Web site if you’re not willing to pay attention to what content draws and keeps visitors and what falls flat on its face. Remarkably, the best way to do that is with a free yet industrial-strength service called Google Analytics. You simply copy a small bit of tracking code to each of your pages and within hours you’ll be able to answer questions like “Where do my visitors live?”, “How long is a typical visit?”, and “What pages are their favorites?” |
Product Description
Think you have to be a technical wizard to build a great web site? Think again. If you want to create an engaging web site, this thoroughly revised, completely updated edition of Creating a Web Site: 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 web site, an e-commerce site, a blog, or a web site 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 web site 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 web site. Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual is a witty and intelligent guide you need to make your ideas and vision a web reality.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 43
 An enjoyable walk through the essential steps in web site creation. June 29, 2006
D-MAG.org Reviewer (Lexington, KY USA)
36 out of 36 found this review helpful
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?
Good Stuff January 22, 2006
Larry (Somerville, MA)
38 out of 40 found this review helpful
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.
Get Your Web Site Up In No Time! January 8, 2006
Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
'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 December 14, 2005
Andy B
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
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.
What You Need to Know About the Web March 3, 2006
Linda Q. Thede (Aurora, OH USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
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.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 43
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