XML for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide

by Elizabeth Castro

There is a new edition of this book: XML, Second Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide by Kevin Howard Goldberg (ISBN: 0-321-55967-3)] Web-maven Elizabeth Castro, who has penned Peachpit books on HTML,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0201710986
• ISBN13: 9780201710984
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Peachpit Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Great Beginner's Guide to XML

Although I'm not personally an XML beginner, so perhaps my perspective is a bit skewed, I recently had to come up with a full-day tutorial on XML, for Microsoft Office developers, all XML beginners. In preparing the various topics, I came across this book (actually, I had read Ms. Castro's HTML 4 book and liked it, as well), and found it to be at a perfect level for my students. I based my basic XML, namespaces, and XSD sessions of the day on the corresponding chapters in this book, and found the descriptions of "how" and "why" to be very useful, complete, and lucid. I recommended the book to the students, and they, too, found it useful. I heartily recommend this book for people trying to get the basics of XML down pat. It's not a book for experienced developers, or people who already "get" these topics, but that wasn't its point. If you're trying to get up and running with XML, I haven't found any other book that makes it so simple.

Basic XML

The best way to teach a beginner (myself) how to write code is to consistently illustrate the code with examples that can be modified and used in various circumstances. As she has stated in the introduction of the book, this is not an advanced book on XLM for developers but a project manager's book to understand the language of the developers when they are talking and even understand the code being developed. This book follows the same type of verbiage and examples from her previous book, HTML 4, so the transition from very easy. This book delves into the basics of XLM, DTD, Schema, XLST, Cascading Style Sheets and some more topics for the reader to discover. The price of the book is affordable for anyone trying to step into the new World of XML. Have fun coding.

She's done it again!

Elizabeth Castro's previous book on Perl and CGI is a work of extraordinary clarity and value. The XML book tackles a much larger amount of material. It is necessarily more complex and aimed at a slightly more knowledgable reader. However, she succeeds in covering all the material in her usual clear, accurate and engaging way. The price can't be beat. You can buy a 1000-page book for $50 and get maybe 100 really good pages. You can buy this 200-page book for under $20 and get 200 really good pages! With Elizabeth Castro's books, there is no fluff, no filler, no needless repetition. Every page is worthwhile and adds value.

Another industry standard from Elizabeth Castro

With over 60 new books on XML set for release in the year 2000, it seems like another XML book would not be that big of a deal.Well, that might be true if it were an XML book from anyone other than Elizabeth Castro and Peachpit Press.Castro, the author of two other bestsellers, HTML for the World Wide Web and Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web has the rare gift of being able to take extremely complex subjects and render them into understandable terms for just about anyone. In her newest book, XML for the World Wide Web, Castro scores a direct hit in being able to convey the ins and outs of XML and all of its aspects in a way that makes it unique, usable and useful.Castro tackles Schemas, DTDs, Namespaces, XPath, Xlink, Xpointer, XSLT, CSS used with XML and just about everything else being discussed, implemented, debated, planned or argued in the constantly changing world of XML. That's not unusual for an XML book. However, Castro actually pulls it off extremely well, resulting in a very very very good book for those about to immerse themselves in the complexities of XML. That is unusual. Many XML purists will point to Simon St. Laurent's "XML:A Primer" and Benoit Marchal's "XML by Example" as being definitive "first XML books." I would agree, to a point. I have both of those and they are indeed excellent 5-star books but I honestly think that Castro's book will be more digestible to more people not well-versed in XML. Critics, if any, might argue that XML for the World Wide Web is too basic or doesn't cover this topic in extreme detail that way or this way. That's not the point of this book. If you are already working in XML, you'll probably have a shelf full of advanced Wrox or Que or O'Reilly books on XML anyway that are very detailed. No, this book is truly for those just starting out who want to or need to actually learn XML and how to use it. And in that capacity, it succeeds on a grand scale.Castro's HTML for the World Wide Web, now in its 4th edition, has become an industry standard. It can be found in every bookstore across the US and in many many college classrooms. Her Perl & CGI book accomplished the same thing for its target audience. I think that it can be said that XML for the World Wide Web will achieve the same lofty status, becoming the third jewel in Castro's triple crown.I have no gripes at all with this book. But, I do have one suggestion that doesn't detract from the excellence of this work. In XML for the World Wide Web, Castro devotes Appendix A to XHTML. My only suggestion would be that perhaps she should instead consider making the 5th Edition of her HTML book an XHTML book, since HTML 4.01 was superseded by XHTML 1.0 almost a year ago. But again, that's only a suggestion.In conclusion: XML for the World Wide Web...great price, great book, future standard!I recommend it highly to those in the early stages of their XML careers.

Clear, concise, cheap!

Elizabeth Castro's Book is written in a very clear and precise style. She doesn't attempt to explain absolutely everything about XML - it shows you how to write and then put XML into web pages, which she covers very thoroughly; if you want any more detailed info such as ASP and XML, the DOM etc. go buy those thick tomes that deal with those topics specifically.This book was perfect for my needs. I have been reading snippets all over the web about XML for months now but nowhere had enough detail - this book takes you through how to set out your information and then put it up.Even though this is an area of "shifting sands" in terms of finalised standards she is bang up to date.There is no doubt that XML is going to be the NBT (Next Big Thing) - get in there at ground level and read this book.If you want an excellent introductory yet very practical primer this is ideal.Leon Cych