What book should I buy...?

[Guy Doucet]

I learned HTML 3, Javascript 1.2, and Perl 5 circa 1998, but haven't done
any serious web programming since.

Looking around, I notice that web programming has changed quite a bit with
XHTML, XML, DHTML, etc... Heck, I haven't gotten used to CSS files yet!

I still enjoy creating web pages but I could obvioulsy acomplish much more
using the latest code.

I'd like to buy a book but which one?

Should I buy a book on XHTML or XML, and if DHTML is for browser scripting,
couldn't I just keep usign Javascript?

Thanks for all again,
G Doucet

 

[David Dorward]

Should I buy a book on XHTML or XML

XHTML 1.0 is simply HTML 4.01 expressed in XML rather than SGML. It means a
few minor changes in syntax and a bundle of interesting compatibility
issues (mostly theoretical) with browsers. There is usually little point in
using it over HTML 4.01, so I would stick with that. I find that the
specification is highly readable <http://w3.org/TR/html4/> so I'd suggest
that over a book.

XML is a language to build markup languages from. Its useful if you need to
pass messages in standard formats between systems, but not particularly if
you want to author webpages.

and if DHTML is for browser scripting, couldn't I just keep usign
Javascript?

DHTML is a buzzword that *usually* means HTML + JavaScript + CSS + DOM. Its
useful to know all four technologies, but not so helpful to use the
buzzword.

I can't comment on CSS books as I've never read any.
http://css.nu/pointers/index.html#Tutorials is useful for CSS.

 

[Hywel Jenkins]

I learned HTML 3, Javascript 1.2, and Perl 5 circa 1998, but haven't done
any serious web programming since.

Looking around, I notice that web programming has changed quite a bit with
XHTML, XML, DHTML, etc... Heck, I haven't gotten used to CSS files yet!

I still enjoy creating web pages but I could obvioulsy acomplish much more
using the latest code.

I'd like to buy a book but which one?

Should I buy a book on XHTML or XML, and if DHTML is for browser scripting,
couldn't I just keep usign Javascript?

No point getting a book on XML - it's just a data format so won't help
with builing web pages unless you want some sort of content management
system and have the skill to translate XML to suitable markup. DHTML
isn't for browser scripting - it's what you get when you combine HTML,
CSS and JavaScript (or other client-side scripting).

Reckon you should skip buying a book and head over to that little known,
under-used web resource at http://www.google.com/