XML for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide (Visual QuickStart Guides)
XML for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide (Visual QuickStart Guides) by Elizabeth Castro
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Number of Pages:
- 272
- ISBN:
- 0201710986
- Product Group:
- book
- Publisher:
- Peachpit Press
- Publication Date:
- Oct. 31, 2000
- BooksForGeeks.com ID:
- 2563
The Visual QuickStart Guide series from Peachpit Press is known for boiling topics down to the essentials and presenting them in an engaging, efficient way to get the reader up to speed quickly. In applying this model to XML, author Elizabeth Castro had her work cut out for her.
Fortunately for her readers, Castro has successfully identified the core components of XML and presented them in a streamlined way. XML for the World Wide Web doesn't tackle any of the advanced elements of XML technology, such as SOAP, SAX or integration with the Document Object Model (DOM). Instead, it focuses on teaching the basic nuts and bolts of creating XML documents, styling them and defining their structure.
This book moves at a fast pace. Document Type Definitions (DTD), for instance, get only 30 pages of coverage. This tight format is composed of simple examples that illustrate commands and concepts instead of pages of text. The pages are presented in a two-column format so that code fragments can be wisely placed alongside the step-by-step explanatory text. Each topic example is supplemented with one or more useful implementation tips.
For a true grasp on XML and all of its potential, you will need to follow up this introductory tutorial with more reading on the applications of the technology and case studies. But this little book is a great way to learn the basics of XML in a weekend. --Stephen W. Plain
Topics covered:
- XML documents
- Document Type Definitions (DTDs)
- Schemas
- Namespaces
- XSLT and XPath
- Cascading style sheets (CSS)
- XLink
- XPointer
Reviews for XML for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide (Visual QuickStart Guides)
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Close but No Cigar
Rated out of 5 stars, February 12th, 2009
I can honestly say that I am disappointed with this book.
If you are looking for a reference book on XML then this is not it, like me you could find yourself having to buy another book to fill all the gaps left by the Author ,,, and there are many gaps where there is a lack of detailed "explainations". This book has wasted too much of my time days in fact which is unacceptable. If you want a quick crash course this the book is perfect enough to get yourself started. If you want to actually implement XML and schema's you will need more reference material.
Simply not enough background explaination going on here. -
Ok for an overview, but lacking in clarity
Rated out of 5 stars, December 12th, 2008
It's a fine line between keeping things concise and clear, and leaving things ambiguous and unclear. I think this book tends far more towards the latter, I'm afraid, despite the other reviews here.
If you want a book to give you an overview of what technologies are associated with XML, such as XPath and XSL, then this book will do it fine, and even give you a bit of an insight into how to actually cut some code. But if you want to come away from it with working code that you've either lifted or worked out for yourself in reasonable time then I think you'll be disappointed.
CSS is a complicated old technology, and this book covers it in relation to XML. Here's one quote on it: 'Type parent > child to apply the style to only those child elements that are contained directly with the parent element'. Nothing else is said about the '>' operator, nor any examples given. As I say, fine for an overview, but now go and buy the real book that has time to do what teachers should do - explain things in many ways. -
Fine as far as it goes.
Rated out of 5 stars, November 12th, 2003
A good introduction to XML and some associated technologies such as DTDs, schemas, XSLT and CSS, and a pleasant change from all those books whose authors think they won't be taken seriously unless they fill at least 750 pages.
The publisher claims that this guide "uses pictures rather than lengthy explanations", but most of the pictures are simple screendumps of text in an editor. The pictures are more useful in the CSS layout section; however, there are better books on CSS than this, for example by Eric Meyer. (Most are based on HTML rather than XML, but the principles are the same.)
Nicely laid out and printed,and no significant errors or typos. Just a reminder: this book does not cover the DOM, SAX, SOAP or XML-RPC, so you will need to look elsewhere if that's what you need. -
Elegant and concise
Rated out of 5 stars, May 12th, 2001
This is a great book.After two years of searching for a decent book on XML, I was surprised to find what exactly I needed in such a small volume. It seems to say very little, but says everything you need to know. Other writers must grind their teeth in frustration, wishing that they could do what Castro has done here.
I agree with another reviewer here who says that it maybe isn't for the absolute beginner to XML, but if you have read a good introductory article on XML somewhere, then it's perfect. Everyone else is providing either discursive introductions about the idea of XML, or over-detailed, confusing examples. This book hits the sweet spot in between. I'll keep it handy.
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Concise, but confusing for true beginners
Rated out of 5 stars, April 12th, 2001
If you purchase this book with the intention of writing XML within an hour or so, beware: Although all the information is there, it is difficult to follow a single thread that leads to a working example.I am sure this will be a useful book, but it is not a quick start to xml. For the price, it is justified. Otherwise there are better step-by-step tutorials online.
The book's "real world" approach is quite good, balancing the various approaches to xml within just a few pages
This is a book that needs to be followed carefully to get the value it contains. Not everyone will be suited to its concise style.