I thought I’d go back to my first post and take a more in-depth view of ‘what’s happened so far.’  Since it was a single book that kinda kicked things off, I thought I’d do a book recommendation/review:

Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML

Scary title, even scarier to look at the book, when you see how thick it is. My friend sent this book to me about a year ago, because he’s a coding junkie and he likes to infect me with his crazy ideas. I never really liked the programming I had to do in college, so I really didn’t think I’d like it. But I started to read it, just to give it a shot, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t start to like it.

Despite its bulky exterior, the book is a very easy read. The authors have done a great job of writing the book for the way peoples’ brains learn and store new information. They use a conversational style, which really helps with getting through the whole 600+ pages (yup, 600+ pages), but they also employ humor, pictures, redundancy, activities, multiple learning styles and a ton of other methods to make sure you learn what you’re reading, and it sticks. They even spend several pages telling you how they do it and why. Interesting stuff in its own right.

The book walks you through everything from what HTML means, how servers work (roughly) to building a complete website. I mean, really walks you through it. Everything is step by step, and presented to you in a way for it to stick in your brain. You can build a complete website with the stuff you read in this book.

I read it cover to cover, fast as I could (several nights and a plane ride). I haven’t built any full-up websites of note using what I’ve learned, but I started a sincere effort of publishing a site within the last few weeks (I’m not counting this blog). I’ll let you know when it’s done.

If you’re interested in learning how to build a website, or just learn html/css, this book is it. Don’t be afraid of it hugeness.