HTML5 for Designers
Why buy a book on HTML5 when the web is full of free information? I hear you say… Well, HTML5 for Designers isn’t any old collection of HTML5 pointers! It’s written by Jeremy Keith and the foreword is by Jeffrey Zeldman, who certainly know what they’re talking about. So you can be sure it’s going to be full of interesting, high quality, and clearly explained information. And it doesn’t disappoint.
I actually pre-ordered the book before reading anything about it. Just before it’s release my TweetDeck was overflowing with hype, so I thought why not? And at just $18 it’s a bargain! If you include postage to the UK the total costs is around £18 - That’s £18 very well spent. I’ll be honest though, when it arrived in the post I was a little disappointed with the size of the book. But of course size doesn’t matter! I soon realised that the fact it’s small is actually one of the best bits.
I have a number of coding books and I’ve never read one all the way though, until now. I do most of my research online and I have no doubt that this will remain my main source of information, but I get distracted easily and tend to skim read articles and blog posts without taking a lot of it in. Taking time out to sit and read a proper book doesn’t happen often, but when it does, the speed and quality of learning and understanding is really noticeable, especially when it’s as engaging as this one. A short, interesting, and fun book is hard to come by, but those three words describe this book perfectly.
The format and structure also works really well. It starts with an explanation of HTML and then moves on to why HTML5 is being developed (It’s not quite finished yet). The book continues to explain features, semantics, and how to use HTML5 today.
Chapters
1. A Brief History of Markup
2. The Design of HTML5
3. Rich Media
4. Web Forms 2.0
5. Semantics
6. Using HTML5 Today
7. Index
The book is well written and covers enough technical points without getting too bogged down. With the odd joke thrown in I did find myself laughing and certain points too! (geek alert).
I’ve been going to presentations and reading plenty of articles about HTML5 for some time now, but throughout the book I still discovered some new things that I didn’t know (I picked up some especially great tips in the chapter ‘Using HTML5 today’). After finishing the book I now feel that I have a really good overall understanding of HTML5 and would recommend any Web designer / developer who is interested in the topic (which you all should be) to go out and buy it… which is why I’ve deliberately not given anything away about the actual content :)
If you’ve read the book or would like any additional information, why not leave your comments below?
http://books.alistapart.com/
By Chris Kemm