The first thing I thought when I got this book was that it was odd for
there to be a Missing Manual for no software in particular. Usually
the Missing Manuals are for software that (obviously) shipped with no
manual, most notably iLife and other apps that come pre-installed
with your Mac. Which reminds me of the other odd thing about this
book; it's cross platform. Most other books in this series are
specifically for Macintosh or Windows, but you can use any computer to
create a web site, so naturally the book had to be cross platform.
All that being said, this book is great for what it is; a clear
explanation of how to make a website and post it on the Internet, from
beginning to end. Part One starts with helping you plan your web site.
It shows you how to make a basic web page and post it on the web with
an explanation of web hosting, getting a domain name and web space,
and transferring your files to your site. Finally, Section One ends
with an overview of software options, ranging from freeware to
professional HTML editors costing a few hundred dollars. The
recommended free HTML editor for Mac is Nvu (pronounced "n-view")
available at
http://www.nvu.com.
Section Two goes into more detail with HTML, the basic markup language
of any web page. Then it moves on to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS),
which are used to format fonts and colors on your web page. Images,
links, tables and frames are also covered in detail. Section Three
gets to the heart of promoting your site so people will see the
efforts of your hard work, setting up communications so visitors can
give you feedback, and finally, making money with your site by selling
items and using advertising.
Once you get your site designed, hosted and profitable it's time for
the bells and whistles. Section Four discusses JavaScript and Dynamic
HTML for adding interactivity and, of course, Multimedia. Any good web
site worth its bandwidth has to have music and video, right?
MLMUG.org has 'em! The book ends with an overview of blogs and
blogger, the most popular blog host.
There are a couple of very useful indexes. An HTML tag glossary
explaining each HTML tag and its syntax, and a section of useful URLs
related to each chapter of the book. Matthew MacDonald writes in the
trademark clear and easy-going style of the entire Missing Manual
series. Someone with a basic understanding of their Mac could buy this
book and have all the information they need to create their web site.
Even though it's an odd fit to the Missing Manual series, I'd highly
recommend this book simply because there aren't many books that cover
so many topics in one, and this is among the best that do.
