molly.com
Monday 18 April 2005
That and Twenty Bucks
THAT AND TWENTY BUCKS will buy you my new book, “Spring into HTML and CSS” ready for pre-order today.
What? Another Molly book? When? How? I know you’re wondering, and so am I.
I wrote most of it while working on the Zen of CSS Design.
Dave got this kind of horrified look on his face when I told him that I’d done so. I’m not sure if he was frightened by the fact that I’d written two books at the same time, or worried that I could have compromised the quality of our book. So I trusted my judgment at that point and didn’t tell him about the time I wrote four books simultaneously (one which remains a strong seller to this day, even!)
Honestly, all I can tell you about my obsessive book writing is that somehow it gives me evidence I exist. Because apparently I don’t quite get that I do. Or maybe it’s just a good way of channelling some of my hyper-verbal stuff. Or something.
All that silliness aside, the book is prime for folks just coming into (X)HTML and CSS for the first time. It’s not written for advanced folks, rather, regular Jane’s n’ Joe’s working in da coal mines; accountants; doctors publishing their research; students writing their papers; folks working in educational environments.
It’s for professionals whose primary job is not necessarily Web development yet who want to learn HTML and CSS in a standards-aware way.
One cool feature of the book is that it’s “chunked” – each subtopic within a chapter is either one or two pages long, period. The information is tight, concise, and to the point. I enjoyed the challenge of writing in this fashion, it made me have to toss out a lot of detail I’d put into a more advanced or comprehensive book and hone in on what matters most.
The book is really fun and simple and if it’s not for the more advanced readers here, maybe you’ve got a friend or a Mom or co-worker that it’s just right for.
At any rate, I hope you’ll enjoy reading this little gem as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Filed under: professional, standards, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 05:31 | Comments (22)
Hi,
congrats !
Think I’ll get a copy for my boss ( and read it first !)
Well, you’ve got an obsessive book reader here.
Keep it comin’.
Speaking of which… O’Reilly has an animal theme, Microsoft — a construction tool theme. Will the Holzschlag publishing house have a sports theme? *-)
Sounds perfect for my brother, he is doing some HTML and CSS units in his games programming degree. The text books they’ve told him to buy are terrible and he’s currently using my ‘HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide’ instead.
Slow down, I still haven’t bought ‘Zen’… (Which I am planning to do)
Yeah, I know the feeling. Writing is a great form of pleasure.
Knowing what I knew of writing ONE book at a time, two is just beyond madness. Hence the look of horror…
Wait, I kept reading.
FOUR???!!!
Yes, Dave, Four. But not during “Zen.” I promise!
Congrats Molly! I’ll recommend this one next time a beginner needs a book suggestion.
I wrote three books at one time once, but it took years to regain my sanity afterward… So I’m impressed. And a bit frightened.
HA! Michael! You should be impressed
and frightened.
Do ya think that’s going to be on my gravestone?
“she came, she saw, she was impressive and frightening”
…M
If you have not done so I suggest a read of Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott – or really anything by her!
I’m working on updating all my sites to CSS design but I’ve littered the web with some really horendous code and fixing it is such a chore. Thanks for the new book!
Hi Molly,
The book looks fantastic.
I like reading books and learning through them, but I think the best way to learn is through practice and experience and I think the best way to do that is to form a little group of friends who are interested in the same things you do and learn together, share thoughts and mingle.
This has not yet happend to me.
Molly, congratulations. (But FOUR?!!!)
I’ve been looking for a book like this for quite some time; not for myself, but for everyone that asks me “What’s a good book to help me design a website?”
This looks perfect. Please make it perfect for me also by telling me it has an easy-to-use (i.e. while designing/developing) XHTML quick reference.
I’m reading “Zen” on Safari at the moment, but picked up a copy in a bookstore the other day: nice, you and Dave have done really well.
This happened to me once. “Mingle” is as close as I can come to describing it, myself. We all got caught in my parents’ basement, and I got grounded for two months.
Oh, yeah… congrats on the new book, Molly!
I bought the Zen of CSS Design last week and I can assure you that writing this one at the same time did not compromise the quality of the former. Great work!
You, Miss Molly, are one crazy lady for writing that many books at once.
When I’m not so poor, I’ll buy them.
Molly, you are truly amazing. I can’t read them as fast as you write them! And I don’t know what we would do without you. Keem ‘em coming.
Congrats!
I wrote four books too, but when I returned them to the library, they made me pay for them. Those bastards.
Shesh girl…you have some stamina to write as many books as you have, let alone the amount you write at once. Dave, I can just imagine the look on your face when you got this news.
I’ll be recommending this book Molly…I have a “Dreamweaver only” friend that needs to get with the code and see what’s under the web design hood so to speak.
Hey Molly (crazy lady);)
Congrats on the book! I was complaining about a lack of standards in beginner books just yesterday.
I have a long list of people who really need this book. You think “dreamweaver only” is bad – you should try talking to “export from MS Office” people
@ Elly…
Yes, I do feel bad for them! That’s just sad.
I am so glad I went the distance in learning to code by hand with the understanding of what the code does vs. the Dreamweaver, or heaven forbid “export from MS Office” ways of web design.
Hi Molly, I’m on the search for a really good CSS book and think a tutorial format would be beneficial. I ran to the bookstore and took a look at you Zen and your new book on HTML & CSS. Also looked a Mike Meyers book. I’m not sure which which direction to go. I loved the Zen book with the beautiful examples and have visited the web site. My concern is I work for a university and at this time I have to design for browser level 4.0 and up. I need extensive hacks and alternative ways to display CSS to render probably and keep in mind all the accessiblity issues for 508 compliance. I really like what CSS can do, but I can not make sites that are not assessible to all constituents. I read you have extensive experience with this. Can you make some recommendations? I would surely appreciate it!