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Ask HN: As a programmer, what would you be looking for in a HTML & CSS book?

• laughfactory 13y ago
  Great news. As a member of your target audience I'm excited to be able to provide so thoughts on what I would find helpful. My main complaint with a lot of the beginner HTML/CSS books is that they approach the subject from a static perspective. They seem to assume that I'm only interested in creating a simple static website when in fact I suspect anyone who's learning HTML/CSS is doing so implicitly because they want to learn how to ultimately create dynamic database-backed web apps. A book that approached the topic with that in mind from the get go would be much appreciated. Also, one of the major topics I think is overlooked is the PROCESS odd designing and creating a real web app UI. As a beginner, I'd very much like some insight into how one goes about creating a web app using HTML/CSS...I.e., what process do you follow when attempting to realize an idea you have in your head or which you have sketched out. I would also like extensive coverage of how to use all the standard tools which are now very common and which attempt to make it easier to develop well-laid out attractive web apps: twitter bootstrap, foundation 4, CDS preprocessors, grid layouts, etc. These things are becoming as important as simply knowing about HTML/CSS. I guess what I'm saying is that we don't necessarily need another book which teaches basic HTML/CSS (tags, and so forth), we need a book that closes the gap between such books and the more advanced topics like HTML5 (I.e., adding JS/jQuery functionality to a web site). I hope this ramble has been helpful. Thanks for asking for input!
  • bbx 13y ago
    Thanks for the insight. Your comment will probably lead me to write a book solely targeting programmers, instead of trying to target beginners and graphic designers as well. What is it about creating a HTML/CSS web app that is hard to grasp?
    • sharmi 13y ago
      One of the issues I face is that simple CSS illustrations demonstrate interplay of positional effects between one or two items. The same positional effects give a different effect when in a multilayer container. What is the general guideline for wire-framing an app?
• codegeek 13y ago
  To me it is not so much about the syntax of HTML/CSS itself which I can of course google etc, the biggest challenge is how to put a sketch/wireframe/concept to HTML/CSS version. How do i create the layout ? Where do I position a section ? How do I decide if I should create nested rows vs columns vs what not. These are the things that are so difficult to me as a programmer who just barely hacks some bootstrap/zurb themes.
• LarryMade2 13y ago
  I like examples, how things work, but not a lot of fluff... Two books permanently on my shelf for CSS and HTML are Stylin' with CSS by Charles Wyke-Smith, and Visual Quickstart Guide to HTML by Elizabeth Castro. Both books covered the basics enough to get a grasp of the big picture. Mainly if I had a question about where X goes where and what Y does, I could find an direct answer from these books usually with an example if applicable. There are probably a bunch of common front-end situations you could cover in a book would be great (AJACX search queries, the basics of responsive design (it all starts in the CSS) etc. And another suggestion - avoid using frameworks. You want your book to last, don't use some framework-du-jour, keep it vanilla and then let the reader decide what framework would better fit their work later on. If you do use frameworks - make sure the framework is listed in the title or content info so folks can decide if that would be useful for them.
• manidoraisamy 13y ago
  layouts. I still can't make head & tail out of it. I found tables easier.