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Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual
Think you have to be a technical wizard to build a great web site? Think again. If you want to create an engaging web site, this thoroughly revised, completely updated edition of Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual demystifies the process and provides tools, techniques, and expert guidance for developing a professional and reliable web presence.
Whether you want to build a personal web site, an e-commerce site, a blog, or a web site for a specific occasion or promotion, this book gives you detailed instructions and clear-headed advice for:
Everything from planning to launching. From picking and buying a domain name, choosing a Web hosting firm, building your site, and uploading the files to a web server, this book teaches you the nitty-gritty of creating your home on the Web.
Ready-to-use building blocks. Creating your own web site doesn't mean you have to build everything from scratch. You'll learn how to incorporate loads of pre-built and freely available tools like interactive menus, PayPal shopping carts, Google ads, and Google Analytics.
The modern Web. Today's best looking sites use powerful tools like Cascading Style Sheets (for sophisticated page layout), JavaScript (for rollover buttons and cascading menus), and video. This book doesn't treat these topics as fancy frills. From step one, you'll learn easy ways to create a powerful site with these tools.
Blogs. Learn the basics behind the Web's most popular form of self-expression. And take a step-by-step tour through Blogger, the Google-run blogging service that will have you blogging before you close this book. This isn't just another dry, uninspired book on how to create a web site. Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual is a witty and intelligent guide you need to make your ideas and vision a web reality.
Whether you want to build a personal web site, an e-commerce site, a blog, or a web site for a specific occasion or promotion, this book gives you detailed instructions and clear-headed advice for:
Everything from planning to launching. From picking and buying a domain name, choosing a Web hosting firm, building your site, and uploading the files to a web server, this book teaches you the nitty-gritty of creating your home on the Web.
Ready-to-use building blocks. Creating your own web site doesn't mean you have to build everything from scratch. You'll learn how to incorporate loads of pre-built and freely available tools like interactive menus, PayPal shopping carts, Google ads, and Google Analytics.
The modern Web. Today's best looking sites use powerful tools like Cascading Style Sheets (for sophisticated page layout), JavaScript (for rollover buttons and cascading menus), and video. This book doesn't treat these topics as fancy frills. From step one, you'll learn easy ways to create a powerful site with these tools.
Blogs. Learn the basics behind the Web's most popular form of self-expression. And take a step-by-step tour through Blogger, the Google-run blogging service that will have you blogging before you close this book. This isn't just another dry, uninspired book on how to create a web site. Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual is a witty and intelligent guide you need to make your ideas and vision a web reality.
608 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
42 people are currently reading
170 people want to read
About the author
Matthew MacDonald
179 books25 followersMatthew MacDonald is a science and technology writer with well over a dozen books to his name. He's particularly known for his books about building websites, which include a do-it-from-scratch tutorial (Creating a Website: The Missing Manual), a look at cutting-edge HTML5 (HTML5: The Missing Manual), and a WordPress primer (WordPress: The Missing Manual). He's also written a series of books about programming on and off the Web with .NET, teaches programming at Ryerson University, and is a three-time Microsoft MVP.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 23, 2011
O'Reilly Publishing provided me access to an electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Matthew writes this book as if the reader has no previous experience with coding and even no experience with really understanding how the web works, i.e. how servers render webpages and understanding how a URL works. So if you have lots of experience with these areas then this book probably isn't for you. If however, you've never designed a webpage before or it's been a long time since you've coded this is the book that you want to pick up. The book is divided into five parts:
Welcome to the web--which covers the basics of how the web works, basic HTML, and uploading your webpage to the web
Building better webpages--covers how to use CSS, add images to the website, and creating pages
Connecting with your audiences
Website Frills--learning and using JavaScript for basic tasks
Appendixes
So by the end of the book the reader is able to know how a webpage works, design their own basic one (and know some good practices for doing so), and learning a little bit beyond the basics with JavaScript. The book is also accompanied by a website for future updates and an appendixes with online resources for learning more HTML and websites mentioned in the chapters for finding additional resources.
Having previous experience designing webpages I started reading and reviewing this book as a chance to find a guide that would be a handy reference or a bit of a refresher course when my mind decided to go to sleep. The good: Each chapter is written in a clear, easy to understand format that covers the basics of getting started. The bad: I did have a few problems with some of the information given and how it was worded. First is that it seems jumpy in some places, he wants you to swim before you can walk. For example, he starts off with saying create your first webpage and see how it looks in the browser before really discussing how everything is set up. I get that he wants to provide an example, but I would have told them to take a look at a simple webpage and pointed out the elements to the page first.
He also doesn't really cover some of the basic programs well, such as FTP applications and text editors. With FTP programs he just hopes that you're web provider lets you do it via the browser. For text editors he only highlights three free programs and misses some really popular ones, such as TextWrangler, textpad+++, or NetBeans. He also seemed to indicate that the pay ones were better if you were doing more complicated things, which just isn't quite true. It was just a bit disappointing to me perhaps, because I come with experience with webdesign. That being said for someone that is a complete novice at webdesign the book does cover the basics well so that anyway, even a person that has just started using a computer the week before, could pick up the book and begin building a webpage.
Even though it does have a few problems, it's still a good basic book for the beginner or a good refresher for someone that hasn't done webpage design in a while. If you're looking to get into depth with CSS or JavaScript I would recommend one of O'Reilly's other books, such as CSS: The Definitive Guide or Head First JavaScript.
Matthew writes this book as if the reader has no previous experience with coding and even no experience with really understanding how the web works, i.e. how servers render webpages and understanding how a URL works. So if you have lots of experience with these areas then this book probably isn't for you. If however, you've never designed a webpage before or it's been a long time since you've coded this is the book that you want to pick up. The book is divided into five parts:
Welcome to the web--which covers the basics of how the web works, basic HTML, and uploading your webpage to the web
Building better webpages--covers how to use CSS, add images to the website, and creating pages
Connecting with your audiences
Website Frills--learning and using JavaScript for basic tasks
Appendixes
So by the end of the book the reader is able to know how a webpage works, design their own basic one (and know some good practices for doing so), and learning a little bit beyond the basics with JavaScript. The book is also accompanied by a website for future updates and an appendixes with online resources for learning more HTML and websites mentioned in the chapters for finding additional resources.
Having previous experience designing webpages I started reading and reviewing this book as a chance to find a guide that would be a handy reference or a bit of a refresher course when my mind decided to go to sleep. The good: Each chapter is written in a clear, easy to understand format that covers the basics of getting started. The bad: I did have a few problems with some of the information given and how it was worded. First is that it seems jumpy in some places, he wants you to swim before you can walk. For example, he starts off with saying create your first webpage and see how it looks in the browser before really discussing how everything is set up. I get that he wants to provide an example, but I would have told them to take a look at a simple webpage and pointed out the elements to the page first.
He also doesn't really cover some of the basic programs well, such as FTP applications and text editors. With FTP programs he just hopes that you're web provider lets you do it via the browser. For text editors he only highlights three free programs and misses some really popular ones, such as TextWrangler, textpad+++, or NetBeans. He also seemed to indicate that the pay ones were better if you were doing more complicated things, which just isn't quite true. It was just a bit disappointing to me perhaps, because I come with experience with webdesign. That being said for someone that is a complete novice at webdesign the book does cover the basics well so that anyway, even a person that has just started using a computer the week before, could pick up the book and begin building a webpage.
Even though it does have a few problems, it's still a good basic book for the beginner or a good refresher for someone that hasn't done webpage design in a while. If you're looking to get into depth with CSS or JavaScript I would recommend one of O'Reilly's other books, such as CSS: The Definitive Guide or Head First JavaScript.
June 18, 2016
Excellent book. A very solid intro to HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript, although I really don't see why you would need an advanced book on those first 2 topics i.e. after this book, some good web sites could probably give you any advanced material you'd need, like looking up a word in a thesaurus only when you needed it for an essay.
October 25, 2011
This book is a decent introduction to many topics related to web design; too many topics, in my opinion. I expected the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, but a large part of the book teaches how to use Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, and other sites and services, which seemed beyond the scope of building a website. It also covers website promotion (including SEO, analytics, and community-building), monetization, and multimedia.
The book is full of clear, understandable code snippets and screenshots. It presents HTML5 throughout, and encourages the use of new HTML5 structural elements in place of divs for more semantic markup, with caveats about browser compatibility. I was pleasantly surprised by how much space was given to JavaScript, and really liked the JavaScript 101 chapter.
Free HTML editors
•BlueGriffon
•Amaya
•HTML-Kit 292
•CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor
Commercial HTML editors
•Adobe Dreamweaver
•Microsoft Expression Web
Free graphics programs
•GIMP
•Paint.NET
•Aviary.com (online editor)
Free graphics & stock photography
•Stock.XCHNG
•Flickr Creative Commons
Commercial graphics & stock photography
•iStockphoto
•Fotolia
•Dreamstime
JavaScript resources
•DynamicDrive.com
•Webmonkey.com JavaScript tutorials
Button generators
•ButtonGenerator.com
•CSS-Tricks.com Button Maker
Web design tips & advice
•The button element is more powerful than the input element for buttons, because you can control the content on the button’s face.
•Use the Web Developer extension to test browser window sizes.
•Use CSSStickyFooter.com for code to create a footer that sticks to the bottom of the page.
•Use relative positioning to keep layouts flexible, but use absolute as necessary for smaller regions.
•For SEO, set page titles to the page description followed by the organization or site name.
•Use the HTML5 Shim to add support for HTML5 elements to non-compliant browsers.
The book is full of clear, understandable code snippets and screenshots. It presents HTML5 throughout, and encourages the use of new HTML5 structural elements in place of divs for more semantic markup, with caveats about browser compatibility. I was pleasantly surprised by how much space was given to JavaScript, and really liked the JavaScript 101 chapter.
Free HTML editors
•BlueGriffon
•Amaya
•HTML-Kit 292
•CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor
Commercial HTML editors
•Adobe Dreamweaver
•Microsoft Expression Web
Free graphics programs
•GIMP
•Paint.NET
•Aviary.com (online editor)
Free graphics & stock photography
•Stock.XCHNG
•Flickr Creative Commons
Commercial graphics & stock photography
•iStockphoto
•Fotolia
•Dreamstime
JavaScript resources
•DynamicDrive.com
•Webmonkey.com JavaScript tutorials
Button generators
•ButtonGenerator.com
•CSS-Tricks.com Button Maker
Web design tips & advice
•The button element is more powerful than the input element for buttons, because you can control the content on the button’s face.
•Use the Web Developer extension to test browser window sizes.
•Use CSSStickyFooter.com for code to create a footer that sticks to the bottom of the page.
•Use relative positioning to keep layouts flexible, but use absolute as necessary for smaller regions.
•For SEO, set page titles to the page description followed by the organization or site name.
•Use the HTML5 Shim to add support for HTML5 elements to non-compliant browsers.
March 9, 2017
The Javascript and multimedia chapters are baffling for the beginner, although the rest of the book is very well written and understandable
December 10, 2022
If you do not have the latest edition you need to buy a new copy
Of course, this review is written for the third edition, I have earlier editions. By now there may be later editions. Why all versions will work there is always something new and a different way to tackle “Creating Web sites”
The nice thing about this missing manual is that they assume you are starting from scratch and bring you up to snuff before describing the more exotic parts. The manual is not just a technical manual but covers the philosophy and purpose of websites.
I came to this book a tad backward. I first read The Missing Manual on HTML5. Then I realized I needed this book to fill in the blanks.
I cheated and started a website with my eyes closed. Now a am using this book to go back a flesh it out.
Even if you know what you are doing it is always nice to see from a different angle.
Of course, this review is written for the third edition, I have earlier editions. By now there may be later editions. Why all versions will work there is always something new and a different way to tackle “Creating Web sites”
The nice thing about this missing manual is that they assume you are starting from scratch and bring you up to snuff before describing the more exotic parts. The manual is not just a technical manual but covers the philosophy and purpose of websites.
I came to this book a tad backward. I first read The Missing Manual on HTML5. Then I realized I needed this book to fill in the blanks.
I cheated and started a website with my eyes closed. Now a am using this book to go back a flesh it out.
Even if you know what you are doing it is always nice to see from a different angle.
September 12, 2018
Es un buen libro que da elementos técnicos básicos, pero que no sólo se queda en la parte técnica, por el contrario, explica cómo crear y mejorar sitios web para hacerlos atractivos y rentables.
December 12, 2009
While a little miffed at Amazon because they highlighted this edition when the newer edition had been out for a while, I didn't discover that till partially through the book. Put together as most Missing Manuals, where the next chapter builds greatly on the preceding chapter, it also has information that is decades old.
HTML, the building block of the web, has been around along time, and the web is fifteen years and more now. Even at the time of the book, ten to twelve years in, rehashing the building blocks with too much detail is probably best left elsewhere, even if it is to be used as that step needed to create greater depth in the later chapters.
What is lacking in the resources is a book that blasts in its title, Web Site Design for the best of 2009! Wouldn't that be useful. Current tips and tricks and a way to design something that is meaningful for the times. We have HTML, and XHTML and CSS, discussed. A work around to use Forums by co-opting Google, which is the reason I looked into this resource, and then found another work-around in the notes. Blogs are covered, but the material is out of date, though a good introduction.
In the end that is what this book is. Not as good as many missing manuals because it is out of date. And not as good as many missing manuals because it does not dig deep where it should. Just a little better than average but more than enough to get you up and running with a website that has more than the canned goods your web hosting software wants you to use.
HTML, the building block of the web, has been around along time, and the web is fifteen years and more now. Even at the time of the book, ten to twelve years in, rehashing the building blocks with too much detail is probably best left elsewhere, even if it is to be used as that step needed to create greater depth in the later chapters.
What is lacking in the resources is a book that blasts in its title, Web Site Design for the best of 2009! Wouldn't that be useful. Current tips and tricks and a way to design something that is meaningful for the times. We have HTML, and XHTML and CSS, discussed. A work around to use Forums by co-opting Google, which is the reason I looked into this resource, and then found another work-around in the notes. Blogs are covered, but the material is out of date, though a good introduction.
In the end that is what this book is. Not as good as many missing manuals because it is out of date. And not as good as many missing manuals because it does not dig deep where it should. Just a little better than average but more than enough to get you up and running with a website that has more than the canned goods your web hosting software wants you to use.
July 12, 2010
"Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual" is a well written and, at times, amusing overview of current web site creation technology. MacDonald successfully makes a great effort to keep the book lighthearted and flowing while still providing enough information to allow a beginner to use the various technologies and create a page. He also made very good decisions on what material to winnow out.
I have developed web pages and hand coded html off and on for over a decade. But I picked up this book in order to fill in gaps and update myself in technical areas that I had not previously needed.
I would characterize this book as a good second book for a would-be website front end developer. "Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual" sits in between a first book on how to cookbook a website and an introductory college level course on website front end development. And, I believe, fills that niche quite nicely.
I have developed web pages and hand coded html off and on for over a decade. But I picked up this book in order to fill in gaps and update myself in technical areas that I had not previously needed.
I would characterize this book as a good second book for a would-be website front end developer. "Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual" sits in between a first book on how to cookbook a website and an introductory college level course on website front end development. And, I believe, fills that niche quite nicely.
October 1, 2023
If you do not have the latest edition you need to buy a new copy
Of course, this review is written for the third edition, I have earlier editions. By now there may be later editions. Why all versions will work there is always something new and a different way to tackle “Creating Web sites”
The nice thing about this missing manual is that they assume you are starting from scratch and bring you up to snuff before describing the more exotic parts. The manual is not just a technical manual but covers the philosophy and purpose of websites.
I came to this book a tad backward. I first read The Missing Manual on HTML5. Then I realized I needed this book to fill in the blanks.
I cheated and started a website with my eyes closed. Now a am using this book to go back a flesh it out.
Even if you know what you are doing it is always nice to see from a different angle.
Of course, this review is written for the third edition, I have earlier editions. By now there may be later editions. Why all versions will work there is always something new and a different way to tackle “Creating Web sites”
The nice thing about this missing manual is that they assume you are starting from scratch and bring you up to snuff before describing the more exotic parts. The manual is not just a technical manual but covers the philosophy and purpose of websites.
I came to this book a tad backward. I first read The Missing Manual on HTML5. Then I realized I needed this book to fill in the blanks.
I cheated and started a website with my eyes closed. Now a am using this book to go back a flesh it out.
Even if you know what you are doing it is always nice to see from a different angle.
February 17, 2009
I've actually been working my way thru this one for quite a while... like maybe a year. So I get to the end and feel like I'm ready to take on some trial stuff... and then I found out that a lot of the info is dated. So now I've moved on to CSS: The Missing MAnual. I don't exactly feel like I totally wasted my time since any understanding is a good thing... but I wish I hadn't spent quite so much time on it. I could have moved on much more quickly
February 20, 2009
Overall content: 5 out of 5 stars
This book covers just about everything from concept to publishing. Great information
Relevant Information: 3 out of 5 stars
I knew about half of what the book covered from a class I took and other books I've read. (Note to self... never buy a book when you don't have the time to look it over real well cuz you've got to pee really bad)
This book covers just about everything from concept to publishing. Great information
Relevant Information: 3 out of 5 stars
I knew about half of what the book covered from a class I took and other books I've read. (Note to self... never buy a book when you don't have the time to look it over real well cuz you've got to pee really bad)
March 9, 2012
Although most of it was review for me, I was still able to find a few things I didn't know or wasn't entirely clear about. I think it's a good and easy to follow guide on building your first website.
December 23, 2007
an amusing and above all instructive beginners' guide to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript!
April 8, 2010
The Missing Manual series is one of my favorite. Easy to understand and entertaining.
May 26, 2010
Dated information...not sure why this title is on the syllabus for a local web design class. Disappointing for a 2009 edition. I would recommend other titles.
January 31, 2013
I really like "The Missing Manual" series of books. This book will get you started, but you need to read other books to get more depth of the details of creating a website.
September 13, 2011
Es bastante bueno!! Me lo estoy por terminar jajaja
April 7, 2012
Highly recommended. Very good introduction to CSS and HTML.
January 2, 2013
kalo yg ini baru enak..
sistematis,, benar2 dituntun dr awal
sistematis,, benar2 dituntun dr awal
August 19, 2016
Great reference, very thorough and clear.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews