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Author: Steven Holzner
Publisher: Sams, 2010
Pages: 240
ISBN: 978-0672333330
Aimed at: Web developers
Rating: 3.5
Pros: Good, brief, coverage of APIs
Cons: Lacking in explanation
Reviewed by: David Conrad
HTML5 is a hot topic but what is it exactly? The answer is that it has some parts that are truly part of the standard and other that are just sort of attached along with the whole idea of a better web. This particular book takes a fairly precise view of HTML5 and deals with it core topics. It is a very short book so you could use it to find out what you are missing. However, you do need to be very clear that many of the new HTML5 features only make sense when viewed from the point of view of JavaScript. This book does include these features and does include lots of JavaScript. It also makes no attempt to explain JavaScript so you need to know how to program to get very much out of this book and hence it isn't aimed at web designers. But then there is the argument that most of HTML5 isn't aimed at web designers.
Lesson 1 kicks off with an overview of HTML5 and the topics that the subsequent lessons will deal with. Interestingly it doesn't make a big thing out of the new semantic markup tags that HTML5 introduces - being programmer oriented the author probably didn't think they were worth the attention.
Lesson 2 is about using the canvas element. It consists of a short introduction to the basics ideas and some examples. Lesson 3 deals with dragging and dropping in much the way. Then we have a lesson dealing with the new web form controls, inline editing, working with the browser history, messaging, using video and audio, web storage and finally SVG and MathML. The final two are a strange choice because both have been around a before HTML5 but it is true that they are going to be more important now that they are standardized.
Overall the introductions to the topics are short and to the point. Some of the examples are a little on the long side and occasionally there isn't enough justification for the feature - what, for example, is the messaging API or the history API used for? Also there are few details of what might be going on server side
Also there is no discussion of the problems of compatibility. Each section lists the browsers that support the API but no comments are provided about dealing with browsers that don't support the API are provided. This is just a book that tells you the very basics about how everything works. If this is what you are looking for then its quite good. If you are looking for something with extended discussions of the technology or explains how the HTML5 relates to earlier versions of HTML5.
Overall not a bad book if you want a fast no-nonsense introduction to the HTML5 APIs.
Related article:
HTML5 - I've seen it. It's rubbish.
Real World Instrumentation with Python
Author: John M. Hughes
Publisher: O'Reilly, 2010
Pages: 624
ISBN:978-0596809560
Aimed at: Interfacing beginners
Rating: 2
Pros: Covers some theory
Cons: Not real world at all
Reviewed by: Harry Fairhead
A real world book on instrumentation is something that should be valuable - does it work out right?
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Modern JavaScript: Develop and Design
Author: Larry Ullman
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Pages: 624
ISBN: 978-0321812520
Aimed at: Web designers
Rating: 4
Pros: In-depth treatment
Cons: Not object-oriented
Reviewed by:
Modern JavaScript - what exactly does that mean?
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