Review: Web Development & Design Foundations with XHTML

by Web Teacher
get this book at amazon.com

★★★★ Web Development & Design Foundations with XHTML (4th Edition) by Terry Felke-Morris is from Addison Wesley (2008). This book is 100% courseware, a complete curriculum with project files, test and discussion questions, careful planning of objectives and learning activities, and resources for students at the Addison Wesley site for the book.

I haven’t seen a book specifically written as a text book for several years, and I was eager to see this one. It’s big (8 1/2 X 11 inches), and heavy. And complete. Very complete. It deals with code, design, ethics, accessibility, best practices and every aspect of design and development. A student who mastered everything in this book would have a good grasp of both past and present web development knowledge.

The “past and present” part of it bothered me at first. I normally don’t see much point in asking students to learn deprecated tags/attributes before they are exposed to current standards. But the way it’s done here works. The approach in this book is that students may have to deal with legacy sites and need to know what they will find there. Once the “legacy” information is explained, current standards follow immediately after. Any exercises and hands-on work at the conclusion of each chapter is done according to modern methods and best practices. Several small web sites are created by the completion of the book.

The book is completey Windows-centric. All instructions are for Windows. Some of the materials provided use .asp and .net functions that would be problematic in Mac labs, although most of the exericses can be easily translated from Windows to Mac.

The book has 14 chapters and a “handbook” at the end that includes XHTML and CSS references, character codes, and a Section 508 reference. Chapters start with basics of XHTML and CSS and move through visual elements, design principles, page layout, tables, forms, e-commerce, JavaScript, multimedia, and basic information on site structure and promotion. There are bonus materials available online for frames and Dreamweaver users.

If you’re teaching in a situation where you are scrutinized for compliance regarding objectives, evaluation, and checkpoints, this book has everything you need. You could feel confident about meeting requirements from “on high” using it.

Summary: Well-planned and complete teaching materials.

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One thought on “Review: Web Development & Design Foundations with XHTML”

  1. a must read for all the web design professional and companies. Chapters which I found bit more interesting are.

    XHTML
    CSS Page Layout
    Web Site Promotion

    The game reviews at the end of each chapter is a very effective way to teach.

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