The opening section of XML/HTML/XHTML Magic is a crash course on the skills readers should have in order to attempt the projects in this book. Subsequent chapters instruct readers on how to use the markup languages and cutting-edge technologies to create a variety of web sites and address design and development concerns. Many books teach mark-up languages in isolation from each other, when in practice they are used together. XML, HTML, XHTML Magic showcases how real people solve problems and address concerns regarding how web sites are built. The angle is real-world, but progressive in that it follows a sophisticated approach to markup, style sheets, and integration of other technologies such as PHP, WAP, and WML.

Review:

XML, HTML, XHTML Magic is a set of short projects that demonstrate Web authoring techniques. Aimed at Web professionals, it is nicely laid out with an unusually wide page size, making it easier to display code samples and screen illustrations alongside the text. Although its stated aim is to assist migration from plain HTML to more up-to-date standards such as XML and XHTML, the book is too short and technically lightweight to achieve it. In particular, the appearance of XML in the title is misleading, since it is hardly covered at all. What it does provide are some valuable examples, particularly when it comes to CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) which are used extensively throughout.

After a short introduction to XHTML and CSS, the book gets straight into the first project, which is designing a table-based daily news site. Next comes a weekly publication using SSI (server-side includes), a corporate site with logos designed in Photoshop, and another project explaining how to show artistic images with flair. A couple of projects investigate the design of a community site with online feedback, including one that uses Apache and PHP for dynamic content. Two more projects show how to design the user interface for an online shopping site, and how to publish questions and answers for customer support. Finally there is a look at delivering data as WML for mobile devices.

Although it touches on some server-side technology, this is really a book about design, with many useful tips for building attractive usable sites that work well in different browsers. Those looking for an introduction to XML or XHTML technology would be better off with one of the many more detailed guides available. --Tim Anderson

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