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Pure JavaScript (2nd Edition)

ISBN: 0672321416
Author: R. Allen Wyke
Publisher: Sams
Publication Date: 2001-08-15

Newbie and old-hand JavaScript programmers alike will appreciate Pure JavaScript, a comprehensive developer's resource to JavaScript that covers both the big picture and precise details. Authors Jason Gilliam, Charlton Ting, and R. Allen Wyke--developers all--have put together this well-organized title.

The bulk of this book is a top-notch JavaScript reference. Core language syntax is well-presented with excellent use of examples for practically every operator and function, and each entry includes version compatibility with Netscape and Microsoft browsers and JavaScript releases. The authors also include references for the two companies' extensions to the language.
A number of appendices round out this fine guide with attention to standard and vendor-specific syntax details. This is a fine JavaScript reference that cuts no corners.

Topics covered: Overview of JavaScript (origins of the language and the evolution of Microsoft and Netscape flavors), security topics (signed scripts and basic constructs of the language, including data types, type conversions, operators, and the features of server-side JavaScript), JavaScript execution environment, and browser version support.
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Effective Web Design, 2nd Edition

ISBN: 0782128491
Author: Ann Navarro
Publisher: Sybex Inc
Publication Date: 2001-04

This is a nuts and bolts coding book. In it are examples showing how to hand-code, in XHTML, sites that include images, links, tables, frames, style sheets--just about everything you might want. There's also extensive advice on planning your site design, knowing your audience, and doing e-business.
The author's fundamental approach to effective Web design is what she terms the "cross-compatibility concept," which is based upon two principles: creating valid code in the first place and creating code that will cause an older browser to either pass on content it can't handle or offer "graceful degradation." This runs counter to similar books, which advise serving up different content depending upon the user's browser.
The book is aimed at those who have used Web layout applications like GoLive, Dreamweaver, or FrontPage, but now wish to know more about the underlying code; s well as those who may already know HTML but would like to learn proper XHTML, especially as a step toward learning XML. The author served on the W3C HTML Working Group as an invited expert, and her confident knowledge in this area is evident in her writing.
Her Web consulting company is called WebGeek, which isn't surprising since the tone of this book is distinctively "geeky." But anyone looking to sharpen his or her coding skills shouldn't be deterred by that.
Beginners will find the book rigorous, but Webmasters will appreciate the chapter on code validators and how to interpret error reports, and the one on improving a site's accessibility for the disabled.
Although it's less effective in dealing with basic design issues like balance and visual unity (it gets marks for effort) or in the homemade (decidedly non-slick) look of sample site designs and graphics, this book does deliver when it comes to the exacting details of XHTML. The index is as thorough as that of a science textbook, and the appendices provide quick access to the XHTML abstract module definitions and all the elements and their attributes. The CD-ROM contains code referred to in the book, along with a lot of shareware and trial copies of Web utilities for FTP, code validating, browsers, and other useful applications.
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Search Engine Visibility

ISBN: 0735712565
Author: Shari Thurow
Publisher: New Riders Press
Publication Date: 2002-12-30
Number Of Pages: 320

Search Engine Visibility is not about merely obtaining top positions in search search results. Rather, Search Engine Visibility is about designing, writing, and creating a web site primarily for your site's visitors, adn helping them find what they are searching for via the major search engines, directories, and industry-related sites.
This book teaches developers, designers, programmers, and online marketers what pitfalls to avoid from the beginning so they can provide their clients with more effective site designs.
"Shari Thurow has been consistently one of the best rated speakers at our SearchEngineStrategies.com conferences for her ample advice on how to build web sites that 'naturally' attract traffic from search engines. Now she puts that advice into print, creating a great companion book for anyone involved with constructing web sites. The book teaches you how to create web pages that please search engines and human visitors alike." --Danny Sullivan, Editor, SearchEngineWatch.com

"The SEO industry can be a huge pitfall for the uninitiated. Fraud, gimmicks, and misunderstanding run rampant. Which is why we are so fortunate to have Shari Thurow in the field. Shari is a straightforward, knowledgeable, perceptive, and experienced practitioner of search engine optimization, marketing, and placement. She knows what it takes to get top positions in the major search engines and--even more importantly--knows what not to do to avoid being blacklisted. Shari is a trusted and active voice in the SEO field, and she always stays abreast of the latest changes."--Adam Audette, Owner, Adventive.com, home of I-Search discussion list; Moderator, bCentral Daily Digest
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