Building a Website For Dummies - David A. Crowder

I had been interested in how Web Design worked for a while, so I decided I would delve into the topic. I knew of a friend who had created a website having no advanced technological knowledge, which spurred me on to go out and learn for myself.
Of course I had spent time trawling through Internet Forums, but I thought this was no substitue for a book, something I could refer back to. The selection in my local bookstore wasn't huge, but this ...
...Dummies' series to be incredibly useful, and explain processes in entirely understandable ways.
It seemed the perfect choice for a beginner like me. The title, 'Building A Website' seemed to suggest it would reveal how to put together the basic structure. It also stated on the back that I would be able to discover how to 'Build pages with an HTML Editor'. With a brief flick through the contents, I saw a whole section devoted to 'Building ... more

I had been interested in how Web Design worked for a while, so I decided I would delve into the topic. I knew of a friend who had created a website having no advanced technological knowledge, which spurred me on to go out and learn for myself.
Of course I had spent time trawling through Internet Forums, but I thought this was no substitue for a book, something I could refer back to. The selection in my local bookstore wasn't huge, but this title stood out as I had always found the 'For Dummies' series to be incredibly useful, and explain processes in entirely understandable ways.
It seemed the perfect choice for a beginner like me. The title, 'Building A Website' seemed to suggest it would reveal how to put together the basic structure. It also stated on the back that I would be able to discover how to 'Build pages with an HTML Editor'. With a brief flick through the contents, I saw a whole section devoted to 'Building Your Site'. Perfect. Exactly what a beginner like me would be looking for, right?
Wrong. Throughout the book it is geared towards those who already have knowledge of programming, or preferably a website they want to enhance. The section on how to 'Build Your Website' was lacklustre. It explained only very small snippets of code, which did not go far in producing a sleek site. It did of course explain these well, as the you would expect from such a high-quality series, but the depth of the code just wasn't there, and it just wasn't possible to build a site with the help of this book.
I later picked up 'HTML For Dummies', from which I picked up the language to a far greater extent. Using this, I was able to produce professional lookig sites. Once I had done this, I began to explore the further sections of the book. I found the links given to all be worthwhile for Webmasters. The content of these sites are a great help, or sometimes a quirky novelty, which to find for oneself would take a great deal of searching. E-Commerce, publicizing your site, registering your site, it's all in there, and in such detail. The book explores all the possibilites you could make, and helps you make an informed decision.
Personally, I feel the title is misleading. If you are a beginner to programming like I was, stay away from this book. There are many books out there geared towards beginners which will be of much more benefit to you. By all means return to this book in the future, as the information it does provide on extra features, such as how to make money from your site, are excellent, and are of great use when the time comes. 

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