Zeldman is to be congratulated on this writing. The book approaches the topic of designing with web standards in a very practical manner. I recomment this book to developers, managers and site designers. This book does not teach you CSS, but rather it teaches you how to use CSSm XHTML, ECMA script and DOM to develop web sites according to standards.

I must say that Zeldman, among other good writing traits, has a pretty good sense of humor.

too much emphasis on Why you should be designing using web standards rather than what and how to implement them. not instructive at all. this is definately geared to the seasoned developer not for a newbie

The book arrived on itme and in great condition. It is a great book, information and helpful.

No doubt about it, this book is a requirement for anyone who designs or codes web sites. Zeldman's wit and passion for web standards is evident from the moment you open this book. It is by far one of the best books I have read in a long while; it's easy to read, very informative, and very enjoyable. I wish all computer books could be this amusingly educational. Designing with Web Standards is a permanent fixture next to my computer and I am look forward to any future books Zeldman may author.

Fantastic book. It's changed the way I code web pages. There's really no reason not to design with web standards - it's actually easier than the way we've been doing it all these years, and this book will show you exactly how in 250 pages or so.

Fun read, lots of case studies. Good, short and to-the-point illustrations. While it's not structured as a reference, I find myself using this book that way, from time to time. This book is completely language agnostic, and I think it should be on any web developer's bookshelf.

Important things to consider before you open the cover and start your exploration through this +400 page book.

I'm really sure the target audience is not of someone who has just started making websites or applications, but someone who is atleast at the point were they could code an entire site by hand in notepad and know the inner workings of most web elements. You know CSS, XHTML, and doctypes. How important web accessibility is. this book will give you the true understanding of why people are pushing the use of web standards.

This is not a how to code and entire application from scratch tutorial like a wrox book.

This is the perfect book to give to somebody who leanred non-symantic html markup in the 1990's. The prose is the best of any technical book I have ever read. If you do html design and work with people who learned how to do it the old way, this is the book to force them to read to get started doing it the right way.

As I started picking up HTML, this book was great and got me going in the right direction. It has some great tips and walkthroughs and also gets you using CSS right away while you learn HTML. I feel a lot better about my own pages and design having read this book and am confident it will help anyone who wants to learn html, or find a good book that provides some good straightforward ways to use CSS with your pages.

It does use a lot of absolute positioning, and some other page designers I have talked with don't care for this approach as much. It also avoids using tables as often in lieu of CSS styles that provide much of the same mechanisms. The disadvantage of this for me was making sure my pages worked okay in different browsers. You have to make sure you are setting the correct values in each case.

If you build web sites (or intend to have one built for you), and you haven't read this book, then stop what you are doing and buy it. When it arrives, stop what you are doing, and read it. It is awesome, and funny (believe it or not) and you will be happy that you did.

Jeffrey Zeldman is an authority, no question. But why is he writing a 400+ pages book which he could have done in less than 200?

This book should be called, A General Discussion of Web Standards. Nothing like a book where the author makes a dumb joke every paragraph to fill up space because he is too busy covering the fact he has nothing significant or elightening to talk about.

Don't get this book if you want to learn how to code css pages you will learn nothing.

Buy it if you are a busy professional and like to wasting and money thinking you are going gain more insite into the world of web standards.

I am a fan of everything else the author has done, just not this book.

Make no mistake. This is an important book. Zeldman is a leader in the web standards movement and his voice is worth paying attention to. On the plus side, he offers some good talking points for using with bosses and clients on why designing with web standards is a good thing. He also gives reasonable and well thought out examples and case studies of well designed sites.

On the other hand, the complaints about his rambling, preaching and repetition are valid. The book lacks tight focus, trying to be a polemic, a high level overview and a how-to manual.

This is a book that is worth reading or at least skimming. If you are one of the converted and want to feel good about your choices, this will give you warm fuzzies. If you need convincing on the whether or not web standards are worth the effort to implement, this offers a strong and cogent argument for doing so. I'm not sure that is is worth buying as a reference manual. There are more focused how-to books and more complete reference books.

I got this book a while back and did learn a lot from it, which some of the tips and techniques I still use today. However I did find the book to be very redundant in some of the explanations and techniques. I did however like the fact that real world examples where given and there was no browser favoring from the author which is really good considering a book isn't suppose to be an ad like so many other authors seem to think.

This has easily become a top 5 in my arsenal of CSS knowledge that I have passed down to my friends and acquaintances.

I must say though, if you are looking for a quick "101 tips" book than this isn't for you. It does have a lot of theory and history as well.

To say Jeffrey Zeldman is a character is an understatement. However, he's earned his right, in a way, to stand in his soapbox and preach about web standards, since he's been pushing them for quite a while now. However, the book suffers from one main problem: it takes over 100 pages to get to the point (designing with web standards). In the first few chapters he goes on for a while about what's wrong with the state of the web, what things are being done violating the standards, etc. to the point that it gets a little old.

Eventually, when Zeldman gets out of the woods (of standards violations) the book turns entertaining and very useful. His humorous style makes an otherwise "dry" topic be exciting and fun to read about. He goes through the exercise of showing how the whole concept works, admitting where the blend of CSS and XHTML markup alone may fall short. He takes a web project from the beginning (the i3Forum site) and walks the reader through the steps required to build it following the framework he proposes. He goes through the ins and outs of making it work for all browsers, including a very nice chapter on typography and demystifies accessibility as something that is not as difficult to shoot for and a goal that all sites would also benefit from accomplishing.

This is not a CSS and XHTML basics book, by any means, as there is an understanding of these technologies assumed by the author, but nevertheless it's a very good reference for web professionals on things to avoid and shoot for to make the sites we work on these sites more standards-compatible.

I've read both the first edition and this (second) edition. While the first edition was a very necessary and important book in the world of web standards, the second edition is even more important. The world of web standards is (in my opinion) still getting rolling.

With all the drastic changes happening in the web, be it AJAX, or more semantic coding techniques, it's important to understand how to approach this when building your site. This book covers all that and more.

The first edition is four years old and the second edition does a great job covering all the new techniques and technologies affecting the world of web standards.

Zeldman's approach to learning web standards is fun, quirky, and insightful - not to mention verbose with detail. After all, Jeffrey was (one of many) at the forefront of web standards (back in 1998 - do you remember "Taking Your Talent To The Web?" I do.).

If you are interested in learning one of the web's leaders take on all aspects of web standards, this is the book for you. It's both a book for pros and novices alike.

Zeldman, as noted in other reviews, loves to talk. And talk. And talk. When he finally gets to the good stuff (around chapter 6) I learned a great deal, not only on nuts n' bolts stuff but the theory behind using particular techniques. But until you get to this chapter, be prepared for an ideologue's rants. I will say that I found his preaching interesting to read, and it will give you some nice ammunition should you need to argue for Web standards, but that's what is: preaching about the benefits of standards-based programming. If you already understand standards and compliance issues, at least half the book won't offer you anything new (although you might appreciate his perspective more than you think). One other thing that Zeldman does that I like is that he offers plenty of screenshots of sites that both adhere to and deviate from web standards. He'll go on to explain why the site is a good example of whatever he's talking about at the time. It helps paint a clear picture of the concept.
All in all I think this is something that belongs on any web developer's bookshelf, since so many developers don't adhere to the fine ideas contained within.
If you're new to XHTML/CSS, this book should be your second text. The first should be Head First HTML by Freeman and Freeman, for learning how to write web pages followed by Designing with Web Standards, which will take care of teaching the best practices associated with web design.

I found out about the first edition of this book because so many talented designers recommended it. I really wanted to read it right away, but I found out the second edition was near completion. As soon as it came out I eagerly snatched it up. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I dived right in.

It was amazing. Zeldman is a master in the field of web standards. If you are eager to embrace the beauty of web standards this book could easily be your ticket. Get it!

Zeldman's writing style is so clear that I often recommend it to my web design clients so that they can better understand standards and why it's important for their business. This is an excellent primer in both the need for and how to implement standards. Mr. Zeldman's style is lucid and funny, and he is capable of making complex ideas clear even to novices. A must-have for anyone doing style-sheet based web design, as well as managers who need to understand the current state of the art for their competitive advantage. Buy this book!!

If you want a book that covers the reasons why you should use web standards then this is the book. The opening material is suitable for managers with a little technical knowledge, and may help to provide information to sway them over to using standards.

Getting started with web standards after doing it the old way is one of the biggest challenges, and for some people they'll need the opening chapters of this book to get the fired up enough to want to make the change.

From a 'doing it' point of view, I found the first edition usefull when I was starting out, and I suspect that this edition will also be useful to some of the late coverts to standards, who want the political and techinical background.

Other reviewers have suggested the book is not comprehensive enough, and possibly this is true for advanced users, however I'd suggest that the book be ranked as being part manifesto, part introduction to the faith, which it does well.

For advanced standards folks, I'd suggest buying the CSS Zen Garden Book, which does a fab job of bridging between web standards and design.

If you are expecting a technical book on the in's and out's of CSS then this is not the book for you.

However, this book does a great job explaining the history of web design, it's problems and the ideas and actions toward a standardized web design future. Myself, being a beginner at web design, found this book to be very helpful. I can see how the "old school" styles of web design are very expensive, hard to up keep, and are just not logically correct.

Before reading this book I had coded a page using CSS and "thought" that I had been designing in correct web standards. Little did I realize my empty divs were going against the purpose of CSS. This book does a great job of teaching you what is wrong and what is right about designing for the web. The seperation of stlye, presentation, and structure are the keys to web design. You have to remember that this book is a guide and not a bible, so sometimes you will have to sacrafice standards inorder to meet your client's or your needs.

I would definilty reccomend this book to anyone (a buisness, or just a regular joe like me) who is looking to create solid, easliy maintable web pages.

[This review is of the 2nd Edition of Designing with Web Standards]

The Amazon rating scheme defines 5 stars as "I love it". In fact, I do love reading this book, but more than that I find it indispensible for my work and craft.

This book is a tremendous store of valuable insight into where the web has been and where it is headed. I'm familiar with much of the history behind the standards push but Jeffrey's insight as someone who was leading the charge is facinating. As a developer, I love the discussion of and examples of new techniques, but this book is not a cookbook -- a clear rationale is provided to accompany coding suggestions which will help developers learn as well as accomplish their tasks.

In addition, this book is very easy on the eyes. The full-color graphics really pop - I had to wrestle the book from my wife to read it.

This book is a must for any web developer's library.

The book, that is. Although this review is nice too.

By this date there are dozens of books about XHTML and CSS out there. I own two or three myself. Some of them are better *reference* works than this book.

But in a sense this is a generous update of the book that started it all, by the author who clearly did. And while I would guess that Zeldman spends a good share of mental energy tweaking XHTML/CSS layouts like the rest of us, he also thinks about the "why" of all of this more than anyone else I've read.

I don't know about you, but in those dark moments when your top margin just won't render correctly in an old version of Firefox on a Linux box, I like to remember *why* I'm bothering with standards in the first place. Zeldman helps me remember that this is good for me. In fact, not just good for *me*, but good for my clients, good for my web visitors, and heck--even good for the web development industry.

Even when he's talking about the mundane (and let's face it, there's a lot of mundane to talk about here), you can tell that his writing is suffused with a deep passion for elegant markup that not only does the job but lays down a foundation for maintainability and flexibility. Zeldman started writing HTML before most of us could spell it, so he's *been* there, man. If he says, "Do it this way," I think twice before going down a different path.

Start with this book. Read all of it and absorb both the details and the reasons, which Zeldman takes pains to explain. Open up a CSS reference once in a while when you need it. But you'll keep coming back to this book for inspiration and rededication.

I've read many books on web design, all of them put me to sleep. If you are a beginner or a pro, this book is helpful in spelling out the how's and why's of designing with XHTML and CSS. It is the only book you would need to read on the subject. Zeldman is funny and refreshing, which made the book's concepts easily digestable.

It is true the book only gets started on real application in the second half. If you aren't interested in the history of web design and standards implemention, skip ahead. I found this section to be highly informative and complimented the work section in the second half by giving it context.

I think some people didn't like this book because it doesn't give you all the details on how to build a website. It gives you a framework to implement your own ideas with. Zeldman hooks you up with the right tools to get started and then you're on your own. If you need your hand held with some dry text, perhaps an O'Reilly Definitive Guide is right for you.

While the book purports to give the reader information on implementing web standards, there actually isn't a lot of meaty code examples. The examples are too shallow with insufficent discussion. Mr. Zeldman, however, is very good at advocating why designers and businesses should support web standards. There is quite a bit of advocacy in this book. If you take out the code examples, it becomes a very good "high-level" web standards advocacy book for neophyte web designers, technical managers, and business clients to read. As the book is currently packaged, though, I feel the book does not do what it advertised.

If you're looking for meaty discussion of techniques for coding web standardized markup, you will definitely want "Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook" or "Bulletproof Web Design" by Dan Cederholm.

I read this whole book in about a day. While I've been designing Web sites professionally for about 10 years now, and have tried my best to stay current in terms of standards, I found this to be a very well-written, easily understood refresher on all the basics (which I'll admit I mostly skimmed over), but also a practical guide to all the latest standards and how to implement them. Zeldman--who is a very generous writer and even more generous designer--provides dozens of free code snippets and links to online resources where you can either see the examples in action or copy them to use in your own work. Web designers and developers will thank themselves for having read this--in no time, you will be building the lightest, coolest Web sites with the most brilliantly simple markup. I definitely learned a few important lessons from reading this. In short, it will revolutionize the way you think about Web design. Futhermore, the time you save will be more than worth the price of this book.

This book is for anyone who wishes to understand the importants and implications of developing for the internet. It accurately portrays some the consequences of proprietary technology in a collaborative environment.

Working together shouldn't be so hard. The author enthusiastically outlines the original goal of the internet, but then gives you a realistic dose of what became of it. That being corporations fighting for profits, shredding our beloved medium in the process.

A war has already been fought to rekindle the original intent of the internet. Flowing, effecient communication. He aquaints you with the battle that was fought as well as a small picture of what the state of the web currently is.

The goal of this book is advocacy, though. It is a very minimal primer on what you need to do to bring yourself up to web standards. You will see some examples outlined, but the meat of the conversation is not feeding you code to use, it's reinforcing that you need to find that code elsewhere. He does tell you where to start but makes it clear that his book is not designed for more than advocacy. Thus I give it 4/5 stars because it was not mentioned on the cover. Despite being fairly lite on code, the psuedo-techniques were useful for when you do seek out the code.

I am glad I purchased this book although you already know quite a few details in it from your general web usage. In the end, it gives me even more ammunition with my clients to prove to them why they want a developer who understands the state of the web.

I chanced upon this site nine months after I had this book assigned for a course, an introduction to standards-based XHTML and CSS. Here's my opinion : this sanctimonious and insufferable tome put me off what is actually a very good idea - the very CSS and WEB standards Zeldman professes to espouse. After over a hundred plus pages of fulminations against the past : gosh, those browser wars sure were bad (how many times have we heard that?) Eek! those 90's guys were such idiots... etc etc. Zeldman tosses off his ideas with a "la-de-da" Yes - he says la de da - the book is preaching to the converted at its worst.

I resent having paid some $30 for this book a year ago. Don't pay more than $1 for this tired ranting... Those truly interested in useful examples of CSS and WEB standards should look elsewhere - to authors like Eric Meyer and Dan Cederholm.

If you're shooting for accessible, valid, web design then you will want to read this book. It's a different approach than books written by Dan Cederholm, Eric Meyers, and other CSS/XHTML gurus who boast standards compliance. It fills the gaps that do not fall within the scopes of their books (I would recommend their books too). Never have I thought of adding a "hide" class to a div at the top of my document (that won't show up in a regular browser) that will allow a visually impaired user who uses a screen reader to skip the navigation menu. Nice idea. I think I'll use it.

Another thing I found interesting is his information on how certain browsers render background colors. Did you know that some of them render a "transparent" declaration as a black color?

Much to gain in this book... Most folks know about Quirks Mode and Standards Mode based on DTD's, but how many folks know about "Almost Standards Mode" and how it renders certain elements? Of course, he gives a detailed explanation on that as well.

This book is great for both the CSS purist who's looking for new ideas as well as the table based designer. Let's face it... we don't always have the final say on how a document will be laid out.

Zeldman covers it all. If you want to do yourself and your clients a favor you'll READ THIS BOOK

The problem with reviewing a technology book that is over two years old is that chances are high it is no longer accurate, much less relevant. That fear is largely unfounded when it comes to Zeldman's Designing with Web Standards. Granted certain realities have change - we no longer worry about doing ANYTHING for Netscape 4.x - but most browsers still in use at least pay lip-service to, if not flat out aspire to, Web Standards compliance and there are no shortage of sites or designers who have yet to answer the Web Standards call.

Designing with Web Standards makes the practical, professional and business case for Web Standards. Zeldman lays out what has brought web development to the point it finds itself at today and shows how the standards will help you plan intelligently for what is yet to come. He takes you through some compelling cases illustrating the impact a move towards Web Standards can have on your site but does so with eyes open. His chapter "The Trouble with Standards" confronts the obstacles and frustrations that await those starting down the Web Standards path. This plain-speaking balance, along with a dry sense of humor, made me feel like he was more a co-worker sharing a new technique rather than a teacher delivering a lecture.

Zeldman breaks down the "trinity" of Web Standards - structure, presentation & behavior - clearly enough to get a novice going and provides enough detail to teach the more experienced webmaster a thing or two. The book is comprehensive while not getting bogged down in too much detail. He gets technical enough for developers to feel he is speaking their tongue while really addressing those with the eye for creative design. The book's steady progression from transitional or "hybrid" design layouts to a full CSS redesign helps designers learn to gradually change they way they think about design challenges. It shows how to make measured steps in current sites without feeling like the move to Web Standards has to be all or nothing. Don't misunderstand, it is not a full-fledged "project book" like Meyer's Eric Meyer on CSS, but it does get you going in the right direction.

One thing I really liked was his inclusion of a chapter on accessibility. This critical component of modern web design is often left out of Web Standards discussions. Often its only mention is that Web Standards makes it easier to make pages more accessible. While this is certainly true, Zeldman spends some time showing how. However this is a spot where the age of the book shows a bit. For example, he talks about Flash versions 4 & 5 and their lack of accessibility. While he gives Flash MX a nod for its improvements in that area, it would insightful to see the chapter revised for newer versions of the tools and technologies he mentions. The industry, and players like Macromedia in particular, have recognized the need for greater accessibility and in the intervening years have worked to improve their products.

The book's appendix, or "backend" as Zeldman labels it, contains a breakdown of the level of standards compliance of each of the major browsers at the time of publication. While his shot was good at the time, it is clearly a moving target that has moved on. I have searched for an online resource to match it, but have yet to find it. Eric Meyer used to maintain a CSS-compliance chart and he now has a browser section of his blog, but that's as close as I've found.

Even if you play with the code along the way (and how can you resist?) the book is a pretty fast read. The style is clear and often funny. It gives enough of a taste to leave you wanting more. If the journey down the path to Web Standards enlighten begins with a single step, that step is reading this book.

This book is just I was looking for: a smart, cheap and complete Web Standards guide.

I came upon this book via glowing reviews on amazon, citations on websites, and exalted praise from cutting-edge web developers. This was THE book to read if you want to build websites that didn't rely on spaghetti code and deeply nested tables, I was told.

I was greatly disappointed. While I appreciate the overall message of this book and some of the techniques are helpful, not only is it exasperating in its lack of information, but it actually commits the very sins that it relentlessly cites as the scourge of 99.9% of websites - redundancy, verbosity, and lack of clean, clear structure of what little information it imparts.

-REDUNDANCY AND VERBOSITY GALORE
The book really doesn't even get started until Chapter 6 on page 153 (and even that is being generous), after mind-numbing repetition in the form of exposition, bulleted lists, and executive summaries about why one should design and build websites using web standards. There's even a sentence on page 137 that proclaims, "Now let's stop exulting and get down to work." Well, guess what? It's just a tease - and there will be plenty more -- because the proselytizing never really stops.

When the author finally comes around to showing examples and their accompanying markup, it is sadly deficient. CSS that works with the markup is not even shown alongside it, although we are promised to be shown in another chapter. I learned very little about how to actually employ the techniques that Zeldman advocates so strenuously.

The meaningless subheads drove me nuts! Here's a taste: "CSS: The First Bag is Free; The F Word; How Suite it is; Not a Panacea, But Plays One on TV; Inherit the Wind; Miss Behavior to You." I know this might seem like a petty criticism, and maybe people are used to this style from the Dummies books, but 1. They're stupid 2. They impart absolutely no meaning, so if the book is used for a reference, they are less than helpful and 3. The subsections are constantly referred to in all of their absurd and useless glory. This constant reference to other sections by Chapter Number, Chapter Name, Subsection Name smacked of gratuitous page lengthening to me. (If you must refer, why not just use page numbers? Takes up about 1/10th of the space (LIKE GOOD WEB CODE), or better yet, use footnotes!)

-CRINGE-MAKING BANTER
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I don't get this stuff. I bought a serious, technical book about the new age of coding websites. It cost $35 and at 415 pages, that's about 8.4 cents per page. I don't need breaks for mindless digressions about blueberry tofu pie, what title you were thinking of for chapter 6, or for that matter why you want to write in the first person plural. At times, Mr. Zeldman seems to almost flaunt it in our face that he's wasting our time, e.g., on pg. 214 (after a discussion of how this isn't a CSS manual, and how he's introducing us to the "thighs" and "drumsticks" of CSS), he writes: "On the other hand, how many full-blown CSS reference manuals use the word "thighs" three times in one paragraph? You're right none of them do. Your money was well spent on this book."

And when he does actually explain something, it's like being hit over the head with a jackhammer. It took more than half of page 159 to explain this XHTML rule: "write all tags in lowercase".

-BAD TEACHING
The book is also sprinkled with pointless putdowns like "none of this is rocket science" (pg. 164), but the most egregious teaching technique occurs on page 196, when, mind you, very little actual teaching has even taken place. The author gives an example of markup from the Microsoft homepage (eek!) of what he calls "toilet debris" code and then goes on to say:

"Because redundancy is as bad in books as it is in code, we'll avoid explaining what's wrong with this markup. If you don't know by now, one of us hasn't done our job."

Should the phrase "we'll avoid explaining" ever be part an educational text? With all due respect Mr.Zeldman, I think it's you who didn't do your job.

Forward-compatibility. Reduced site maintenance. Increased extensibility. More users. And big cost savings. That's what this book is about. Jeffrey Zeldman (of the The Daily Report) leads readers through the why's and hows of building web sites using the established standards of Structure (XHTML), Presentation (CSS), and Behavior (ECMAScript, DOM). Since most web site decision-makers don't yet grasp the significance and business reasons for moving to a pure, standards-based design, Zeldman spends the first 100 pages giving them no room for arguing against this approach (ESPN got the message--and saved tens of millions of dollars by converting their 1 billion hits per month site). The remainder of the book is spent in the trenches, providing exacting detail about how to upgrade existing sites or build new ones around standards. It doesn't hurt that Zeldman's humor and light writing style will speed you through this book. It may be the fastest read of any technical book to date--and that would be one of Zeldman's points.

This book has opened my eyes to the better designing/coding practices that I always wanted to embrace and understand. This is a big subject and Zeldman breaks it down into solid, fearless and good-habit-forming first steps.

The first few chapters tend to beat you over the head with the "why" of web standards, but it's one of those necessary "this hurts me more than it hurts you" kind of beatings. Getting into chapter 5, "Modern Markup", he gets deeper into the "how" of standards and accessibility. There are three chapters (8 through 10) where he outlines the markup of an actual XHTML 1.0 Transitional page with CSS and accessibility enhancements. This was extremely helpful and enriching.

I was worried that because this book was published in 2003 that it would be outdated. Not so. It is entirely relevant and meaningful. Web designers/developers of any skill level, at any career stage, will benefit from reading this book. I've been in this field for 15 years and finally (!) made a commitment to web standards with the help of this book.

This invaluable volume was my handbook and tutorial when making WikiDiction. Out of several dozen web-design books, this one has done more to shape my approach to web design, and given more practical tips and tricks, than any other single book. Thank you Jeffry. The Web is a better place for the work you have done.

What a great book. `Designing with Web Standards' is a mix of witty humor, egotistical sermons and actual content that kept me reading through the end.

Definitely worth buying if you're centered in or on web design or the like. Although this wasn't my first 'web standards' book (try Dan Cederholm's books), it gave me a lengthy historical background and practical examples of the beginnings of the new approach to semantic + presentation markup. Zeldman eats it up as most other technical books make me put a gun to my head (Love you O'Reilly!).

A note:
Although written in 2003, the book's examples are already showing some age (most notably, the screenshots). But still, this is the book to start it all off.