Murach's HTML5 and CSS3 by Zak Ruvalcaba & Anne Boehm

Rating: I give this book 9 out of 10 horseshoes.

"Murach's HTML5 and CSS3" covers HTML and CSS from the ground up. It's a great book for starting out as it shows basic constructs. It's also a decent book even if you know "old" HTML and CSS. The repetitive parts are easy to find/skim. Granted the book is heavy (600 pages) for skimming. There are good guidelines/tips on browser compatibility, SEO and accessibility.

The book has been updated nicely since the 2011 version. Response design is well covered along with tips for testing with different size screens and resolutions. I particularly liked the CSS 3 filters that were included for responsive design. The jQuery section(s) were expanded a lot and grew to include jQuery UI and jQuery Mobild.

I did learn some things from the book and the material was well presented. Unsurprisingly, it uses the standard Murach style. One side of the book is text and one side is examples/bullet points. I also like that the book used HTML 5 and CSS 3 properly rather than tacking it onto an older book as an afterthought.


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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

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Review migrated from old book review post

The book follows the Murach style - on the left pages there is text, on the right pages there are screen shots, code snippets, and short summaries of the text on the left. Unlike the previous Murach books I've read, I was never tempted to read only the right pages, as it's all just very good to read.

Although the title is "HTML5 and CSS3", it doesn't limit itself to those new techniques, instead covering large portions of both old and new HTML and CSS versions. That makes the book good for both beginning and experienced web developers. Where needed it also mentions how to create workarounds for browsers that don't support HTML5 and CSS3.

Though in general HTML5 is discussed pretty well, it does fail in a few chapters. These all require knowledge of JavaScript, yet the authors claim this isn't is necessary. I disagree with them. The sections on GeoLocation and Canvas are nowhere near as complete as the previous HTML5 book I've read, and that's really a shame. The JQuery chapter is by far the worst, showing several snippets of code but explaining very little. I'm an experienced programmer, and I once was really wondering what the code was doing because it wasn't explained properly. Surprisingly, the JQuery Mobile chapter is a lot clearer, but that's probably because it actually contains very little JavaScript as JQuery Mobile does a lot under the hood. All in all, I'd definitely suggest getting a proper JavaScript / JQuery book to fill these gaps.

Finally, one thing really annoyed me. The introduction section looks very familiar. It looks as though it's a required section of Murach books about web development. Having already read a few Murach books it really felt repetitive.


I give this book 8 out of 10 horseshoes.

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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

Rating: I give this book 9 out of 10 horseshoes.

Murach's HTML5 and CSS3, 3rd Edition is a one stop solution to solve all your learning requirements for developing the front end of your applications.

The books starts with introduction to HTML and CSS and quickly covers some advanced topics in it like Responsive web design, adding audio and video, using CSS3 features to name a few. The chapter on responsive web design is very useful as it covers concepts really relevant in today's multi screen world.

The book also covers concepts on Javascript and the famous jQuery library including jQuery Mobile. The chapters on designing and deploying websites are very useful for those who have done development but never got it live to the outside world. If the book could include some suggestions for good hosting providers and good domain name service provider then it would have been very useful.

As is the norm with Murach's books, this book is also a highly practical oriented book with all the concepts explained via examples. Ideally I would use this book as a reference and read those parts of the book as and when necessary. The chapter on Responsive web design is highly recommended as I am not aware of such an elaborate coverage of the topic else where.

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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.