Anyone who has read anything I’ve written (or watched my video blogs,) knows that I can’t stand academics. I was particularly vocal against the Web Standards zealots of the early 2000’s, wherein reality was pushed aside in favor of code purity.
These nerds would ignore reality – for example:
They would ignore how the most popular web browsers would interpret HTML and CSS code – which often times, was in a method contrary to their nerd wet-dreams. As such, they would come up with harebrained hacks to jam in their ‘compliant’ code … hacks that eventually broke in many cases, defeating the supposed original purpose of the Web Standards movement!
They would also obfuscate what the actual browser use was in terms of real people surfing the Web. They would come out with numbers that did not reflect the reality they were desperately trying to ignore: that the vast majority of people surfing the Web were using web browsers (Internet Explorer) that did not play nice with their ideas of how a web browser should read code.
… It gets even more stupid: even the basic web design cycle seemed to be ignored, where their recommendations would actually get in the way of productive web design and development. I am convinced many of the big names in this movement barely created websites in, or for the real-world – they were academics.
I really like the style of the Head First series from O’reilly – they’ve managed to create a style of nerdbook that looks more like a graphic novel, than a tech book.
Let’s start with the verdict for this particular title:
Head First HTML5 Programming is a good book if you know HTML, CSS and at least a little Javascript.
Some details …
Basically it covers many of the big features in HTML5 and the surrounding technologies. The authors make heavy use of graphics and storylines to make the book more entertaining. If you are more of a beginner when it comes to programming or web application development, then I think this presentation style will be great for you.
If on the other hand, you are a hardcore grizzled nerd programmer, the wordy, graphic and puzzle rich book might annoy you a bit. That’s OK, because O’reilly has their more traditional style of book for you.
Some of the topics covered:
Canvas: drawing with HTML5
HTML5 video
Web Storage – savings files to client computers – much better than JavaScript cookies!
Web Workers – threading with HTML5!! Yea, this particular HTML5 capability freaked me out.
There’s more topics covered including some quick introductions to JavaScript and Dom scripting. Again, if you are new to programming, I think these sections will be a little too much to handle. That’s OK, you have our super fantastically easy KillerSites JavaScript video training to cover you there.
😉
Being a shameless self promoter that I am, we also have our own HTML5 interactive video courses you can learn from. It’s all good, depending on how you like to learn.
