Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson in this book builds on the previous ones, enabling you to learn the essentials from the ground up.

Clear instructions and practical, hands-on examples show you how to use HTML to create the framework of your website, design your site's layout and typography with CSS, and then add interactivity with JavaScript and jQuery.

• Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common web development tasks
• Practical, hands-on examples show you how to apply what you learn
• Quizzes and exercises help you test your knowledge and stretch your skills

Learn how to...

• Build your own web page and get it online in an instant
• Format text for maximum clarity and readability
• Create links to other pages and to other sites
• Add graphics, color, and visual pizzazz to your web pages
• Work with transparent images and background graphics
• Design your site’s layout and typography using CSS
• Get user input with web-based forms
• Use JavaScript to build dynamic, interactive web pages
• Add AJAX effects to your web pages
• Leverage JavaScript libraries such as jQuery
• Make your site easy to maintain and update as it grows

Contents at a Glance

Part I Getting Started on the Web

1 Understanding How the Web Works

2 Structuring an HTML Document

3 Understanding Cascading Style Sheets

4 Understanding JavaScript

5 Validating and Debugging Your Code

Part II Building Blocks of Practical Web Design

6 Working with Fonts, Text Blocks, Lists, and Tables

7 Using External and Internal Links

8 Working with Colors, Images, and Multimedia

Part III Advanced Web Page Design with CSS

9 Working with Margins, Padding, Alignment, and Floating

10 Understanding the CSS Box Model and Positioning

11 Using CSS to Do More with Lists, Text, and Navigation

12 Creating Fixed or Liquid Layouts

Part IV Getting Started with Dynamic Sites

13 Understanding Dynamic Websites and HTML5 Applications

14 Getting Started with JavaScript Programming

15 Working with the Document Object Model (DOM)

16 Using JavaScript Variables, Strings, and Arrays

17 Using JavaScript Functions and Objects

18 Controlling Flow with Conditions and Loops

19 Responding to Events

20 Using Windows

Part V Advanced JavaScript Programming

21 JavaScript Best Practices

22 Using Third-Party JavaScript Libraries and Frameworks

23 A Closer Look at jQuery

24 First Steps Toward Creating Rich Interactions with jQuery UI

25 AJAX: Remote Scripting

Part VI Advanced Website Functionality and Management

26 Working with Web-Based Forms

27 Organizing and Managing a Website