Creating a Website The missing manual

For the audience that it targets, Creating a Website: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald is, simply put, brilliant! The most important question you need answered is, is this book for me? If you are an experienced HTML or Javascript programmer and are looking for advanced programming techniques such as creating a dynamic website utilizing PHP and a database, then this book is not for you. If you are not a programmer but want to create your own website that is integrated with modern social media and a blog, then look no further, this is the book you have been dreaming of. First off, I must start off by saying that this book is very well written, it is not a dry catalogue of technical information. It speaks to you in intelligent layman’s terms, is engaging, and is at times quite entertaining. It presents ideas in a way that they are absorbed with almost no effort, and after reading for extended periods of time, your mind will not feel like it was twisted into a pretzel. As far as a computer manuals go, this one was an absolute joy to read. So what types of tools will you need to be able to program your website using this manual? Any computer and that is all. This book is both platform agnostic as well as design tool agnostic, meaning that it will work using either a Mac or a PC and does not require you to own an expensive website design program like Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression. All you need is a computer with a simple text editor like Notepad and you are in business. This manual assumes only two things, that you are not a programmer and you want to make a website, but it teaches your far more than you would expect. Using this manual you will learn: the history of the web web browsers and planning for your site the simple basics of HTML to layout the content of your website CSS style sheets for giving your website a personalized and consistent look how to obtain and use a domain name like www.thisismysite.com how to use graphics and links to enhance your site how to register with search-engines and making your site search-engine-friendly so that your site is easy to find for your target audience how to use Google Analytics to track your visitors and monitor your web traffic how to transform your site into a community using newsletters, twitter, groups, and Facebook how to create, incorporate, and manage a blog in your website how to make money with your site using Google AdSense, Amazon Associates, and Paypal Merchant Tools how to use Javascript to add interactivity into your website how to find free and ready-to use Javascript code that can be placed into your website with no effort how to create fancy buttons and collapsible menus how to link, embed, or host audio and video into your website using a variety of techniques including Flash, YouTube, and HTML5 the new and exciting enhancements that come with HTML5, how and when to use them, and how to plan for browsers that do not support certain features yet and so much more… I am not a beginner, and yet I still really enjoyed reading this book. Matthew MacDonald does an excellent job of bringing a vast amount of information to the novice and presenting it in a way that is fun, fascinating, and easy to understand. There is more to creating a website than just programming such as tracking your demographic and making your website known and accessible, and this book covers it all. If you are looking to create a website for a hobby, a special interest, or a small business and you aren’t a programmer, then look no further, this is the book for you. In almost no time, you will be able to produce a site that you will be proud to say that you created yourself.