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The authors of Creating Web Pages for Dummies deserve compliments for their refusal to sugarcoat Web page design through reliance upon visual editing tools. They come right out of the gate and teach HTML--a simple, limited subset of the whole language to be sure, but enough of the language of Web publishing to get readers going. Further, this simple but earnest introduction reveals HTML concepts that readers will need to understand before they explore more complicated aspects of the language.

In addition to teaching the fundamentals of page design and creation, Smith and Bebak spend some time explaining how to get pages onto the Web. They detail the mechanics of using no-charge page publishers like GeoCities, then go on to explain how to publish a page on AOL or Prodigy.

One section of this book deals with HTML development tools (the opening chapter is called "Be True to Your Tool"--go figure). The authors cover NaviPress, PageMill, HotDog, and BBEdit in depth, and address a few more development tools briefly. Unfortunately, the reader is left wondering what happened to coverage of FrontPage--a very popular development tool that many people already own.

A companion CD-ROM holds some page-editing tools, including a PageMill demo, a HotDog Demo, BBEdit Lite, and various other software.

If you represent a business, you'll probably want a more comprehensive text that will enable you to project a more professional image on the Web. But if you're a person who wants to publish a home page, this book will serve you well. --David Wall [via]