about this book

You should read this book if you're interested in learning about the new features in HTML5 and CSS3 available to web developers and enjoy an example-driven, visual approach to learning. Readers in any of the following categories should find this book useful:

Different readers will find different parts of the book interesting. Please see the later section "Book structure and suggested reading order" for further guidelines on how to navigate the book.

Extra content for beginners

This book focuses on the new features of HTML5 and CSS3; as such it expects the reader to have a little experience with their predecessors. But we will take things slowly, especially in the early chapters, and each feature discussed will come with example code you can try yourself. If you know what tags are and what a CSS rule looks like, then you should have few problems. If you're new to web development, then you'll benefit from the short introduction to HTML and CSS in appendixes B and C.

To use many of the new features in HTML5, it is helpful to have some knowledge of JavaScript. If you are a complete beginner, then you will still find this book useful as it mostly uses small examples which are easy to experiment with. Appendix D is provided to get you started in JavaScript.

Book structure and suggested reading order

This book is split into two sections: part 1 concentrates on HTML5 and part 2 on CSS3. The HTML5 section has chapters on the new markup features of HTML5, forms and form validation, HTML5's new dynamic graphics capabilities, using video and audio, new JavaScript APIs for client-side development, and new APIs related to networking. As a rough guideline, the early chapters require little-to-no knowledge of JavaScript, with each successive chapter building your knowledge base. The second section starts with a couple of chapters on the nuts and bolts of CSS3 and selectors, followed by chapters on layout, motion and color, borders and backgrounds, and fonts and text formatting.

Most of the chapters are self-contained, although there are a few dependencies. The following chapter diagrams show a few suggested reading orders, based on your role and what you expect to get out of the book. Each diagram consists of chapter numbers in boxes as well as the recommended and optional steps, which are indicated by two types of arrows as shown in the key above.

If you are a ... Read chapters in this order

WEB DEVELOPER

If you're a web developer looking to get up to speed, then you should have no problem reading the chapters in numerical order. The CSS used in chapters 2 through 6 should be easy for you to follow. If you're interested in the history of HTML and the standards process, then you can read appendix A before you dive in. It's likely that appendixes B through D are not going to tell you anything you don't already know, so there's no need to bother with them.

NOVICE WEB DEVELOPER

If you're a novice web developer, then a slightly different approach is recommended. Again, read appendix A only if you're interested in history, but do read appendixes B, C, and D if you have little-to-no experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Read appendix C and chapter 7 right after chapter 1 to build your familiarity with CSS so that the limited amount of CSS used in chapters 2 through 6 doesn't hold you back.

APP DEVELOPER

If your goal is to be an app developer, either targeting mobile devices or Windows 8 Metro style apps, then the key chapters for you are 1 through 6 which concentrate on the markup and programming platform provided by HTML5. Include appendixes B and D plus chapter 7 if you're coming to HTML5 from another platform. Chapter 8 discusses CSS layout, which will be useful for apps. This diagram assumes a graphic designer will handle the detailed design work, so chapters 9 through 11 are not shown.

INTERACTIVE MEDIA DESIGNER

If you're an interactive media designer who is a heavy user of Flash for media, animation, or interactive content, then you can safely skip chapters 2, 5, and 6. Chapter 3 deals with dynamic graphics and 4 with audio and video, and chapters 9 and 10 deal with the more visual-impact aspects of CSS3. Chapter 8 on layout will be of less interest to you, but chapter 11 covers using custom fonts, so you may want to read that section.

WEB DESIGNER

If you're a pure web designer with no interest in JavaScript, then you can read the book while avoiding most of the code. Any snippets of JavaScript you'll come across in chapters 1 and 7 through 11 can be ignored unless you want to try replicating CSS3 effects in JavaScript for backwards compatibility.

Characters and conventions

This book uses many graphic elements and typographical conventions to guide you and help you learn about HTML5 and CSS3. This section summarizes what you can expect to see.

CHARACTERS

You'll be helped along by the characters from the popular User Friendly cartoons. In case you're not familiar with this web comic, let me introduce each of the characters and explain their roles in this book.

A.J. is the Columbia Internet Web Developer. He loves computer games, nifty art, and has a big-brother relationship with the Dust Puppy. He'll be your main guide through HTML5 and CSS3, pointing out gotchas and giving you extra tips.

The Dust Puppy was born inside of a network server, a result of the combination of dust, lint, and quantum events. He is wide-eyed and innocent, with no real grasp of reality, but he's pretty cute and people love him. In this book, Dust Puppy's main role will be to help you move from one topic to the next, summarizing what you've just learned and letting you know what's coming next.

Erwin is a highly advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) that resides somewhere on the network. He was created overnight by the Dust Puppy, who was feeling kind of bored. Erwin will help out whenever something needs looking up on the internet or when you need to think like a computer.

Miranda is a trained Systems Technologist and an experienced UNIX sysadmin. A.J. is her boyfriend and she'll be helping him out throughout the book.

Greg is in charge of Technical Support at the company. He has broad technical knowledge but no expertise in web development. A.J. is helping him learn about web development, and he'll ask questions when A.J. isn't being clear.

Stef works as the Corporate Sales Manager. He can't understand the way techies think, so he doesn't get very far with them. Although he admires the power of Microsoft's marketing muscle, he has a problem with Microsoft salesmen, probably because they make much more money than he does.

Mike works as a System Administrator, and is responsible for the smooth running of the network at the office. He will help us out whenever we need to understand some details of server-side setup.

Sid is a self-described "lichen of the tech-forest floor," a long-lived, deeply experienced and acerbic observer of the geek gestalt. His history in computing involved vacuum tubes and, later, punch cards. He carries with him an air of compassion mixed with disdain for the younger geeks around him.

Pitr works with Mike as a System Administrator. For some reason he always wears dark glasses and has adopted a guttural Eastern European accent. Pitr will take some time out from his plans for world domination to keep A.J. in his place and to demonstrate that attention to minor technical details that makes geeks so well loved.

Crud Puppy is Dust Puppy's evil twin and nemesis, born from the crud in Stef's keyboard. Whenever we need an antagonist, Crud Puppy will be happy to oblige.

CARTOONS & DIAGRAMS

There are many cartoons and diagrams in this book. The cartoons are based on the actual User Friendly comic strips. Their intent is humorous rather than educational as they poke fun at various aspects of web development. A sample cartoon is shown below.

Diagrams are part of the text; they present information that's easier to understand in pictorial form. An example diagram follows.

CODE LISTINGS & SNIPPETS

Code listings and snippets and any occurrence of code in the text will appear in the LucidaMonoEF font. Here is a typical code snippet:

Longer listings will look like this:

Code downloads

Up-to-date downloadable code samples and other news about the book are available from the publisher's website at www.manning.com/HelloHTML5andCSS3.

Author Online

Purchase of Hello! HTML5 & CSS3 includes free access to a private web forum run by Manning Publications where you can make comments about the book, ask technical questions, and receive help from the author and from other users. To access the forum and subscribe to it, go to www.manning.com/HelloHTML5andCSS3. This page provides information on how to get on the forum once you're registered, what kind of help is available, and the rules of conduct on the forum.

Manning's commitment to our readers is to provide a venue where a meaningful dialogue between individual readers and between readers and the author can take place. It's not a commitment to any specific amount of participation on the part of the author, whose contribution to the book's forum remains voluntary (and unpaid). We suggest you try asking the author some challenging questions, lest his interest stray!

The Author Online forum and the archives of previous discussions will be accessible from the publisher's website as long as the book is in print.

About the author

Rob Crowther is a web developer and blogger based in London, UK. Currently he works for a small software company building web applications for corporate clients such as BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Honeywell, and Young & Co.'s Brewery.