Codin' for the Web: A Designer's Guide to Developing Dynamic Web Sites

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11 Reviews

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Every time you buy a computer-related book, you hope that it is going to be THE one that ties it all together for you - answers all your questions, and leaves you thinking that with this book alone, I'm going to understand and be able to actually DO what I'm wanting to get done. Like me, if you are the frequent buyer of computer books, you know that we purchase each book with this eternal optimism, only to be let down every single time. Not any more: THIS BOOK TRULY IS WHAT YOU'RE HOPING TO BUY!
The author not only understands the subject, but more than any other author I've ever read, he truly seems to have the geek-free comprehension of what his audience is wanting to get from the book. This isn't even meat and potatoes - It's meat only! Other books will touch on every important issue, but always with the caveat of "a detailed discussion is beyond the scope of this book".

SO WHO'S THE PERFECT AUDIENCE FOR THIS BOOK, AND WHAT IS IT GOING TO CONVEY SO WELL?

This book is perfect for all of those readers who have a little bit of exposure to javascript, php, XHTML, and CSS, probably gained from a frustrated, partial reading of other books, all originally read because you want to truly understand what it takes to put up a high-quality, interactive web site from scratch. This book is going to show you (really!!) how to do that!

The chapters are:

1) Coding Principles
2) Processing Forms
3) Databases
4) Content Management
5) Cookies and Authentication
6) Building A Website With PHP
Two online bonus chapters are:
A) Unleashing the Geek Within
B) Coding the Interface

More than any other tech book I've ever read, with this book, it is as if the author sat down with you and said,

"Okay, I'm going to take the next few days to really show you, from scratch, what I do to get a client's business on the web. I'm not going to try to impress you or confuse you so that you'll think I'm smart. I'm going to show you what I do, step by step, from beginning to end. I'll be thorough, but we don't have any time to waste."

AFTER ALL, ISN'T THAT WHAT WE ALL WANT WHEN WE BUY A COMPUTER BOOK?!

I own an online educational site for professionals, and I have paid a professional PHP programmer about $8,000 this last year to bring it up to where it is at the rate of $100 per hour. I AM TRULY FEELING LIKE, AFTER READING THIS BOOK, THAT I COULD HAVE DONE VIRTUALLY ALL OF IT MYSELF!

What a masterpiece! I can't recommend it highly enough!

Woohoo! My copy of Codin' for the Web has arrived. As a huge fan of Stylin' with CSS, when I saw that Charles Wyke-Smith was coming out with a new book I promptly pre-ordered my copy from Amazon.

I have not been disappointed. Even as someone who has some basic knowledge of PHP and some experience with writing SQL queries, it is nice to have someone explain it to me clearly. He uses relevent examples - ones that you will want to incorporate into your own website (i.e.: developing a CMS, creating an authentication system, dynamic navigation, as well as coding/PHP basics).

The book is another slick publication by New Riders and has the same easy-to-read-in-bed style as the last book, complete with the useful sidebar comments for the code and downloadable code.

I would say this book is aimed at the Beginner+ web designer - one who is ready to move past static HTML sites and start building dynamic sites.

Thanks Charles! And keep 'em coming.

I'm a big fan of Wyke-Smith's "Stylin' with CSS" so I snapped up this book immediately. I'm not finished with it, just yet, but I think I can still point out one thing. I'm reading Larry Ullman's "PHP for the World Wide Web" (2nd Ed.) at the same time, and I find that the two work really well together. "Codin'" moves very quickly, and he tends to gloss over things a bit, but combined with Ullman's more in-depth book, I'm learning a lot. They reinforce one another, I suppose.

Codin' was a good introductory if you already have a solid background in computers (OS, File Systems, file types etc...) and at least an intermediate understanding of html (although to the author's credit he offers some bonus material on html if you don't). It really works well if you are an advanced html person with at least some web design experience but want to dive into scripting and creating interactive websites. He does a good job of introducing php as a language and showing some simple techniques to get you up and running quickly, especially with forms. Not a book for advanced php developers and there is really no javascript which I think would be an important component to show how the two languages can be used in conjunction. Also maybe some explanation as to when php is appropriate vs. say a full OOL (object oriented language) like java or where it might make sense to use javascript instead of php to handle front end stuff. Overall it is a good book. I thought the author could have done a better job of explaining in the form chapter how the form fields can be input into a database but he stopped after explaining the input into a flat file which most people I have found wouldn't find all that useful since a db is the way to go in most instances. He goes into the db in the next chapter and sort of leaves you hangin with the previous form explanations. He circles back around and explains in later chapters but it was a little confusing because you had to infer some stuff to make the connection. Overall I recommend the book though and I have a Master's degree in IT and am very familiar with html, css, and SQL, and now a decent foundation in php.

BTW, I found the code examples offered on his site very useful and helped me get past some of the stuff that I had to infer.

I am a very visual learner and have trouble with any type of "code based"
web development.

The CSS book and the PHP book are seriously the only things that have gotten
me to easily wrap my head around these concepts.

I would highly recommend either of these two books.

The layout is great and it use real world examples. A+

I've spent a lot of time looking for a resource I could use to teach myself php. The biggest problem I've ran into is the book/website either being 1) over my head, or 2) unbearable to read.

Luckily this item was neither of the above. Though I haven't made it though the entire book yet I have found this to be -extremely- helpful and well written. I don't come from a coding background at all so I had to find something that really started from the ground up. I found this to be easily understandable to someone who doesn't get coding. Additionally his website has two extra beginning chapters if you really need to go over the basics (which I did for the coding part).

The language is clear and concise and not confusing or dull. So I would highly, highly recommend this title to anyone from a design background looking to expand their talents. So far it's one of the best I've found.I will definitely look at this other books, the next time I'm in the market for another computer book.

I really think this is a great book for beginners in the php/coding area, It's very clear and with a clean and good practice in mind. As for me is not that useful because of my previous php knowledge, but it's a good point of reference for those familiar with php also. Overall... great book, great explanations.

If you liked Stylin' w/ CSS and want to make dynamic sites, this is the book for you. It starts very basic, and builds slowly. I enjoyed it.

I would highly suggest this book to anyone wishing to learn how to code.

Charles once again has out done himself with an excellent book.

His style of writing is one that helps you to see what it is that he is trying to get across to you. Not many authors can do this, but Charles does it with Style!

This book provides a fantastically easy intro to a difficult subject for a beginner. The real world example of using PHP for form field validation is great for teaching the concepts involving variables, arrays, loops & general expressions. The author also answers emails if you have a problem. I highly recommend this guy! His other book "Stylin..." is also great!!!

I have heaps of these books and I wish I'd bought this one first. Others are always pinching it off my desk as well--I keep telling the boss to buy copies for everyone. I'll need a new copy soon :)