Comments about oreilly HTML Pocket Reference, Second Edition:

I must have a later edition, the "" tag is where it should be in my copy. All in all, I use this little book quite a bit. I have trouble always remembering different forms for each tag and the many attributes that can go for each. Whenever I'm stumped and can't remember, I can just reach for this reference and flip to it instead of hunting it down on the web. It's saved me time when I needed to be working on scripts or code but needed to output some html and couldn't think of what I needed.

Comments about oreilly HTML Pocket Reference, Second Edition:

Very sad and hard to understand that even the second edition is spiked with errors. One needn't to be a genius to put together all available documents from W3C and make a book of it, so the errors only weigh more. At least, the German edition ("HTML kurz & gut") has corrected the worst errata.

What I liked about the book were the document examples in the beginning. The %coreattrs, %events and %i18n attributes should be easier to find (they are not listed in the TOC). I think, required attributes should be listed before optional ones.

What is missing (as some readers also remarked in the errata list):

- color names

- some words about other character tables

- some words about http-equiv

- ... and about the use of other attributes like -coordinates. A sentence like "The syntax depends on the form" is poor.

But still, as I don't know a better book of this kind, I do not regret having bought it. It's handy and useful, in spite of the errors. But maybe O'Reilly should think about withdrawing it and reworking it before damaging their reputation.

Comments about oreilly HTML Pocket Reference, Second Edition:

The "Reference" in the work's title is unearned. A browse through the list of errata reported on this website for the printed book is hair-raising. A reference book is one we are expected to trust. After two editions, for example, the author seems still not to have grasped character entities and their independence of the Macintosh platform. This is not a difficult subject to cover: as will all HTML specifications, the W3C has the complete listing, so there is no reason for errata. A well-done equivalent of this book would be extremely valuable. Perhaps another imprint can exercise the sort of quality control that used to be expected of publishers and produce a genuinely worthwhile book in this format.

Comments about oreilly HTML Pocket Reference, Second Edition:

I also can't believe that they forgot the tag. Imagine my surprise when that was the first tag I tried to look up! Where is their sense of quality? If you are looking for a handy little book to keep with you, this is not the one, at least not until they get to the 3rd edition and restore to its rightful place.

Comments about oreilly HTML Pocket Reference, Second Edition:

Must have book for any web developer. I use it constantly. My only grumble is that there is no listing for the tag. How could they miss that one?