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Doing Web Development: Client-Side Techniques
by Deborah Kurata

Publisher: Apress Buy it Now! 

ISBN: 1893115879
Format: Paperback, 500pp
CD: NO

Today more and more traditional developers are moving into the world of Web application development. Proper use of client-side scripts, style sheets, and XML are essential for building high-performance Web applications that provide a rich user experience.

For a long time, I've been searching for a book on client side Web development. Being a (server-side) web developer myself, I had a pretty hard task of assembling all the "little peaces" of knowledge about DOM, JavaScript, XML and other technologies to enhance my server side Web application with a must-have client side code. To be honest I've finally managed to dig the Internet for information on how to properly use GetElementByID or how to change the appearance of a TD element while the user points the mouse over it, but this book has all the information you need collected in one place.

Doing Web Development: Client-Side Techniques introduces the client-side technologies that modern browsers use to present information in an attractive, useful manner. If you need to understand the basics of technologies such as DHTML, CSS, XML , and JavaScripting, this book is for you. It also includes up to date coverage of essential tools and techniques including XML, XSL, Microsoft.NET, ASP and SOAP. You'll learn about all of these technologies and, what's more, you'll see how they work together at the browser.

If you are a professional desktop developer (never mind your programming language) and want to start developing for the web, this book is for you. The book assumes you haven't done much client-side Web development and starts from the beginning. In more than 15 chapters, each one starting with "What Will This Cover?" - to explain the purpose of the upcoming chapter; Deborah always uses very clear explanations of the topics covered in the chapter. Each chapter ends with a "Try It" section; it provides a facility for you to practice what you are reading.

To name just a few chapters: "Introduction to Web Development", ..., "Using Style Sheets", ... "Using WebForms", ... "Using Cookies", ..."XSL", "Overview of Server-Side Techniques". As you can see Deborah really tries to cover all the key technologies used when building Web applications and really does a great job.

Again, I think this is a very useful book to have on your bookshelf. Anyone developing Web applications using client side techniques (and who isn't?) will find something useful in the book. It's obvious that in order for a single book to cover so much ground, sometimes there isn't quite as much technical detail as you might like, but each chapter ends with a section that provides some additional resource suggestions by way of books, articles, and links to Web resources.