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XML for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide

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Features

  • NEW—Everything the student needs to write XML code, XSL and CSS stylesheets—as well as scripts required to generate each piece.
    • Provides students with most current material, visually presented, to learn the latest industry tools and to update their skills on the latest standards using XML.
  • NEW—Relevant, working examples—Using XML to transform and streamline personalized Website content.
    • Students work on real world examples as they learn XML.
  • Task-based—Information is broken down into concise, one- and two-page tasks.
    • Allows students to learn the most important tasks of XML and get right to work on any project.
  • Visual Reference—Plenty of screen shots illustrate the step-by-step instructions.
    • Visually demonstrates and reinforces the instructions for a particular task as the students work at their computers.
  • Step-by-Step—Numbered, easy-to-follow instructions.
    • Succinct numbered instructions provide a logical approach to learning tasks.
  • Quick reference tabs—Tabs on each page identify the task.
    • Easy for the instructors and students to find a particular task and makes this text useful after the course ends.
  • Shaded sidebars.
    • Calls attention to important features and additional helpful information.
  • Tips—Highlighted through the book.
    • Offer author advice, timesaving shortcuts, and pointers for students who want a further understanding of XML.
  • Industry-leading author—Elizabeth Castro is the author of four best-selling editions of HTML for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide. She also wrote the best-selling Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide,
    • Thousands of students have learned HTML from Castro's HTML Visual QuickStart Guide who now are needing to learn more custom and advanced scripting languages for the Web.
  • Value-priced.
    • All Visual QuickStart Guides are reasonably priced, making them an affordable option for learning multiple software programs.

[There is a new edition of this book: XML, Second Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide by Kevin Howard Goldberg (ISBN: 0-321-55967-3)]

Web-maven Elizabeth Castro, who has penned Peachpit books on HTML,Perl and CGI, and Netscape, now tackles XML--an indispensable tool for creating personalized, updated content for each visitor on your site. Whether you build Web pages for a living or you're taking on anew hobby, XML for the World Wide Web contains everything you need to create dynamic Web sites by writing XML code, developing custom XML applications with DTDs and schemas, transforming XML into personalized Web content through XSLT-based transformations, and professionally formatting XML documents with Cascading Style Sheets.The real power of XML lies in combining information from various sources and generating personalized content for different visitors.Castro's easy-to-follow graphics show exactly what XML looks like,and her real-world examples explain how to transform and streamline your Web-site creation process by automatically updating content.

Related Articles

Getting the Most Out of XML

Transforming XML with XSLT

Author's Site

Click below for the Author's Web Site related to this title:
Cookwood.com

Customer Reviews

64 of 66 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Another industry standard from Elizabeth Castro, November 5, 2000
By 
This review is from: XML for the World Wide Web (Paperback)
With over 60 new books on XML set for release in the year 2000, it seems like another XML book would not be that big of a deal.

Well, that might be true if it were an XML book from anyone other than Elizabeth Castro and Peachpit Press.

Castro, the author of two other bestsellers, HTML for the World Wide Web and Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web has the rare gift of being able to take extremely complex subjects and render them into understandable terms for just about anyone. In her newest book, XML for the World Wide Web, Castro scores a direct hit in being able to convey the ins and outs of XML and all of its aspects in a way that makes it unique, usable and useful.

Castro tackles Schemas, DTDs, Namespaces, XPath, Xlink, Xpointer, XSLT, CSS used with XML and just about everything else being discussed, implemented, debated, planned or argued in the constantly changing world of XML. That's not unusual for an XML book. However, Castro actually pulls it off extremely well,... Read more

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42 of 43 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Beginner's Guide to XML, February 15, 2001
By 
This review is from: XML for the World Wide Web (Paperback)
Although I'm not personally an XML beginner, so perhaps my perspective is a bit skewed, I recently had to come up with a full-day tutorial on XML, for Microsoft Office developers, all XML beginners. In preparing the various topics, I came across this book (actually, I had read Ms. Castro's HTML 4 book and liked it, as well), and found it to be at a perfect level for my students. I based my basic XML, namespaces, and XSD sessions of the day on the corresponding chapters in this book, and found the descriptions of "how" and "why" to be very useful, complete, and lucid. I recommended the book to the students, and they, too, found it useful. I heartily recommend this book for people trying to get the basics of XML down pat. It's not a book for experienced developers, or people who already "get" these topics, but that wasn't its point. If you're trying to get up and running with XML, I haven't found any other book that makes it so simple.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, concise, cheap!, November 6, 2000
This review is from: XML for the World Wide Web (Paperback)
Elizabeth Castro's Book is written in a very clear and precise style. She doesn't attempt to explain absolutely everything about XML - it shows you how to write and then put XML into web pages, which she covers very thoroughly; if you want any more detailed info such as ASP and XML, the DOM etc. go buy those thick tomes that deal with those topics specifically.

This book was perfect for my needs. I have been reading snippets all over the web about XML for months now but nowhere had enough detail - this book takes you through how to set out your information and then put it up.

Even though this is an area of "shifting sands" in terms of finalised standards she is bang up to date.

There is no doubt that XML is going to be the NBT (Next Big Thing) - get in there at ground level and read this book.

If you want an excellent introductory yet very practical primer this is ideal.

Leon Cych

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Table of Contents



Introduction.

The Problem with HTML. The Power of XML. XML's Helpers. XML in the Real World. About This Book. What This Book Is Not. The XML VQS Website.

I. XML.

1. Writing XML.

Elements, Attributes, and Values. Rules for Writing XML. Declaring the XML Version. Creating the Root Element. Writing Non-Empty Elements. Nesting Elements. Adding Attributes. Using Empty Elements. Writing Comments. Writing Five Special Symbols. Displaying Elements as Text.

II. DTDS.

2. Creating a DTD.

Declaring an Internal DTD. Writing an External DTD. Naming an External DTD. Declaring a Personal External DTD. Declaring a Public External DTD.

3. Defining Elements and Attributes in a DTD.

Defining Elements. Defining an Element to Contain Only Text. Defining an Element to Contain One Child. Defining an Element to Contain a Sequence. Defining Choices. Defining How Many Units. About Attributes. Defining Simple Attributes. Defining Attributes with Unique Values. Referencing Attributes with Unique Values. Restricting Attributes to Valid XML Names.

4. Entities and Notations in DTDs.

Creating Shortcuts for Text. Using Shortcuts for Text. Shortcuts for Text in External Files. Creating and Using Shortcuts for DTDs. Creating Entities for Unparsed Content. Embedding Unparsed Content.

III. XML SCHEMA AND NAMESPACES.

5. XML Schema.

Simple and Complex Types. Local and Global Declarations. Beginning a Simple Schema. Indicating a Simple Schema's Location. Annotating Schemas.

6. Defining Simple Types.

Declaring an Element with a Simple Type. Using Date and Time Types. Using Number Types. Deriving Custom Simple Types. Using Anonymous Custom Types. Specifying a Set of Acceptable Values. Specifying a Pattern for a Simple Type. Specifying a Range of Acceptable Values. Limiting the Length of a Simple Type. Limiting a Number's Digits. Creating List Types. Predefining an Element's Content.

7. Defining Complex Types.

Defining Elements to Contain Only Elements. Requiring Elements to Appear in Sequence. Creating a Set of Choices. Allowing Elements to Appear in Any Order. Defining Named Groups. Referencing a Named Group. Referencing Already Defined Elements. Controlling How Many. Defining Elements to Contain Only Text. Defining Empty Elements. Defining Elements with Mixed Content. Basing Complex Types on Complex Types. Declaring an Element of Complex Type. Elements with Anonymous Complex Types. Declaring Attributes. Requiring an Attribute. Predefining an Attribute's Content. Defining Attribute Groups. Referencing Attribute Groups.

8. Using Namespaces in XML.

Designing a Namespace Name. Declaring Default Namespaces. Namespaces for Individual Elements. How Namespaces Affect Attributes. Namespaces, DTDs, and Valid Documents.

9. Namespaces, Schemas, and Validation.

Schemas and Namespaces. Populating a Namespace. Adding All Locally Declared Elements. Adding Particular Locally Declared Elements. Referencing Components with Namespaces. The Schema of Schemas as the Default. Namespaces and Validating XML. Indicating Where a Schema Is. Schemas in Multiple Files. Importing Components.

IV. XSLT AND XPATH.

10. XSLT.

Transforming XML with XSLT. Beginning an XSLT Style Sheet. Creating the Root Template. Outputting HTML Code. Outputting a Node's Content. Creating and Applying Template Rules. Batch-Processing Nodes. Processing Nodes Conditionally. Adding Conditional Choices. Sorting Nodes Before Processing. Generating Attributes.

11. XPath: Patterns and Expressions.

Determining the Current Node. Referring to the Current Node. Selecting a Node's Children. Selecting a Node's Parent or Siblings. Selecting All of the Descendants. Disregarding the Current Node. Selecting a Node's Attributes. Selecting Subsets.

12. Test Expressions and Functions.

Comparing Two Values. Testing the Position. Subtotaling Values. Counting Nodes. Multiplying, Dividing, Adding, Subtracting. Formatting Numbers. Rounding Numbers. Extracting Substrings. Capitalizing Strings.

V. CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

13. Setting up CSS.

CSS with XML vs CSS with HTML. CSS1, CSS2, and Browsers. The Anatomy of a Style. Specifying Where Styles Are To Be Applied. Creating an External Style Sheet. Calling a Style Sheet for an XML Document. Calling a Style Sheet for an HTML Document. Using Internal Style Sheets. Applying Styles Locally.

14. Layout with CSS.

Defining Elements as Block-Level or Inline. Hiding Elements Completely. Offsetting Elements In the Natural Flow. Positioning Elements Absolutely. Setting the Height or Width for an Element. Setting the Border. Adding Padding Around an Element. Setting the Margins around an Element. Wrapping Text around Elements. Stopping Text Wrap. Changing the Foreground Color. Changing the Background. Positioning Elements in 3D. Aligning Elements Vertically. Determining Where Overflow Should Go. Clipping an Element. Setting List Properties. Specifying Page Breaks.

15. Formatting Text with CSS.

Choosing a Font Family. Embedding Fonts on a Page. Creating Italics. Applying Bold Formatting. Setting the Font Size. Setting the Line Height. Setting All Font Values at Once. Setting the Text Color. Changing the Text's Background. Controlling Spacing. Aligning Text. Underlining Text. Changing the Text Case.

VI. XLINK AND XPOINTER.

16. Links and Images: XLink and XPointer.

Creating a Simple Link. Creating a Linkset. Defining Reference Points. Defining Connections. Using a Linkset. Linking to Part of a File. Creating the Simplest XPointer. Creating Walking XPointers. Creating an XPointer Range.

Appendix A: XHTML.

How Does a Browser Know? Writing XHTML. Declaring a DTD for XHTML.

Appendix B: XML Tools.

Validating XML Files against a DTD. Validating XML with a Schema. Transforming XML with an XSLT Processor.

Appendix C: Special Symbols.

Using Character References. Table I: Characters. Table II: Symbols.

Appendix D: Colors in Hex.

Finding a Color's RGB Components-in Hex. Hexadecimal Equivalents. The Hexadecimal System.

Index, Colophon, and Note.

Index. Colophon and Note.

Updates & Corrections

XML Corrections & Updates Page 80, Figure 6.18

The closing tag on the density element should be </density> (not </population> as listed).

 
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