Raggett has been closely involved in standardization work for the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Perhaps as a result of this, the book places more emphasis than most on using HTML to describe the structure of documents (rather than their appearance) and on identifying standard and nonstandard HTML features. Throughout the book, icons indicate whether particular HTML tags and attributes are standard features, whether they are extensions implemented in certain browsers, and whether they are likely to be included in future standard versions.

The book is designed for complete novices as well as more advanced users. The first two chapters introduce the basic ideas of the World Wide Web and take the reader through a quick history of its development and potential uses. As Raggett was also much involved in the development of VRML, this includes a section on virtual reality and cyberspace. Chapters 3 through 9 provide a competent and readable introduction to all the basics of HTML, with plenty of examples. Chapters 10 through 16 cover more advanced topics, including tables, graphics, forms, style sheets, and mathematics. Here, too, the book provides plenty of examples and sensible advice. With a few minor exceptions, I found the examples helpful and accurate.

HTML is such a moving target that any book is out-of-date before it appears. This book looks toward the future in two ways. One of these is its careful identification of current standard and nonstandard HTML features. The other is its coverage of likely future standard features, particularly in the final three chapters, on style sheets, mathematics, and image manipulation. As a purist who believes that document structure and appearance should be kept separate as much as possible, I was delighted with the comment in the chapter on style sheets that “style sheets should relieve HTML of its burden of non-standard extensions and free it for its proper role of structuring information.” This chapter explains the concept of cascading style sheets and directs the reader to http://www.w3.org for more information (a timely pointer; the latest news when I checked this out was the press release announcing the W3C Recommendation for Cascading Style Sheets).

The book is rounded off with a number of useful appendices giving examples, an alphabetical list of HTML elements, lists of special characters, Web information, a glossary, and an index. Finally, the book provides a basic introduction to the Web and HTML only. It does not cover related topics such as Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts or how to set up a Web server.

With so many HTML books to choose from, it is hard to say that this is one you must not miss. It is, however, a clear and competent introduction to the subject for readers who care about long-term issues and are not just looking for a quick introduction to using HTML to produce eye-catching effects.