XHTML is just HTML improved right?

Anyways, looking for a book to learn, then plan on moving to CSS. If you have experience with any books just let me know. Thanks

Note: Will be learning from scratch and I'd preferably not use online guides - I plan on even buying a netbook to do my programming because I get distracted on my normal computer...

HTML and xHTML are not very different at all:

Mainly the differences are:
XHTML elements must be properly nested
XHTML elements must always be closed
XHTML elements must be in lowercase
XHTML documents must have one root element

This is mainly stuff to do with the syntax of the coding.
i.e.
<b><i> This would be bolded / italicized </b></i>
Would not work in xHTML; you would have to have:
<b><i> This would be bolded / italicized </i></i>

So it's really not that different between the two:

As for books; I cannot currently suggest one, I learned online. However, if you are merely learning basic [x]HTML, any beginners book will do the same thing for you.

Another thing I heavily suggest is to join online forum communitys to help you with your code.
There are many MANY avaialable, and this way when you get errors / things don't work out quite right, you have people to turn to, to help you fix it.

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How much do you already know about building websites?
If you need to really start from the beginning, I'd suggest an easy book like this

Learning Web Design, a Beginner's Guide to HTML, CSS, Graphics, and Beyond
it sounds like what your looking for, and you can get it for about $25 on ebay.

I don't see a difference except that you have two 'i's which I assume was a mistake.

Cool then I guess I'll worry a little less about what book and dive in. And I'll look at some forums, thanks.

Not much as far as coding, I've made like 5 sites but just installed various programs on them, didn't build anything. I plan on learning CSS afterwards. Cool I'll see about that book. Might even go to library and get a few.

That was a mistake. And therefore the difference could not be seen :P
The line was mean't to read (on the second)
<b><i> This would be bolded / italicized </i></b>

The tags must be nested inside of eachother.

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Vouches - 13 currently
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Well that's fine, I'm used to nesting... from java.

If you already know HTML, XHTML should not be considered something totally new. However, I don't think it really is all that complicated to buy a book for. How about trying video tutorials if you don't like online guides?

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I second that.

Plus; coding in xHTML is nothing really; I honestly don't look at it as any different: it is simply the "proper" way to do things.

It's like sometyping a message that looks like this:

hi im html

Vs.

Hi, I'm xHTML.

But [x]HTML is such a basic language anyways; unless you have the money or feel the need to, online free video / written tutorials are the way to go. When you get into more complicated programming, a published source may be better; however, if you can already code Java, programming languages should come easier as they all are similar in some aspect.

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Cool I'll think about it. The thing is I'm seriously considering going pretty deep in web development. That's why I'm considering actually buying a book, so I can learn with it and reference to it later. I want to be a free lancer in college and/or make my own websites while I'm in school and then later join a team or lead a team. Leading a team would be my dream :]

Just saying I want to make this more than a hobby, this is what I want to do with my life.

I am in web development right now and to be honest, I don't have a single book about HTML or XHTML. It is so much faster to just google while on the job instead of looking into reference books especially troubleshooting. Books should be used only for learning at first. For reference? Google is considered most effective.

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I suppose. Still, websites never have everything in order. In books you build on top of everything, rather than jumping around. I hate reading guides and they assume you learned something that you've never even heard before. It's like changing teachers in school, they don't know what you know so its pretty difficult to pick up where you left off.

That's exactly why I said books should only be good for learning at first, providing you a structured knowledge. Good luck with your studying.

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Oh sorry, miss read. Thanks :]

bought this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/059...ef=oss_product and ALREADY received it before it even said it sent ^o^. Already on page 43, took maybe 30 minutes for the first chapter. Super easy book so far which is a good thing and a bad thing I guess. Good because I'll get through it quick but bad because I think I'll need a second more intense book afterwards, to learn whatever this book fails to teach me. If anyone else has experience with this book let me know. It's 650 pages though which is nice. May finish it in the next week or two... lmao. -.-