Hi, I've done a fair bit of HTML and CSS based on stuff I've learnt from the web and from the local library, as well as picking up some &#106avascript, PHP and Apache. I've found some good books on the latter topics, but am looking for some good technical, up-to-date books on HTML (and XTHML if possible) and CSS, including issues associated with browser compatibility etc. I'm normally keen on the O'Reilly books, but I'm seeing some bad comments on amazon about CSS:The Definitive Guide and HTML and XHTML:The Definitive Guide. A lot of the other books around on these topics seem to be of the 'for dummies' style - basically learning by rote whilst not delving into any of the really important issues. So - any recommendations? Or should I just stick to the formal HTML and CSS documentation and work it all out from there. Thanks, Jim.

You really don't need a book to learn X/HTML and CSS - they're much too siimple to learn syntactically. Two websites I go back to every so often if I forget something or if I need a little bit of a refresher are W3 Schools and HTML Dog

Maybe I misrepresented myself somewhat - I'm less interested in learning HTML and CSS (as I've written a few simple websites using them already) than finding out the deeper mysteries - on the other hand, maybe there aren't that many (it's the legacy of learning the idiosyncracies of C++ that's making me look for them, I'm sure).

Thanks anyway for the input - I will have a look at the links provided - W3 schools was where I started this trip, and I've been looking at that again recently - always seem to find more information every time I go on there.

It sounds a little like I'm looking for depth in a topic that is actually fairly shallow....

Thanks,
Jim.

If you are looking for something more technical, the specs are where to go. They aren't that hard to read once you get used to them, and do contain some pretty good info. I think one of the most important things any modern web developer can learn is the W3C Box Model, but it's rarely taught anywhere ( even though it's pretty simple). The specs won't contain browser idiosyncrasies, though. For those, you are probably best left to browse through Quirksmode or search google on a case-by-case basis.