A little too much tub-thumping, 21 Sep 2006
As an amateur website designer, who tries to stick to modern standard-based layout, I'm always keen to pick up tips from the pros. This book certainly helps with this, there are a lot of useful tricks and pointers to websites I might otherwise have missed.

Like other reviewers, I found that the earlier part of the book is overly concerned with the methods of 5 to 10 years ago. People buying the book will probably be sold on CSS-based layout (or at least standards as the method of choice) before they buy. So a much shorter case would suffice. There is an over-emphasis on older browsers as well: Netscape 4.x, IE/Win 4 and IE/Mac 5 get much too much space. Most people are targeting IE 6, Firefox Opera 8 and Safari today.

Overall, there is a lot to learn from this book. Be prepared to skip over the lecturing, though.

How frustrating........memories of the past, 02 Sep 2006
After the first 200 pages of negativity, I had to throw the book in the bin!

Zeldman continually patronises the developers of the past working in environments of which the browser providers had no standard (to which still continues to a greater or lesser degree today). The fact that multiple instances of a site were required to cater for the anomolies between browser types and versions is true however CSS would not have saved the day then nor now.

Zeldman is right......you do need standards and from what I was picking up on his thoughts, the standards you create yourself are probably appropriate to the work you are performing. This I agree with Zeldman however blaming the development strategies of the past are not the way forward. I do understand Zeldmans frustrations from the past however blaming each developer for using multiple font tags is not really approprite for the time he refers.

I was looking for technical inspriation to the world of CSS (of which I totally agree is the way forward). Certainly, the first two hundred pages do not offer this. I could not cope reading further......hence the book went in the bin.

Out of date and mainly rhetoric, 07 Jul 2006
It's ironic that a book that is so much about future proofing spends so much time talking about version 4.0 browsers, making much of the book fairly obselete.

Much of the other content is out of date. It reccomends the box model hack, when conditional comments could be used. Fahner image replacement is also detailed, when newer methods eliminate the need for a non-semantic span element.

It is also vague. For example many of the reasons cited to use XHTML are not really convincing. "New browsers love XHTML ... and accord it special treatment" is too vague. To say that using an XHTML 1.0 strict doctype because it switches all browsers to standards/almost standards mode and therefore your site is more likely to work in all browsers would be better.

In short it attempts to fight old beliefs with new beliefs, rather than knowledge

Fantastic book, 19 May 2006
This is a great book which will give you a thorough understanding of web standards. If you are a budding web designer, this book will explain important principles that will save you a great deal of time when you begin creating web sites. One of the most important things you will learn is creating sites that work with all browsers, platforms and devices. Overall, this book will give you a firm understanding of web standards and what it means to be a quality web designer.

Essential purchase, 23 Feb 2006
The title sounds a little dull and belies the importance of this book. Think about it like this; who specifies the web standards to which the browser makers are increasingly if not fully complying? The W3C. Jefferey Zeldman is the guy who wrote 'their book' about web standards.

Web standards isn't just about making sites accessible to the disabled, it's about making them work across browsers, and understanding how the whole whole website/browser thing works. Do you really understand how doctype switching works? Do you really know what XHTML is all about for example? Do you know how to separate presentation from content (cos that's the way it's going)?

The first part of the book is a general history thing and the second looks at techniques and examples. But, if you're looking for a CSS cookbook, or a complete tutorial in HTML, CSS then seek elsewhere.

If you're doing anything with websites today, you simply must read this book. It'll deepen your understanding 'and' save you time and money.

A little too much tub-thumping, 21 Sep 2006
As an amateur website designer, who tries to stick to modern standard-based layout, I'm always keen to pick up tips from the pros. This book certainly helps with this, there are a lot of useful tricks and pointers to websites I might otherwise have missed.

Like other reviewers, I found that the earlier part of the book is overly concerned with the methods of 5 to 10 years ago. People buying the book will probably be sold on CSS-based layout (or at least standards as the method of choice) before they buy. So a much shorter case would suffice. There is an over-emphasis on older browsers as well: Netscape 4.x, IE/Win 4 and IE/Mac 5 get much too much space. Most people are targeting IE 6, Firefox Opera 8 and Safari today.

Overall, there is a lot to learn from this book. Be prepared to skip over the lecturing, though.

How frustrating........memories of the past, 02 Sep 2006
After the first 200 pages of negativity, I had to throw the book in the bin!

Zeldman continually patronises the developers of the past working in environments of which the browser providers had no standard (to which still continues to a greater or lesser degree today). The fact that multiple instances of a site were required to cater for the anomolies between browser types and versions is true however CSS would not have saved the day then nor now.

Zeldman is right......you do need standards and from what I was picking up on his thoughts, the standards you create yourself are probably appropriate to the work you are performing. This I agree with Zeldman however blaming the development strategies of the past are not the way forward. I do understand Zeldmans frustrations from the past however blaming each developer for using multiple font tags is not really approprite for the time he refers.

I was looking for technical inspriation to the world of CSS (of which I totally agree is the way forward). Certainly, the first two hundred pages do not offer this. I could not cope reading further......hence the book went in the bin.

Out of date and mainly rhetoric, 07 Jul 2006
It's ironic that a book that is so much about future proofing spends so much time talking about version 4.0 browsers, making much of the book fairly obselete.

Much of the other content is out of date. It reccomends the box model hack, when conditional comments could be used. Fahner image replacement is also detailed, when newer methods eliminate the need for a non-semantic span element.

It is also vague. For example many of the reasons cited to use XHTML are not really convincing. "New browsers love XHTML ... and accord it special treatment" is too vague. To say that using an XHTML 1.0 strict doctype because it switches all browsers to standards/almost standards mode and therefore your site is more likely to work in all browsers would be better.

In short it attempts to fight old beliefs with new beliefs, rather than knowledge

Fantastic book, 19 May 2006
This is a great book which will give you a thorough understanding of web standards. If you are a budding web designer, this book will explain important principles that will save you a great deal of time when you begin creating web sites. One of the most important things you will learn is creating sites that work with all browsers, platforms and devices. Overall, this book will give you a firm understanding of web standards and what it means to be a quality web designer.

Essential purchase, 23 Feb 2006
The title sounds a little dull and belies the importance of this book. Think about it like this; who specifies the web standards to which the browser makers are increasingly if not fully complying? The W3C. Jefferey Zeldman is the guy who wrote 'their book' about web standards.

Web standards isn't just about making sites accessible to the disabled, it's about making them work across browsers, and understanding how the whole whole website/browser thing works. Do you really understand how doctype switching works? Do you really know what XHTML is all about for example? Do you know how to separate presentation from content (cos that's the way it's going)?

The first part of the book is a general history thing and the second looks at techniques and examples. But, if you're looking for a CSS cookbook, or a complete tutorial in HTML, CSS then seek elsewhere.

If you're doing anything with websites today, you simply must read this book. It'll deepen your understanding 'and' save you time and money.

A fascinating collection, 19 Nov 2008
A superb collection of easy to read and digest essays covering a vast range of subjects from paper sizes to volcanoes. It's a lovely book to dip into when you feel the need to expand your knowledge.

Not really a story, just very short series of 2-page articles, 01 Mar 2008
The main item missing from this is a story. This is a series of articles, few of which are connected. There is nothing wrong with the items, although because of the shortness of the text on each item there isn't much detail. If you want some basic background on a range of measuremnet topics this is fine, if you want a detailed discussion of the history of measurement and the characters linking the history, look elsewhere.

A little too much tub-thumping, 21 Sep 2006
As an amateur website designer, who tries to stick to modern standard-based layout, I'm always keen to pick up tips from the pros. This book certainly helps with this, there are a lot of useful tricks and pointers to websites I might otherwise have missed.

Like other reviewers, I found that the earlier part of the book is overly concerned with the methods of 5 to 10 years ago. People buying the book will probably be sold on CSS-based layout (or at least standards as the method of choice) before they buy. So a much shorter case would suffice. There is an over-emphasis on older browsers as well: Netscape 4.x, IE/Win 4 and IE/Mac 5 get much too much space. Most people are targeting IE 6, Firefox Opera 8 and Safari today.

Overall, there is a lot to learn from this book. Be prepared to skip over the lecturing, though.

How frustrating........memories of the past, 02 Sep 2006
After the first 200 pages of negativity, I had to throw the book in the bin!

Zeldman continually patronises the developers of the past working in environments of which the browser providers had no standard (to which still continues to a greater or lesser degree today). The fact that multiple instances of a site were required to cater for the anomolies between browser types and versions is true however CSS would not have saved the day then nor now.

Zeldman is right......you do need standards and from what I was picking up on his thoughts, the standards you create yourself are probably appropriate to the work you are performing. This I agree with Zeldman however blaming the development strategies of the past are not the way forward. I do understand Zeldmans frustrations from the past however blaming each developer for using multiple font tags is not really approprite for the time he refers.

I was looking for technical inspriation to the world of CSS (of which I totally agree is the way forward). Certainly, the first two hundred pages do not offer this. I could not cope reading further......hence the book went in the bin.

Out of date and mainly rhetoric, 07 Jul 2006
It's ironic that a book that is so much about future proofing spends so much time talking about version 4.0 browsers, making much of the book fairly obselete.

Much of the other content is out of date. It reccomends the box model hack, when conditional comments could be used. Fahner image replacement is also detailed, when newer methods eliminate the need for a non-semantic span element.

It is also vague. For example many of the reasons cited to use XHTML are not really convincing. "New browsers love XHTML ... and accord it special treatment" is too vague. To say that using an XHTML 1.0 strict doctype because it switches all browsers to standards/almost standards mode and therefore your site is more likely to work in all browsers would be better.

In short it attempts to fight old beliefs with new beliefs, rather than knowledge

Fantastic book, 19 May 2006
This is a great book which will give you a thorough understanding of web standards. If you are a budding web designer, this book will explain important principles that will save you a great deal of time when you begin creating web sites. One of the most important things you will learn is creating sites that work with all browsers, platforms and devices. Overall, this book will give you a firm understanding of web standards and what it means to be a quality web designer.

Essential purchase, 23 Feb 2006
The title sounds a little dull and belies the importance of this book. Think about it like this; who specifies the web standards to which the browser makers are increasingly if not fully complying? The W3C. Jefferey Zeldman is the guy who wrote 'their book' about web standards.

Web standards isn't just about making sites accessible to the disabled, it's about making them work across browsers, and understanding how the whole whole website/browser thing works. Do you really understand how doctype switching works? Do you really know what XHTML is all about for example? Do you know how to separate presentation from content (cos that's the way it's going)?

The first part of the book is a general history thing and the second looks at techniques and examples. But, if you're looking for a CSS cookbook, or a complete tutorial in HTML, CSS then seek elsewhere.

If you're doing anything with websites today, you simply must read this book. It'll deepen your understanding 'and' save you time and money.

A fascinating collection, 19 Nov 2008
A superb collection of easy to read and digest essays covering a vast range of subjects from paper sizes to volcanoes. It's a lovely book to dip into when you feel the need to expand your knowledge.

Not really a story, just very short series of 2-page articles, 01 Mar 2008
The main item missing from this is a story. This is a series of articles, few of which are connected. There is nothing wrong with the items, although because of the shortness of the text on each item there isn't much detail. If you want some basic background on a range of measuremnet topics this is fine, if you want a detailed discussion of the history of measurement and the characters linking the history, look elsewhere.

Excellent reference source, 01 Dec 2002
I had always found New Approach Directives difficult to understand until I read “CE Confomity Marking”! This book is an excellent reference source that is well laid out and enables the reader to quickly find the pertinent points of the Directive that they are researching. It is easy on the eye, uses non technical terms and is something that I regularly ”dip into”.

Thank you!, 26 Nov 2002
This book has been invaluable during my post-graduate studies, it has been a cornerstone in my understanding of the European Harmonised Directives and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone wishing to further their knowledge of these regulations or implement them in a practical environment

Well done!, 10 Nov 2002
Having read the previous "reviews" I was, I must admit, initially put off from purchasing a copy of Mr Tricker's book. At a recent meeting, one of my colleagues lent me his copy of the book. Far from finding it "Disappointing" or "Not really worth the money" (see previous reviews) I found this book exceedingly useful. It achieves what it says it intends to do and clearly outlines (in the form of a reference manual) the current status and requirements of the New Approach Directives together with CE Marking. I disagree with your Danish reviewer's comment that the Commission's Guide is much more clearer that Mr Tricker's CE book. This Guide, as it has been written mainly by non-native English speakers, is full of "Eurospeak" and difficult to comprehend. "CE Conformity Marking" on the other hand is clearly written and easy to follow. Whilst I agree with both your reviewers that there are a few typos in the book (as well as shamefully missing Denmark of the EU map!) I have yet to find a better book on this topic. Well done Mr Tricker and thank you!!

disappointing, 10 Jan 2002
This could have been a useful reference in providing a concise overview at a reasonable price. Unfortunately every time I pick this book up I find more careless errors in the details - as a result it is an unreliable source.
The author is apparently a quality consultant - it's a shame he didn't apply quality control procedures to his own product and give it a good proof-reading before publication

Not really worth the money, 08 Oct 2001
Maybe CE-marking is just not a very gratifying subject to write about in a manner which is interesting to the reader. In any account; Ray Trickers book is rather lifeless.

The first part of the book deals with the New Approach Directives. But the exposition is not half as clear or well written as 'Guide to implementation of directives based on the new approach and the global approach' by the European Commission which can be downloaded for free from the internet. Another major part of the book is used for recapitulation of the approximately 20 New Approach directives one by one. Not very interesting; and if you need to use any of the directives you will need the full directive text anyway.

The book has countless figures, but - in my opinion - they are seldom very well constructed or very helpful. I also think, that I spotted a few factual errors. E.g.: the whole page figure 1.4 shows Denmark as not belonging to the EU.

Conclusion: Not really worth the money (nor the time spent reading it)

A little too much tub-thumping, 21 Sep 2006
As an amateur website designer, who tries to stick to modern standard-based layout, I'm always keen to pick up tips from the pros. This book certainly helps with this, there are a lot of useful tricks and pointers to websites I might otherwise have missed.

Like other reviewers, I found that the earlier part of the book is overly concerned with the methods of 5 to 10 years ago. People buying the book will probably be sold on CSS-based layout (or at least standards as the method of choice) before they buy. So a much shorter case would suffice. There is an over-emphasis on older browsers as well: Netscape 4.x, IE/Win 4 and IE/Mac 5 get much too much space. Most people are targeting IE 6, Firefox Opera 8 and Safari today.

Overall, there is a lot to learn from this book. Be prepared to skip over the lecturing, though.

How frustrating........memories of the past, 02 Sep 2006
After the first 200 pages of negativity, I had to throw the book in the bin!

Zeldman continually patronises the developers of the past working in environments of which the browser providers had no standard (to which still continues to a greater or lesser degree today). The fact that multiple instances of a site were required to cater for the anomolies between browser types and versions is true however CSS would not have saved the day then nor now.

Zeldman is right......you do need standards and from what I was picking up on his thoughts, the standards you create yourself are probably appropriate to the work you are performing. This I agree with Zeldman however blaming the development strategies of the past are not the way forward. I do understand Zeldmans frustrations from the past however blaming each developer for using multiple font tags is not really approprite for the time he refers.

I was looking for technical inspriation to the world of CSS (of which I totally agree is the way forward). Certainly, the first two hundred pages do not offer this. I could not cope reading further......hence the book went in the bin.

Out of date and mainly rhetoric, 07 Jul 2006
It's ironic that a book that is so much about future proofing spends so much time talking about version 4.0 browsers, making much of the book fairly obselete.

Much of the other content is out of date. It reccomends the box model hack, when conditional comments could be used. Fahner image replacement is also detailed, when newer methods eliminate the need for a non-semantic span element.

It is also vague. For example many of the reasons cited to use XHTML are not really convincing. "New browsers love XHTML ... and accord it special treatment" is too vague. To say that using an XHTML 1.0 strict doctype because it switches all browsers to standards/almost standards mode and therefore your site is more likely to work in all browsers would be better.

In short it attempts to fight old beliefs with new beliefs, rather than knowledge

Fantastic book, 19 May 2006
This is a great book which will give you a thorough understanding of web standards. If you are a budding web designer, this book will explain important principles that will save you a great deal of time when you begin creating web sites. One of the most important things you will learn is creating sites that work with all browsers, platforms and devices. Overall, this book will give you a firm understanding of web standards and what it means to be a quality web designer.

Essential purchase, 23 Feb 2006
The title sounds a little dull and belies the importance of this book. Think about it like this; who specifies the web standards to which the browser makers are increasingly if not fully complying? The W3C. Jefferey Zeldman is the guy who wrote 'their book' about web standards.

Web standards isn't just about making sites accessible to the disabled, it's about making them work across browsers, and understanding how the whole whole website/browser thing works. Do you really understand how doctype switching works? Do you really know what XHTML is all about for example? Do you know how to separate presentation from content (cos that's the way it's going)?

The first part of the book is a general history thing and the second looks at techniques and examples. But, if you're looking for a CSS cookbook, or a complete tutorial in HTML, CSS then seek elsewhere.

If you're doing anything with websites today, you simply must read this book. It'll deepen your understanding 'and' save you time and money.

A fascinating collection, 19 Nov 2008
A superb collection of easy to read and digest essays covering a vast range of subjects from paper sizes to volcanoes. It's a lovely book to dip into when you feel the need to expand your knowledge.

Not really a story, just very short series of 2-page articles, 01 Mar 2008
The main item missing from this is a story. This is a series of articles, few of which are connected. There is nothing wrong with the items, although because of the shortness of the text on each item there isn't much detail. If you want some basic background on a range of measuremnet topics this is fine, if you want a detailed discussion of the history of measurement and the characters linking the history, look elsewhere.

Excellent reference source, 01 Dec 2002
I had always found New Approach Directives difficult to understand until I read “CE Confomity Marking”! This book is an excellent reference source that is well laid out and enables the reader to quickly find the pertinent points of the Directive that they are researching. It is easy on the eye, uses non technical terms and is something that I regularly ”dip into”.

Thank you!, 26 Nov 2002
This book has been invaluable during my post-graduate studies, it has been a cornerstone in my understanding of the European Harmonised Directives and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone wishing to further their knowledge of these regulations or implement them in a practical environment

Well done!, 10 Nov 2002
Having read the previous "reviews" I was, I must admit, initially put off from purchasing a copy of Mr Tricker's book. At a recent meeting, one of my colleagues lent me his copy of the book. Far from finding it "Disappointing" or "Not really worth the money" (see previous reviews) I found this book exceedingly useful. It achieves what it says it intends to do and clearly outlines (in the form of a reference manual) the current status and requirements of the New Approach Directives together with CE Marking. I disagree with your Danish reviewer's comment that the Commission's Guide is much more clearer that Mr Tricker's CE book. This Guide, as it has been written mainly by non-native English speakers, is full of "Eurospeak" and difficult to comprehend. "CE Conformity Marking" on the other hand is clearly written and easy to follow. Whilst I agree with both your reviewers that there are a few typos in the book (as well as shamefully missing Denmark of the EU map!) I have yet to find a better book on this topic. Well done Mr Tricker and thank you!!

disappointing, 10 Jan 2002
This could have been a useful reference in providing a concise overview at a reasonable price. Unfortunately every time I pick this book up I find more careless errors in the details - as a result it is an unreliable source.
The author is apparently a quality consultant - it's a shame he didn't apply quality control procedures to his own product and give it a good proof-reading before publication

Not really worth the money, 08 Oct 2001
Maybe CE-marking is just not a very gratifying subject to write about in a manner which is interesting to the reader. In any account; Ray Trickers book is rather lifeless.

The first part of the book deals with the New Approach Directives. But the exposition is not half as clear or well written as 'Guide to implementation of directives based on the new approach and the global approach' by the European Commission which can be downloaded for free from the internet. Another major part of the book is used for recapitulation of the approximately 20 New Approach directives one by one. Not very interesting; and if you need to use any of the directives you will need the full directive text anyway.

The book has countless figures, but - in my opinion - they are seldom very well constructed or very helpful. I also think, that I spotted a few factual errors. E.g.: the whole page figure 1.4 shows Denmark as not belonging to the EU.

Conclusion: Not really worth the money (nor the time spent reading it)

If you read only one book in 1998, this should be it., 19 Feb 1998
If you read only one book in 1998, this should be it.

A little too much tub-thumping, 21 Sep 2006
As an amateur website designer, who tries to stick to modern standard-based layout, I'm always keen to pick up tips from the pros. This book certainly helps with this, there are a lot of useful tricks and pointers to websites I might otherwise have missed.

Like other reviewers, I found that the earlier part of the book is overly concerned with the methods of 5 to 10 years ago. People buying the book will probably be sold on CSS-based layout (or at least standards as the method of choice) before they buy. So a much shorter case would suffice. There is an over-emphasis on older browsers as well: Netscape 4.x, IE/Win 4 and IE/Mac 5 get much too much space. Most people are targeting IE 6, Firefox Opera 8 and Safari today.

Overall, there is a lot to learn from this book. Be prepared to skip over the lecturing, though.

How frustrating........memories of the past, 02 Sep 2006
After the first 200 pages of negativity, I had to throw the book in the bin!

Zeldman continually patronises the developers of the past working in environments of which the browser providers had no standard (to which still continues to a greater or lesser degree today). The fact that multiple instances of a site were required to cater for the anomolies between browser types and versions is true however CSS would not have saved the day then nor now.

Zeldman is right......you do need standards and from what I was picking up on his thoughts, the standards you create yourself are probably appropriate to the work you are performing. This I agree with Zeldman however blaming the development strategies of the past are not the way forward. I do understand Zeldmans frustrations from the past however blaming each developer for using multiple font tags is not really approprite for the time he refers.

I was looking for technical inspriation to the world of CSS (of which I totally agree is the way forward). Certainly, the first two hundred pages do not offer this. I could not cope reading further......hence the book went in the bin.

Out of date and mainly rhetoric, 07 Jul 2006
It's ironic that a book that is so much about future proofing spends so much time talking about version 4.0 browsers, making much of the book fairly obselete.

Much of the other content is out of date. It reccomends the box model hack, when conditional comments could be used. Fahner image replacement is also detailed, when newer methods eliminate the need for a non-semantic span element.

It is also vague. For example many of the reasons cited to use XHTML are not really convincing. "New browsers love XHTML ... and accord it special treatment" is too vague. To say that using an XHTML 1.0 strict doctype because it switches all browsers to standards/almost standards mode and therefore your site is more likely to work in all browsers would be better.

In short it attempts to fight old beliefs with new beliefs, rather than knowledge

Fantastic book, 19 May 2006
This is a great book which will give you a thorough understanding of web standards. If you are a budding web designer, this book will explain important principles that will save you a great deal of time when you begin creating web sites. One of the most important things you will learn is creating sites that work with all browsers, platforms and devices. Overall, this book will give you a firm understanding of web standards and what it means to be a quality web designer.

Essential purchase, 23 Feb 2006
The title sounds a little dull and belies the importance of this book. Think about it like this; who specifies the web standards to which the browser makers are increasingly if not fully complying? The W3C. Jefferey Zeldman is the guy who wrote 'their book' about web standards.

Web standards isn't just about making sites accessible to the disabled, it's about making them work across browsers, and understanding how the whole whole website/browser thing works. Do you really understand how doctype switching works? Do you really know what XHTML is all about for example? Do you know how to separate presentation from content (cos that's the way it's going)?

The first part of the book is a general history thing and the second looks at techniques and examples. But, if you're looking for a CSS cookbook, or a complete tutorial in HTML, CSS then seek elsewhere.

If you're doing anything with websites today, you simply must read this book. It'll deepen your understanding 'and' save you time and money.

A fascinating collection, 19 Nov 2008
A superb collection of easy to read and digest essays covering a vast range of subjects from paper sizes to volcanoes. It's a lovely book to dip into when you feel the need to expand your knowledge.

Not really a story, just very short series of 2-page articles, 01 Mar 2008
The main item missing from this is a story. This is a series of articles, few of which are connected. There is nothing wrong with the items, although because of the shortness of the text on each item there isn't much detail. If you want some basic background on a range of measuremnet topics this is fine, if you want a detailed discussion of the history of measurement and the characters linking the history, look elsewhere.

Excellent reference source, 01 Dec 2002
I had always found New Approach Directives difficult to understand until I read “CE Confomity Marking”! This book is an excellent reference source that is well laid out and enables the reader to quickly find the pertinent points of the Directive that they are researching. It is easy on the eye, uses non technical terms and is something that I regularly ”dip into”.

Thank you!, 26 Nov 2002
This book has been invaluable during my post-graduate studies, it has been a cornerstone in my understanding of the European Harmonised Directives and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone wishing to further their knowledge of these regulations or implement them in a practical environment

Well done!, 10 Nov 2002
Having read the previous "reviews" I was, I must admit, initially put off from purchasing a copy of Mr Tricker's book. At a recent meeting, one of my colleagues lent me his copy of the book. Far from finding it "Disappointing" or "Not really worth the money" (see previous reviews) I found this book exceedingly useful. It achieves what it says it intends to do and clearly outlines (in the form of a reference manual) the current status and requirements of the New Approach Directives together with CE Marking. I disagree with your Danish reviewer's comment that the Commission's Guide is much more clearer that Mr Tricker's CE book. This Guide, as it has been written mainly by non-native English speakers, is full of "Eurospeak" and difficult to comprehend. "CE Conformity Marking" on the other hand is clearly written and easy to follow. Whilst I agree with both your reviewers that there are a few typos in the book (as well as shamefully missing Denmark of the EU map!) I have yet to find a better book on this topic. Well done Mr Tricker and thank you!!

disappointing, 10 Jan 2002
This could have been a useful reference in providing a concise overview at a reasonable price. Unfortunately every time I pick this book up I find more careless errors in the details - as a result it is an unreliable source.
The author is apparently a quality consultant - it's a shame he didn't apply quality control procedures to his own product and give it a good proof-reading before publication

Not really worth the money, 08 Oct 2001
Maybe CE-marking is just not a very gratifying subject to write about in a manner which is interesting to the reader. In any account; Ray Trickers book is rather lifeless.

The first part of the book deals with the New Approach Directives. But the exposition is not half as clear or well written as 'Guide to implementation of directives based on the new approach and the global approach' by the European Commission which can be downloaded for free from the internet. Another major part of the book is used for recapitulation of the approximately 20 New Approach directives one by one. Not very interesting; and if you need to use any of the directives you will need the full directive text anyway.

The book has countless figures, but - in my opinion - they are seldom very well constructed or very helpful. I also think, that I spotted a few factual errors. E.g.: the whole page figure 1.4 shows Denmark as not belonging to the EU.

Conclusion: Not really worth the money (nor the time spent reading it)

If you read only one book in 1998, this should be it., 19 Feb 1998
If you read only one book in 1998, this should be it.

Unique Research on Megalithic Monument, 16 Jan 2007
Formerly "The Measure of Albion": This book, from two leading pioneers in this field, reveals many new facts about ancient monuments such as that they were all symbolically coded using a single set of defined measures or lengths (i.e. metrology), that monuments were often interconnected using triangles and other sacred geometrical forms and that the size of the Earth itself was known - all a significant upgrade on what we expect from people with "no science".

A little too much tub-thumping, 21 Sep 2006
As an amateur website designer, who tries to stick to modern standard-based layout, I'm always keen to pick up tips from the pros. This book certainly helps with this, there are a lot of useful tricks and pointers to websites I might otherwise have missed.

Like other reviewers, I found that the earlier part of the book is overly concerned with the methods of 5 to 10 years ago. People buying the book will probably be sold on CSS-based layout (or at least standards as the method of choice) before they buy. So a much shorter case would suffice. There is an over-emphasis on older browsers as well: Netscape 4.x, IE/Win 4 and IE/Mac 5 get much too much space. Most people are targeting IE 6, Firefox Opera 8 and Safari today.

Overall, there is a lot to learn from this book. Be prepared to skip over the lecturing, though.

How frustrating........memories of the past, 02 Sep 2006
After the first 200 pages of negativity, I had to throw the book in the bin!

Zeldman continually patronises the developers of the past working in environments of which the browser providers had no standard (to which still continues to a greater or lesser degree today). The fact that multiple instances of a site were required to cater for the anomolies between browser types and versions is true however CSS would not have saved the day then nor now.

Zeldman is right......you do need standards and from what I was picking up on his thoughts, the standards you create yourself are probably appropriate to the work you are performing. This I agree with Zeldman however blaming the development strategies of the past are not the way forward. I do understand Zeldmans frustrations from the past however blaming each developer for using multiple font tags is not really approprite for the time he refers.

I was looking for technical inspriation to the world of CSS (of which I totally agree is the way forward). Certainly, the first two hundred pages do not offer this. I could not cope reading further......hence the book went in the bin.

Out of date and mainly rhetoric, 07 Jul 2006
It's ironic that a book that is so much about future proofing spends so much time talking about version 4.0 browsers, making much of the book fairly obselete.

Much of the other content is out of date. It reccomends the box model hack, when conditional comments could be used. Fahner image replacement is also detailed, when newer methods eliminate the need for a non-semantic span element.

It is also vague. For example many of the reasons cited to use XHTML are not really convincing. "New browsers love XHTML ... and accord it special treatment" is too vague. To say that using an XHTML 1.0 strict doctype because it switches all browsers to standards/almost standards mode and therefore your site is more likely to work in all browsers would be better.

In short it attempts to fight old beliefs with new beliefs, rather than knowledge

Fantastic book, 19 May 2006
This is a great book which will give you a thorough understanding of web standards. If you are a budding web designer, this book will explain important principles that will save you a great deal of time when you begin creating web sites. One of the most important things you will learn is creating sites that work with all browsers, platforms and devices. Overall, this book will give you a firm understanding of web standards and what it means to be a quality web designer.

Essential purchase, 23 Feb 2006
The title sounds a little dull and belies the importance of this book. Think about it like this; who specifies the web standards to which the browser makers are increasingly if not fully complying? The W3C. Jefferey Zeldman is the guy who wrote 'their book' about web standards.

Web standards isn't just about making sites accessible to the disabled, it's about making them work across browsers, and understanding how the whole whole website/browser thing works. Do you really understand how doctype switching works? Do you really know what XHTML is all about for example? Do you know how to separate presentation from content (cos that's the way it's going)?

The first part of the book is a general history thing and the second looks at techniques and examples. But, if you're looking for a CSS cookbook, or a complete tutorial in HTML, CSS then seek elsewhere.

If you're doing anything with websites today, you simply must read this book. It'll deepen your understanding 'and' save you time and money.

A fascinating collection, 19 Nov 2008
A superb collection of easy to read and digest essays covering a vast range of subjects from paper sizes to volcanoes. It's a lovely book to dip into when you feel the need to expand your knowledge.

Not really a story, just very short series of 2-page articles, 01 Mar 2008
The main item missing from this is a story. This is a series of articles, few of which are connected. There is nothing wrong with the items, although because of the shortness of the text on each item there isn't much detail. If you want some basic background on a range of measuremnet topics this is fine, if you want a detailed discussion of the history of measurement and the characters linking the history, look elsewhere.

Excellent reference source, 01 Dec 2002
I had always found New Approach Directives difficult to understand until I read “CE Confomity Marking”! This book is an excellent reference source that is well laid out and enables the reader to quickly find the pertinent points of the Directive that they are researching. It is easy on the eye, uses non technical terms and is something that I regularly ”dip into”.

Thank you!, 26 Nov 2002
This book has been invaluable during my post-graduate studies, it has been a cornerstone in my understanding of the European Harmonised Directives and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone wishing to further their knowledge of these regulations or implement them in a practical environment

Well done!, 10 Nov 2002
Having read the previous "reviews" I was, I must admit, initially put off from purchasing a copy of Mr Tricker's book. At a recent meeting, one of my colleagues lent me his copy of the book. Far from finding it "Disappointing" or "Not really worth the money" (see previous reviews) I found this book exceedingly useful. It achieves what it says it intends to do and clearly outlines (in the form of a reference manual) the current status and requirements of the New Approach Directives together with CE Marking. I disagree with your Danish reviewer's comment that the Commission's Guide is much more clearer that Mr Tricker's CE book. This Guide, as it has been written mainly by non-native English speakers, is full of "Eurospeak" and difficult to comprehend. "CE Conformity Marking" on the other hand is clearly written and easy to follow. Whilst I agree with both your reviewers that there are a few typos in the book (as well as shamefully missing Denmark of the EU map!) I have yet to find a better book on this topic. Well done Mr Tricker and thank you!!

disappointing, 10 Jan 2002
This could have been a useful reference in providing a concise overview at a reasonable price. Unfortunately every time I pick this book up I find more careless errors in the details - as a result it is an unreliable source.
The author is apparently a quality consultant - it's a shame he didn't apply quality control procedures to his own product and give it a good proof-reading before publication

Not really worth the money, 08 Oct 2001
Maybe CE-marking is just not a very gratifying subject to write about in a manner which is interesting to the reader. In any account; Ray Trickers book is rather lifeless.

The first part of the book deals with the New Approach Directives. But the exposition is not half as clear or well written as 'Guide to implementation of directives based on the new approach and the global approach' by the European Commission which can be downloaded for free from the internet. Another major part of the book is used for recapitulation of the approximately 20 New Approach directives one by one. Not very interesting; and if you need to use any of the directives you will need the full directive text anyway.

The book has countless figures, but - in my opinion - they are seldom very well constructed or very helpful. I also think, that I spotted a few factual errors. E.g.: the whole page figure 1.4 shows Denmark as not belonging to the EU.

Conclusion: Not really worth the money (nor the time spent reading it)

If you read only one book in 1998, this should be it., 19 Feb 1998
If you read only one book in 1998, this should be it.

Unique Research on Megalithic Monument, 16 Jan 2007
Formerly "The Measure of Albion": This book, from two leading pioneers in this field, reveals many new facts about ancient monuments such as that they were all symbolically coded using a single set of defined measures or lengths (i.e. metrology), that monuments were often interconnected using triangles and other sacred geometrical forms and that the size of the Earth itself was known - all a significant upgrade on what we expect from people with "no science".

Essential for Radiation Protection it is the bible!!!!, 01 Aug 2006
This book is good for Physicians, Technologists, Health Physicist, Medical Physicist and those working in Radiation protection in every field. It is easy to understand with complex prinicples made easy to understand. Worth the money I paid. It is invaluable as a refernce book and a study book.