XHTML in Easy Steps (subtitled Web Pages for the Desktop & Mobile Internet) is probably the best book on modern mobile markup that I’ve ever seen. The book is part of Barnes and Noble‘s in Easy Steps series. These books are $10, no BS guides to the subject covered.
They remind me of what I would have liked the Visual Quickstart Guide series of books to be. I’ve looked at serveral Visual Quickstart Guides, but have never been able to jive with the format and layout of the books. They feel too cluttered, and too “hey look what I can do” for my tastes.
In contrast, the in Easy Steps layout is simple but functional. There’s usually some full page text discussion at the beginning of the chapter, followed by several examples. A typical example page will consist of XHTML and CSS listings followed by (get this) the design as displayed by the Nokia browser as well as what it looks like in a shrunk down IE window.
How freaking cool is that? The author gets across basic XHTML markup concepts while keeping the user focused on “how is this going to look on a phone?”
The huge thing for me is the audience that this book is geared for. It’s not designed for bleeding edge developers who are eager to learn advanced mobile markup. This is a boook that your mom might pick up if she had the sudden need to learn XHTML. It’s going to be the cheapest tech book I’ll buy all year. It’s absolutely wonderful.
My hat is off to you, Mike McGrath and whoever is behind the in Easy Steps series. Good move. Freaking genius move.
Update: it looks like Barnes and Noble has exclusive distribution rights in the US, but the book can be purchased for under 8 GBP at Amazon.co.uk.