8 Best HTML5 Programming Ebooks

in HTML/Others/Web coding

1. Head First HTML5 Programming

Book Description

HTML has been on a wild ride. Sure, HTML started as a mere markup language, but more recently HTML’s put on some major muscle. Now we’ve got a language tuned for building web applications with Web storage, 2D drawing, offline support, sockets and threads, and more. And to speak this language you’ve got to go beyond HTML5 markup and into the world of the DOM, events, and JavaScript APIs.

Now you probably already know all about HTML markup (otherwise known as structure) and you know all aboutCSS style (presentation), but what you’ve been missing is JavaScript (behavior). If all you know about are structure and presentation, you can create some great looking pages, but they’re still just pages. When you add behavior with JavaScript, you can create an interactive experience; even better, you can create full blown web applications.

Book Details

Publisher: O’Reilly Media
By: Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Robson
ISBN: 978-1-4493-9054-9
Year: 2011
Pages: 608
Language: English
File size: 69.4 MB
File format: PDF

Review

The first 6 chapters blew me away with its coverage of JavaScript. I really wasn’t expecting an introduction to JavaScript from an HTML5 Book, but I am glad it did, however, as the first half of the book is an excellent introduction to using JavaScript for DOM Manipulation as well as passing data to and from web servers and 3rd party services using the XMLHttpRequest Object. If you are unfamiliar with JavaScript, I would recommend this as your first book for learning JavaScript. The focus on fundamentals was really refreshing. The examples were believable, interesting, and challenging. And, the whole problem-solution approach used in the Head First Series Books is very useful for both learning the theory and applying it in real-world scenarios.

The last half of the book takes all the JavaScript you learned in the first half and applies it to some of the new features in HTML5 like Geolocation, Canvas, Video, Web Storage, and Web Workers. I am still amazed by the Geolocation and Google Maps API example as I just did something similar for a client. Just like the coverage of JavaScript, you get a really solid introduction to using the HTML5 features as well as background on the problems they solve. As you can see from the list of features I mentioned above, the book doesn’t cover all the new features in HTML5. As with all the Head First Books you get a list of the top 10 things they didn’t cover and there is an appendix that lists many of the new HTML5 Tags that aren’t covered, too.

If you haven’t read a Head First Series Book, be prepared for a lot of diagrams, puzzles, pictures, speech bubbles, games, and other visual and gaming strategies to help you learn. I still haven’t quite got used to it, but after reading Head First HTML5 I am convinced the books are worth it even if I am not a huge fan of all the strategies.

The book is very much targeted at beginners. If you are new to JavaScript and HTML5 and appreciate lots of images, Q&A’s, puzzles, and other strategies to help you learn, I highly recommend the book.

2. Pro HTML5 Programming: Powerful APIs for Richer Internet Application Development

Book Description

HTML5 is here, and with it, web applications take on a power, ease, scalability, and responsiveness like never before. In this book, developers will learn how to use the latest cutting-edge HTML5 web technology—available in the most recent versions of modern browsers—to build web applications with unparalleled functionality, speed, and responsiveness.

  • Explains how to create real-time HTML5 applications that tap the full potential of modern browsers
  • Provides practical, real-world examples of HTML5 features in action
  • Shows which HTML5 features are supported in current browsers
  • Covers all the new HTML5 APIs to get you up to speed quickly with HTML5

What you’ll learn

  • How the HTML5 specification has evolved
  • How to develop cutting-edge web applications using new HTML5 features like WebSockets, geolocation, Web Storage, Canvas, and audio and video
  • Which features are available in browsers today

Who this book is for

  • Web designers and developers who want to use the latest cutting-edge technology available in current browsers
  • Developers who want to create dynamic, HTML5 web applications
  • Developers who want to know which HTML5 features are supported in current browsers

Table of Contents

  1. Overview of HTML5
  2. Using the HTML5 Canvas API
  3. Working with HTML5 Audio and Video
  4. Using the HTML5 Geolocation API
  5. Using the Communication APIs
  6. Using the HTML5 Web Socket API
  7. Using the HTML5 Forms API
  8. Using the HTML5 Web Workers API
  9. Using the HTML5 Web Storage API
  10. Creating HTML5 Offline Web Applications
  11. The Future of HTML5

Book Details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Apress (August 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1430227907
  • ISBN-13: 978-1430227908

Review

I was looking for a nice succinct and easy/fast read to cover some of the interactive features for rich internet user interface design using HTML5. In particular, in my role as an architect, I’m not really concerned with page layout considerations – but wider architectural concerns such as the background worker thread and socket communication APIs. Thus, for my needs – this book was a very helpful fast read that met my requirements.

Note: This book is not an introduction to HTML5 (or an introduction to HTML). It is not a comprehensive reference bible for all things HTML. The subtitle of the book clearly indicates: “APIs for Richer Internet Application Development”. On that score, I believe it delivers.

3. Pro HTML5 Programming (Professional Apress)

Book Description

HTML5 is here, and with it, web applications have acquired power, ease, scalability, and responsiveness like never before. With this book, developers will learn how to use the latest cutting-edge HTML5 web technology—available in the most recent versions of modern browsers—to build web applications with unparalleled functionality, speed, and responsiveness.

This new edition includes major revisions for WebSockets functionality, reflecting the new W3C specification. It also features new chapters covering the drag-and-drop API as well as SVG.

  • Explains how to create real-time HTML5 applications that tap the full potential of modern browsers
  • Provides practical, real-world examples of HTML5 features in action
  • Covers all the new HTML5 APIs to get you up-to-speed quickly with HTML5
  • Fully updated to include the latest revisions of the WebSocket API, and much more.

What you’ll learn

  • How the HTML5 specification has evolved
  • How to develop cutting-edge web applications using new HTML5 features like WebSockets, geolocation, web storage, Canvas, and audio/video
  • Which features are available in modern browsers

Who this book is for

  • Web designers and developers who want to use the latest cutting-edge technology available in current browsers
  • Developers who want to create dynamic, HTML5 web applications
  • Developers who want to know which HTML5 features are supported by modern browsers

Table of Contents

  1. Overview of HTML5
  2. Using the Canvas API
  3. Working With Scalable Vector Graphics
  4. Working with Audio and Video
  5. Using the Geolocation API
  6. Using the Communication APIs
  7. Using the WebSocket API
  8. Using the Forms API
  9. Working with Drag-and-Drop
  10. Using the Web Workers API
  11. Using the Storage APIs
  12. Creating Offline Web Applications
  13. The Future of HTML5

Book Details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Apress; 2nd Edition (November 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 143023864X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1430238645

Review

This is a brief review (and NOT on the Kindle edition — take note). I researched several HTML 5 titles, and this seemed to be the best written and covered most of the new and hard stuff about HTML 5 (and it’s the 2nd edition about a rapidly changing standard). I appreciate how the book did not try to start from scratch, but covered selected topics in depth. SVG, Drag and Drop, Audio/Video, Canvas, etc. I actually like this book better than the various Oreilly guides. Other reviews will probably point out errors and corrections, but I can safely say that this book covered things at precisely the level of detail I needed. I’ll try to update this review when I finish. This is another winner by Apress.

4. HTML5 Programming for ASP.NET Developers

Description

HTML5 Programming for ASP.NET Developers teaches you to harness the power and flexibility of HTML5 in your ASP.NET Web Forms and ASP.NET MVC applications. Focusing on the programmable features of HTML5 that will be most useful to you as an ASP.NET developer, this book will take you straight to the heart of what you can get out of this new technology.

HTML5 is an emerging web standard that has received a great deal of attention from browser companies and the developer community, encompassing HTML, JavaScript enhancements and CSS3 specifications. But HTML5 isn’t just about markup. A major part of HTML5 is its programmable features and APIs, which make up the core of this book. .

HTML5 Programming for ASP.NET Developers will show you how to:

  • Add interactivity and media to your sites using the Canvas and Audio and Video APIs.
  • Make your web applications work offline, understand client side storage options using Web Storage, and work with local files using the File API.
  • Use the Communication API and Web Sockets for easier communication between server and client.

Other topics include multithreading with Web Workers, understanding the new input types, using Geolocation, and enhancing your web forms and views with CSS3. All major browsers already support HTML5 to varying degrees and are aggressively working to provide full-fledged standardized support. Start using HTML5 in your projects today, and build future-ready web applications that take advantage of the exciting features that HTML5 has to offer.

What you’ll learn

  • Use Canvas, Audio-Video, Web Storage, History API, File API, Web Workers, Web Sockets, Geolocation and more in ASP.NET
  • Illustrates HTML5 feature utilization in both Web Forms and MVC applications
  • Use JavaScript and jQuery to communicate between HTML5 and ASP.NET server side code
  • Learn to use HTML5 in Visual Studio
  • Learn to style web forms and views with CSS3
  • Develop cross-browser, future-ready web applications

Who this book is for

Whether you’ve worked on a few small projects, or been working with ASP.NET and ASP.NET MVC for some time, this book will get you up-and-running with HTML5 so you can make it a part of your daily toolkit. If you are comfortable with creating Web Forms and MVC projects, and you care about staying at the cutting edge of the latest web standards and technologies, this book is for you.

Table of Contents

  1. Overview of HTML5 and ASP.NET 4.5
  2. Overview of jQuery
  3. Working with Audio and Video
  4. Drawing with the Canvas
  5. Working with Forms and Controls
  6. Using History API and Custom Data Attributes
  7. Storing Data in Web Storage
  8. Developing Offline Web Applications
  9. Dealing with Local Files Using the File API
  10. Multithreading in Web Pages Using Web Workers
  11. Using the Communication API and Web Sockets
  12. Finding Location with the Geolocation API
  13. Styling Web Forms and Views with CSS3
  14. Appendix A. HTML5 Learning Resources

Book Details

  • Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (November 7, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1430247193
  • ISBN-13: 978-1430247197

5. Core HTML5 Canvas: Graphics, Animation, and Game Development (Core Series)

Book Description
Download the book’s code and a free chapter at corehtml5canvas.com

Read how David wrote Core HTML5 Canvas: corehtml5canvas.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/the-making-of-core-html5-canvas

Check out David’s article series on HTML5 2D Game Development at IBM’s developerworks: ibm.com/developerworks/library/j-html5-game1
This book is a painstakingly crafted, expertly written, code-fueled, no-nonsense deep dive into HTML5 Canvas printed in full color with syntax-highlighted code listings throughout.
Core HTML5 Canvas is written for experienced software developers with an intermediate-level understanding of JavaScript.
The result of two years full-time work by a long-time best-selling author, this book shows you how to implement anything you can imagine with the Canvas 2D API, from text editors to video games. Geary meticulously covers every detail of the API with crystal-clear writing so that you not only understand advanced concepts, but most importantly, you can modify the book’s examples for your own specific use cases.
Here are some of the things you will learn about in this book:

  • The canvas element–using it with other HTML elements, handling events, printing a canvas, and using offscreen canvases
  • Shapes–drawing, dragging, erasing, and editing lines, arcs, circles, curves, and polygons; using shadows, gradients, and patterns
  • Text–drawing, positioning, setting font properties; building text controls
  • Images–drawing, scaling, clipping, processing, and animating
  • Animations–creating smooth, efficient, and portable animations
  • Sprites–implementing animated objects that have painters and behaviors
  • Physics–modeling physical systems (falling bodies, pendulums, and projectiles), and implementing tweening for nonlinear motion and animation
  • Collision detection–advanced techniques, clearly explained
  • Game development–all aspects of game development, such as time-based motion and high score support, implemented in a game engine
  • Custom controls–infrastructure for implementing custom controls; implementing progress bars, sliders, and an image panner
  • Mobile applications–fitting Canvas apps on a mobile screen, using media queries, handling touch events, and specifying iOS5 artifacts, such as app icons

Book Details

  • Paperback: 752 pages
  • Publisher: Prentice Hall (May 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0132761610
  • ISBN-13: 978-0132761611

Review

I bought this book after coming to the conclusion that, for the moment, making html5 canvas games with javascript requires you to get your hands dirty with every facet of the canvas element. After reading through the book, following along with some of the examples, and using it as a quick reference at times i can say that this is the best book to date on the subject matter. My only, very minor complaint is that the code examples in the printed book have a few typos that the actual code on the authors github account do not have, causing a few *wait a minute* moments in following the book. Use the authors working example code instead of the printed code when following along and everything is just fine.

6. Programming HTML5 Applications: Building Powerful Cross-Platform Environments in Javascript

Book Description

HTML5 is not just a replacement for plugins. It also makes the Web a first-class development environment by giving JavaScript programmers a solid foundation for building industrial-strength applications. This practical guide takes you beyond simple site creation and shows you how to build self-contained HTML5 applications that can run on mobile devices and compete with desktop apps.

You’ll learn powerful JavaScript tools for exploiting HTML5 elements, and discover new methods for working with data, such as offline storage and multithreaded processing. Complete with code samples, this book is ideal for experienced JavaScript and mobile developers alike.

  • Store session data in the browser with local storage objects
  • Save trips to the server: store larger amounts of data with IndexedDB
  • Give browsers limited access to a user’s system to read and upload files
  • Take your app offline—and speed up page loading when it’s online
  • Use Web Workers to create multithreaded applications
  • Transfer data between browser and server more efficiently with Web Sockets
  • Learn about HTML5 tags for forms, multimedia, graphics, and geolocation

“HTML5 is all the rage these days, but it’s more than just a buzzword. Programming HTML5 Applications provides the knowledge to guide you through all the new technologies needed to make modern web applications.”

Book Detail

  • Paperback: 144 pages
  • Publisher: O’Reilly Media; 1 edition (November 29, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1449399088
  • ISBN-13: 978-1449399085

Review

Normally, I’m a huge fan of O’Reilly books and at any given moment, I have a pile of them sitting on my desk when I work.
I was really looking forward to this book and I was very disappointed when it arrived. The table of contents looked great and the book covered topics that I was very interested in. Unfortunately, there was so little depth that it was virtually useless to me. In most cases, the examples were trivial and in some cases, I felt as though the author was simply telling me that the feature existed.

7. HTML5 Games: Creating Fun with HTML5, CSS3, and WebGL

Book Description

The newest iteration of HTML, HTML5 can be used with JavaScript, CSS3, and WebGL to create beautiful, unique, engaging games that can be played on the web or mobile devices like the iPad or Android phones. Gone are the days where games were only possible with plugin technologies such as Flash and this cutting-edge book shows you how to utilize the latest open web technologies to create a game from scratch using Canvas, HTML5 Audio, WebGL, and WebSockets. You’ll discover how to build a framework on which you will create your HTML5 game. Then each successive chapter covers a new aspect of the game, including user input, sound, multiplayer functionality, 2D and 3D graphics, and more.

  • Aims directly at a new way to develop games for the web through the use of HTML5
  • Demonstrates how to make iOS and Android web apps
  • Explains how to capture player input; create 3D graphics; and incorporate textures, lighting, and sound
  • Guides you through the process of creating a game from scratch using Canvas, HTML5 Audio, WebGL, and WebSockets

By the end of this invaluable book, you will have created a fully functional game that can be played in any compatible browser or on any mobile device that supports HTML5.

Book Detail

  • Paperback: 456 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (December 27, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1119975085
  • ISBN-13: 978-1119975083

Review

I pre-ordered this book and had high hopes for it. My hopes were realized. My major desire was to find a good book that I can use in a course
where we will build a game engine using webgl technologies. I would have liked perhaps an additional chapter about webgl, but am quite pleased
with the chapter that is present. Also, the other chapters are informative and helpful, e.g. those describing web sockets, local storage, etc. I
downloaded the software from the publisher website and ran many of the samples. In one case, I had to make a change to the code to accept 0 (zero)
from an xmlhttprequest where the code was only accepting a 200 as a valid return code. Otherwise, things that I tried ran unchanged. At one point I
was confused by a reference to “BC” in the Index. A quick email to the author got an almost immediate reply in which he told me that the acronym
referred to Bonus Content, and that the content would be added to the downloads at the website. He emailed me later when the content was available.
While I will probably provide some websites as supplements to be visited by my students, I am completely satisfied with the book and am currently
planning to use it in my course this summer.

8. Learning HTML5 Game Programming: A Hands-on Guide to Building Online Games Using Canvas, SVG, and WebGL

Book Description

Get Started Fast with HTML5 Online Game Programming!

HTML5 will transform web and mobile gaming. As new browsers rapidly adopt it, HTML5 will do everything “legacy” technologies such as Flash and Silverlight have done—and much more. In Learning HTML5 Game Programming, pioneering developer James L. Williams gives you all the knowledge, code, and insights you’ll need to get started fast!

Williams combines detailed explanations of HTML5’s key innovations with examples, including two case study applications that address the entire development process. He guides you through setting up a state-of-the-art HTML5 development environment; making the most of HTML5’s canvas tag, SVG vector graphics, and WebGL 3D; and targeting diverse mobile and social platforms. It’s all here: from the essentials of online game design to the nitty-gritty details of performance optimization.

About the Website

All code samples and answers to chapter exercises are available for download at www.informit.com/title/9780321767363 and on Github at https://github.com/jwill/html5-game-book.

Coverage includes

· Understanding the HTML5 innovations that make it possible to create amazingly rich games

· Setting up a state-of-the-art open source HTML5 game development environment

· Using JavaScript to drive sophisticated interactions between users and games

· Building basic games fast, with the prototype-based Simple Game Framework (SGF)

· Generating movement and gameplay with the canvas tag and surface

· Creating games with SVG vector graphics using the RaphaëlJS Javascript library

· Using Three.js to build powerful WebGL 3D games with far less complexity

· Developing games without JavaScript, using Google Web Toolkit (GWT) or CoffeeScript

· Building a complete multiplayer game server using Node.js and WebSockets

· Planning and choosing tools for mobile game development with HTML5

· Optimizing game performance with offline cache, minification, and other techniques

Learning HTML5 Game Programming is the fastest route to success with HTML5 game development—whether you’re a long-time game developer or a web/mobile programmer building games for the first time.

Book Detail

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (October 5, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0321767365
  • ISBN-13: 978-0321767363

Review

At first a little disappointed by this book, as I found it maybe too much scattered (covering too much topics), I finally found it very useful as it actually allowed me to expand my field of knowledge on each of the subjects. For sure this book do not provide any ancient secret knowledge to become a guru, but it will however show you the magic, and how to use it with some real examples. Which at the end is more than enough to give you a first overview of the various possibilities around HTML5.
So would I recommend this book ? If you are an advanced JS/HTML5 developer looking to push your knowledge further : maybe not. But if you don’t have a clue about how to start with HTML5, this book will come very handy in giving you the right kickstart to get you up and running in no times.