This book is a must for you if:
There are 100 Web sites in the book, each with a specific teaching attributed to the site. The 100 sites are broken up into ten chapters of ten sites each, with each chapter focusing on a different theme, such as "Sites with Spice" or
"Sites that Speak." Within each chapter are two feature sites, which are deemed to be especially well-balanced in design and content. The other eight sites are highlighted sites, each offering some unique and special contribution to the Web.
I feel extremely fortunate to be writing books about subjects that I am learning at the same time as the reader. The Web simply hasn't been around long enough for anyone to be a true authority about it as a whole, although many people in the industry
come to it with a great deal of experience in a variety of areas.
Academically, I have been trained as a writer and media artist. I hold a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Prescott College and an M.A. in Media Arts from the New School for Social Research. Professionally, I have worked for ten years as a technical writer and
editor, and for seven years wearing a number of hats in various online pursuits. Currently, I balance my professional interests between book and column writing about new media, independent interactive media design, and online systems management for the
Microsoft Network.
I maintain an avid love for music, and write a column for Goldmine Magazine. "Line Noise" is about music on the Net. Check it out in your favorite record store each month. I am a singer and guitarist, and play in the duo Courage
Sisters with singer/songwriter Patty Sundberg. We've got a CD, Dancing Together, that keeps threatening to appear commercially on the Crash Landing label.
Mostly, I appreciate my quality relationships with family and friends, the Sonoran Desert I call home, and my cat Tara—who claims all work and property as her own. Seriously, she spends her days in my office chair, right in front of the computer,
when I'm not around. I always get that look when I walk in like "Ha! I do everything around here. Where have you been?"
Laura Lemay is the author of the bestselling Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML books and co-author of Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days. She also writes a regular column on HTML and Web publishing for Web Techniques
magazine. You can visit her home page at
