If you looking for immediate answers to isolated questions. Then you'll love this book. It's indexed by tag name, attribute and normal keywords. At the same time the chapters develop logically starting from basic HTML page layout and moving into working with text, tables, frames and forms. There's a few sections on graphics and colors, and a brief sprinkling of server issues and some Javascript. Each section generally starts out with a brief description of each tag including a summary of all attributes and browser compatibility. This is followed by a more tutorial approach in which greater insight is provided into the usage and interaction of tags and attributes. This helps to develop a more conceptualized understanding of the topic at hand. In my opinion the topics were developed out of a sense of "How do I accomplish the presentation needs I will run into in trying to develop websites attractive and easy to navigate?" So for example Javascript is not covered in any great detail. The basic intent was to provide a simple example of how one would use events such as OnMouseOver and OnMouseOut inorder to describe how to build rollover buttons. The sketch of the an otter on the front cover of this book is truly appropriate for me. I always imagine the otter saying to all of his programming buddies. Hey summarize all that stuff in all of those books because I like to travel light and have fun and I don't want to carry what I don't need.

Don't design without it. Deeper than a quick reference, but lighter than a full manual. It has increased my skills tremendously!

Book was exactly as it was described. Got to me pretty quickly. Good deal too - way less expensive than Borders or Barnes and Noble.

My first review of this book:

One star only because it was required. I searched for the 3rd edition of this book, was shown a list of new and used titles that didn't indicate the edition, selected one, and was sent the original edition, which is useless to me. Why don't the sellers display the edition? Why doesn't Amazon manage this better? I am extremely dissatisfied and will not use Amazon in the future when edition is important.

My final review of this book:

The 3rd edition is excellent. I bought it (from another source) because it was required for a class at the local community college. I still use it for reference. Highly recommended.

My apologies to the community, and my thanks to the two reviewers who chastised me, for my first review. :-)

Maybe it's because I'm primarily a web software developer and not a graphic artist, but I just can't empathise with a lot of the glowing reviews for this book.
I bought this as a companion to the excellent "Webmaster in a Nutshell", but was somewhat disappointed. It seems at first glance to be packed with useful stuff, but the core of day-to-day material on HTML, JavaScript, SSI, CSS and so on is virtually the same as in "Webmaster in a Nutshell", and the rest is mostly hand-waving introductions to topics such as streaming audio and video on the web or, strangely, an Adobe Photoshop tutorial.
Even stranger, the one topic it doesn't seem to cover is web design (as I understand the term). There's nothing about how to create interesting, useful, impressive or "sticky" sites, and precious little about page layout, navigation or information architecture.
My recommendation would have to be to think about this book if you want some the tools to pretty-up a page or two, but buy "Webmaster in a Nutshell" for the nuts and bolts, and then look for a decent "web design" book which is actually about web design rather than just web page construction.

(Review of 1st Ed.)
Web Design in a Nutshell is well organized, the index is excellent, the writing clear, and there are plentiful examples of the various concepts discussed. It contains charts covering almost every set of function/browser compatibility, as well as reference tables for everything from colors (including an excellent discussion on the use of websafe colors) to ASCII elements.
It covers the basic elements of web design, ranging from basic design principles to browsers and types of displays; basic html elements to image formats; and Cascading Style Sheets to JavaScript and basic server background.
In four years of building web sites, this is the best overall reference I've found. It summarizes the basics well enough to be a good overview for the beginner; covers a wide array of web elements to help the intermediate user expand their knowledge; and is an excellent quick reference for the experienced.
If I could have only one web development book on my desk, this would be it.
(Comments on 2nd Ed.)
Still the best single-volume reference for developers.
Niederst has added sections on DHTML, XML, XHTML, WAP/WML, updated information on browser compatibility, added to the information on graphics, audio/video, Flash, etc. There is also more information on accessibility, internationalization, and servers. The Design Principles section has been expanded, while other sections, especially under "html", have been broken out into smaller segments with their own side tabs. The character entity chart has been moved to the back as Appendix F, and the CSS compatibility chart, html elements, depreciations, and proprietary codes appendices have been enlarged.
As with the 1st Ed., the index is excellent. The new organization is logical, but if you're used to the 1st Ed. layout the changes may take a little getting used to, as many things aren't where you left them. For example, the color code chart has been moved from near the beginning to the middle of the book in a special section on "Color in HTML".
While it doesn't cover every web development topic as thoroughly as a shelf full of specialty books would, Niederst has culled the most important information and used it to create an excellent (updated) quick reference. Especially handy for contractors and people who find themselves working on the road.