Pro CSS Techniques

Having read through Pro CSS Techniques, I can recommend it to web site creators who occasionally (or often) find themselves scratching their heads wondering why that browser isn't rendering the page the way they intended. The book's subtitle reads: Real-world CSS Techniques for real-world CSS professionals. As a practical manual for developing today's websites, Pro CSS Techniques covers all the real-world bases. What I especially like about the writing is that it isn't preachy and it offers options. For instance, it explains two techniques to expand anchor elements across their containers, providing both pros and cons for each. In addition, having been released after the final version of IE7 and Windows Vista, Pro CSS Techniques covers both IE6 and IE7 rendering anomalies as well as Windows Vista-specific typography information. The authors are undoubtedly creating real websites every day. This book is a great resource for the areas we're most likely to need, as well as a fine reference for CSS techniques in general.

There are many CSS books on the market now, so distinguishing yourself from the many is getting harder and harder to do. Since there are less intermediate to advanced books compared to beginner CSS books this is a start. Another thing this book focuses on that is different than the majority of other CSS book is that is stresses creating semantic markup throughout the design and development process. Semantic markup means understanding the meaning of the XHTML that you write. What this means is that the code is free of presentational information using only and when absolutely necessary. These two tags can be very useful in creating intricate CSS designs but they have no semantic meaning. Many blog posts have called this "divitis" because their web page is just a whole bunch of tags with identifiers (id or class) and that's it. While this visually helps the designer quickly create the site, to screen-readers, or PDAs or cell phones may not render the page exactly as you may think it should and using semantic markup helps the browser for that particular device render that page that makes the most sense. It is a hard concept to grasp or fully explain (as I probably am not), but it is used more and more in current web practices. Now this book is written by a couple different authors which seems like the norm nowadays. [...] They all have contributed to various blogs (including their own) about web design techniques and many of them are here in this book. Now the title of this book may be misleading. You do not have to be a professional web designer using XHTML and CSS in the workplace to buy this book. Nor do you have to have memorized every CSS property and value to understand what the authors are saying. All you need to be able to grasp the concepts talked about in the book is a basic understanding of Cascading Style Sheets. As long as you know the basics, this will be a very enjoyable read. The reason it is called "Pro" I am guessing is that many "pro" fessionals use the same techniques and practices that are talked about in the book. It doesn't mean that it is so complex and intricate that only the select few will understand. So to start out the book goes into an excellent explanation (of what I started to in the beginning) of what semantic markup is, why it should be used and practical uses for it. The book then (chapter 2) goes into quick summary of CSS basics but from a perspective of why each element and style should be used (semantic meaning) and some of the least understood properties and selectors. The next chapter goes into a great explanation of how the "cascade" part of CSS works with using descendant, child and adjacent sibling selectors. This is a difficult concept to grasp and the author(s) explain it very simply and easily for almost any level of reader. Lots of code snippets and examples here with great uses for everyday stuff. The next chapter (chapter 4) is skipped in many other CSS books but is a very importa

I received my review copy of Pro CSS Techniques in the mail from Apress last month, and finished reading it last week, but am just now getting around to writing a review. I wish I'd read it sooner, because in the acknowledgments section at the beginning of the book, it was flattering to see my name listed me amongst those who are "sources of inspiration and motivation" (thanks Jeff). This book was authored by Jeff Croft, Ian Lloyd and Dan Rubin. These guys are all CSS gurus in their own right, respectively working on projects such as: Django, Accessify and Sidebar. I like the approach they take in writing this book, one of pragmatism instead of hand-holding, riding a bike without any training wheels. In the words of the authors: "This book is a collection of proven, professional, modern techniques that you can use every day to get the most out of the time you put into your projects... This book is not an introduction to CSS. Although we'll provide an overview of the basics, we'll assume you have a simple understanding of CSS and how it works." Because the devil is in the details when it comes to CSS, this is exactly the type of book that is needed. CSS is like chess, simple in principle yet complex in application. It's like the old adage: "A day to learn, a lifetime to master." I've never met a web developer who has had trouble mastering the concepts behind CSS. Agony is caused by multi-browser implementation of advanced layouts. Don't get me wrong, I think introductory books are necessary, and in fact one of my favorite ones is Eric Meyer's Definitive Guide to CSS. Not every book needs to be the Encylopedia Britannica of programming languages. Pro CSS Techniques is more in line with CSS Mastery in the approach that it takes. Favorite aspects: Specificity and the Cascade - It's nice to be reminded what is in store, once IE6 is no longer a thorn in our sides. It will be nice to use child and adjacent selectors with reliability. How many times have you wanted to change one of many list items, and had to give it a class name? Typography - This chapter shows text treatments, such as how to get the first letter treatment seen on sites like [...]. Styling Tables - I actually talked to a designer awhile ago who had no idea how to make use of tables, having started after tables received their negative stigma for layout. They are important for presenting data, and this chapter shows how to use them semantically as they were intended. Styling Forms - How many times have you seen an unusually large submit button, because an amateur designer generically set the width of all input? This chapter shows you how to finesse web forms into submission. Styling Lists - Arguably one of the hardest aspects of using CSS is getting menu and navigation lists to display correctly. This is evident by sites such as Listamatic catering specifically to lists. This chapter tackles it head-on. Print and Other Media - This is a nice look at how to think beyond the brows

The most confusing thing about learning a new subject, or figuring out what you need to advance, is figuring out exactly the right tools for the job... This review couldn't be complete without making the assertion that I look at this book as a sequel to another book that I have reviewed. In general, Pro Css Techniques picks up where another apress title left off. With that in mind, please read on... First, if you know just a little css, such as changing font colors, this book is not for you. If you are serious about learning CSS, I recommend that you buy "Beginning CSS Web Development: From Novice to Professional (Paperback)" to get you on the fast track to learning css ... THEN read Pro CS Techniques. Actually, the books are from the same publisher and should have been combined into a single book. Second, the Pro CSS Techniques book picks up where the fore mentioned "Beginng CSS Web Development" book left off, with a very easy transition for the reader. This book assumes that you know the basics and want to move into the intermediate to advanced phase of learning and applying CSS techniques...and lastly, is not a reference manual. However, once you complete this book and apply what you know along the way, you will be at the point that all that is needed is a good CSS reference manual (or online documentation) to explore the vast functionality that CSS offers / the point where you start coming up with clever ideas and can "walk the walk and talk the talk aka start stepping into the dark side of the force." Again, I can't stress enough that if you are new to CSS get the "Beginning CSS Web Development" book first, then go through this one - they flow together very well and work better than getting a "generic" beginning css book, then moving to CSS Mastery. PROS : 1) If you read the "Beginning CSS Web Development" book, then read this one, you will know CSS in depth. The point being, this is a very effective to learning CSS from beginning to Pro. 2) The book is very clear, well written and provides detailed examples. 3) When the author discusses a topic, included is a code snippet, discussion, code snippet and a final discuss with all the code put together. I don't like those other books that write a snippet or two then tell you to go download the other 500 lines of code that explains nothing. 4) This book gives the reader a very good understanding of dealing with layout issues -- rather than giving you a reference chapter on hacks, the reader will actually understand (throughout the book) the common CSS problems that arise with various browsers and will be prepared to deal with them with understanding, rather than copying and pasting "J. Walsh IE Hack-57x" to "just make things work." 5) I await the next title from the publisher regarding CSS design patterns. If the upcoming book flows into design patterns as well as the Beginning book flowed into this one, it is going to be smooth sailing. 6) Once you buy the book, you can buy the ful

As an [...] developer with some CSS knowledge, I was looking for a book to help shore up my understanding of CSS and offer some insight into how professional CSS developers create page layouts. This book does a great job of communicating the basics of CSS in the introduction, the specifics of CSS in the first few chapters, and how to accomplish specific tasks that you'll need on every page in the remaining chapters. It also does a great job of covering CSS Hacks, which were a complete mystery to me before I finished this book. Great book, I highly recommend it!