The Inquisition: CSS books.
Now you may be interested in web design. These days it means using CSS. Period. No more stinking tables, please. No more framesets. CSS makes things a lot easier to build and maintain because it removes much of the presentational aspects from the xhtml. (if you are not using xhtml strict, you should be) Now that IE 7 is out, you can forget about CSS hacks for IE support. If IE 7 still doesn't support basic, fundamental CSS designs, then it is high time to tell your users to dump IE altogether and get FireFox or Opera. If your users are on a Mac, then they're already using Safari or FireFox for sure. (unless they're on a really old mac). Time to dump the old stuff and use the new stuff. If your xhtml is well structured, then the main content of the web site will be accessible to any browser. (you can always add some DOM scripting or JavaScript to do browser checks, but heck...)
So without further ado, today we review a few CSS books. If you are learning or using CSS, you need a few books. Lots of stuff is online, but a book is a refresher and a nice reference. Usually computer books are horrible and support one way of doing things, often out-dated, and just republished continually. Well, you're in luck because CSS books abound and lots of them are very good!
The list I've been using include:
They're all good. Period. They're all recent publications, and all have correct, accurate information. I can not even begin to say which one is best, since they all provide different and similar perspectives. None of them tell you absolutes. Like CSS itself they approach things as suggestions. All include tutorials and examples.
Start with the CSS in 10 minutes as a portable reader to get ideas flowing. Keep the CSS Pocket Ref handy when working on CSS. Read the Wrox book to learn advanced selector techniques. CSS Mastery will tell you the hacks and filters if you really want to bother with IE support, or old versions of Netscape (which has fallen to less than 1% these days). All the books are smart. Most reference Firefox and Safari correctly as the browsers with best support for correct CSS rendering. If your stuff works in these two browsers then your code will probably pass W3C validation with no problems.
The only one of these needing a little rework is the CSS Pocket Reference. It is mostly a printed version of much of the W3C's online documentation of CSS. The best part is the dictionary-like lookup of CSS properties, when you need to see what they are or what options they take. The worst part is the beginning, where they try to squeeze in a description of everything other than properties and selectors, but it is too short to be useful in answering questions there and only ends up leaving you with questions. Still, it's dirt cheap and great for look up.
I recommend them all. Fill your library with CSS books. While it is a simple language, it is also prone to quirks and breakage due to browser support. The two biggest things that most folks need to learn is how to handle font-size and layout. Layout is the biggest bugger of all and is the best reason to have multiple books as references, as there is no one-size-fits-all solution to CSS layout.
So without further ado, today we review a few CSS books. If you are learning or using CSS, you need a few books. Lots of stuff is online, but a book is a refresher and a nice reference. Usually computer books are horrible and support one way of doing things, often out-dated, and just republished continually. Well, you're in luck because CSS books abound and lots of them are very good!
The list I've been using include:
- CSS Pocket Reference (O'Reilly Press)
- CSS Mastery (Apress)
- Professional CSS (Wrox)
- CSS in Ten Minutes (Sams)
- Bulletproof Web Design (New Heights)
They're all good. Period. They're all recent publications, and all have correct, accurate information. I can not even begin to say which one is best, since they all provide different and similar perspectives. None of them tell you absolutes. Like CSS itself they approach things as suggestions. All include tutorials and examples.
Start with the CSS in 10 minutes as a portable reader to get ideas flowing. Keep the CSS Pocket Ref handy when working on CSS. Read the Wrox book to learn advanced selector techniques. CSS Mastery will tell you the hacks and filters if you really want to bother with IE support, or old versions of Netscape (which has fallen to less than 1% these days). All the books are smart. Most reference Firefox and Safari correctly as the browsers with best support for correct CSS rendering. If your stuff works in these two browsers then your code will probably pass W3C validation with no problems.
The only one of these needing a little rework is the CSS Pocket Reference. It is mostly a printed version of much of the W3C's online documentation of CSS. The best part is the dictionary-like lookup of CSS properties, when you need to see what they are or what options they take. The worst part is the beginning, where they try to squeeze in a description of everything other than properties and selectors, but it is too short to be useful in answering questions there and only ends up leaving you with questions. Still, it's dirt cheap and great for look up.
I recommend them all. Fill your library with CSS books. While it is a simple language, it is also prone to quirks and breakage due to browser support. The two biggest things that most folks need to learn is how to handle font-size and layout. Layout is the biggest bugger of all and is the best reason to have multiple books as references, as there is no one-size-fits-all solution to CSS layout.
posted by J.J. at 1:10 PM
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