Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide

Amazon.com
Cascading Style Sheets can put a great deal of control and flexibility into the hands of a Web designer--in theory. In reality, however, varying browser support for CSS1 and lack of CSS2 implementation makes CSS a very tricky topic. Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide is a comprehensive text that shows how to take advantage of the benefits of CSS while keeping compatibility issues in mind.

The book is very upfront about the spotty early browser support for CSS1 and the sluggish adoption of CSS2. However, enthusiasm for the technology spills out of the pages, making a strong case for even the most skeptical reader to give CSS a whirl and count on its future. The text covers CSS1 in impressive depth--not only the syntactical conventions but also more general concepts such as specificity and inheritance. Frequent warnings and tips alert the reader to browser-compatibility pitfalls.

Entire chapters are devoted to topics like units and values, visual formatting and positioning, and the usual text, fonts, and colors. This attention to both detail and architecture helps readers build a well-rounded knowledge of CSS and equips readers for a future of real-world debugging. Cascading Style Sheets honestly explains the reasons for avoiding an in-depth discussion of the still immature CSS2, but covers the general changes over CSS1 in a brief chapter near the end of the book.

When successfully implemented, Cascading Style Sheets result in much more elegant HTML that separates form from function. This fine guide delivers on its promise as an indispensable tool for CSS coders. --Stephen W. Plain

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
With CSS 2/2.1, web designers have the near-absolute control they￯﾿ﾽve always craved. The standards are pretty well nailed, the tools are there, the browsers are close enough. Strong CSS skills are now indispensable. Eric A. Meyer￯﾿ﾽs Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition is the best way to get them.

Nobody knows the realities of CSS better than Meyer -- nobody. Here, he covers it all: document structure, values, units, fonts, text, visual formatting, borders, margins, colors, backgrounds, positioning, tables, lists, you name it. Meyer presents the why, the how, the pitfalls, the solutions -- and plenty of visual examples. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2003 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When we released Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide in 2000, we believed CSS was poised to become a major force in web authoring -- and we were right. Since then, CSS has continued to mature as a standard, dozens of books have been published on the topic, and most recent browsers have at least partial support for CSS2 and excellent support for CSS1. CSS is the W3C-approved method for adding to and enriching the visual presentation of web documents. It allows web authors to mimic the sophisticated layout and pagination of desktop publishing with clean, easy-to-maintain scripts. This second edition of Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide completes the discussion of CSS2, explores CSS2.1, and introduces emerging elements of CSS3. Eric A. Meyer, now an even more respected expert on the subject of CSS, uses his trademark wit and humor to explore properties, tags, attributes, and implementation, as well as real-life issues, such as browser support and design guidelines. This book addresses experienced web authors and scripters, as well as novice authors who may be implementing CSS from scratch. Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition also includes a new foreword by Molly Holzschlag, a steering committee member for the Web Standards Project and one of the Top 25 Most Influential Women on the Web.

SYNOPSIS

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is poised to make its mark on the Web in the year 2000. With good implementations in Internet Explorer 5.0 and Opera 3.5, and 100% support expected in Netscape's "Mozilla" browser, signs are that CSS is rapidly becoming a useful, reliable, and powerful tool for Web authors.

CSS is the HTML 4.0-approved method for controlling visual presentation on Web pages. Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide offers a complete, detailed review of CSS1 properties and other aspects of CSS1. Each property is explored individually in detail with discussion of how each interacts with other properties. There is also information on how to avoid common mistakes in interpretation. This book is the first major title to cover CSS in a way that acknowledges and describes current browser support, instead of simply describing the way things work in theory. It offers both advanced and novice Web authors a comprehensive guide to implementation of CSS.

Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide targets veteran Web authors who have already invested thousands of hours in learning HTML and writing Web pages and are wondering why they'd need to learn a brand new language of style. This book supplies those dubious but curious Web authors with the information they need to easily implement CSS to their Web site.

This book also addresses an audience of novice Web authors who are already straining to learn all of the tags and attributes of HTML and can benefit now from implementing CSS correctly instead of repeating the mistakes of the past.

The author has extensive experience writing about pitfalls and interesting tricks in CSS. He is a member ofthe CSS&FP Working Group, coordinates the W3C's CSS1 Test Suite, remains active on CSS newsgroups, and edits Web Review's Style Sheets Reference Guide (styles.webreview.com). He has built a widespread reputation as a CSS expert, particularly with regard to his understanding of the intricacies of browser support for CSS. He brings his knowledge and expertise to this book in the form of hints, workarounds, and many other tips for Web

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Although O'Reilly books are not the best place to learn how to use a technology, they are excellent for polishing its finer points. Ethernet and Internet protocols are difficult by nature, but cascading style sheets and MP3s are much more accessible to beginners. All of these books are recommended for university and large public libraries; Cascading Style Sheets and MP3 will also serve well smaller public libraries.

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