Customer Reviews

Beginning CSS Web Development: From Novice to Professional

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Beginning CSS Web Development: From Novice to Professional" by Simon Collison is the perfect book for newcomers to CSS and for those slightly more-experienced CSS designers who need a soup-to-nuts review.

The book is very well organized, easy to read, easy to digest, and well edited. The progression of chapters is logical, as the book flows from CSS mechanics to layout and design concepts. Topics are covered completely yet succinctly; at just over 400 pages, this is not a typical, bloated computer book. Coverage is complete, however, and nothing seems to be left out. There's a very useful, 15-page CSS reference guide in the appendix, and URL's for many third-party articles and examples are provided throughout the text.

Collison's writing style is relaxed, clear, and appropriately humorous. He even tells you (often -- he's English!) when's a good time to grab a cup of tea. He presents complex topics very clearly, using progressively built-up examples to keep thing clear. Learning CSS from a designer like Collison is so much better than learning it from a programmer, because the designer will teach you why, when and how to apply certain styles, while the programmer will only teach you how; Collison accomplishes the former with aplomb.

The case study in the final chapter is really excellent. Despite the very professional appearance of the sample site, every technique used to create it is indeed covered in the preceding chapters. (If you want to get an idea for how much the book will teach you before you buy it, skim through the last chapter or download the accompanying files from the publisher's website. It's impressive.)

I have only two negative criticisms -- and these are minor. The downloadable files found on the publisher's website are poorly organized, with all the code snippets for the entire book stuck into a single, long text file and with the sample images stored in a separate directory hierarchy from the sample HTML files. Most of the screenshots in the book are shown with browser decorations (title bar, tool bar, etc.), which when added up waste a lot of space that could have been used to include a couple of advanced topics or to decrease the book's cost. But as I said, these are minor criticisms that are far outweighed by the stellar quality of the book -- and the problem with the downloadable files is something that could possibly still be corrected by the author.

In summary, I highly recommend this book, particularly for CSS beginners or novices, but also for CSS-savvy coders who need to re-learn CSS from a design-oriented perspective, as well as for slightly more-advanced designers who need a broad, quick review. I've sampled at least a half dozen CSS books recently, and "Beginning CSS Web Development" is FAR AND AWAY the best.

This book is ideally suited for those who are still using table based layouts. If you are familiar with tables and want a smooth transition to table free layouts, that are easy to manage, this book is a must have.

Coming from a background of using table layouts and a bit of CSS, mostly for fonts, I found that the writing style of the author was very clear. In particular, I like that the author writes a code snippet, explains it, demonstrates it, then as he progresses, repeats the process pulling all the snippets together to render the final / polished results. I only had to refer back to a previous chapter just a few times, when tackling a new topic.

In reality, it took about 4-5 days to complete the book -- that is reading the book in its entirety, something as a programmer, I rarely do, skipping about finding only what applies to me. You will need to read the entire book to get a full understanding of CSS because each section throughout the chapters builds upon each other.

The book does discuss when it is acceptable to use tables in VERY rare situations; mainly when working with tabular data. The only section I had difficulty with was the different types of positioning, static, fixed, absolute and relative. I had to do a re-read several times, with patience, but I got a grasp on it -- a topic that is completely confusing to covey for any author.

I would also recommend that if you decide to purchase this book, go ahead and buy Pro CSS Techniques, as you will need it for more advanced issues, such as dealing with browser quirks, hacks and filters. Buying them together will save you some time. In addition, the Pro CSS Techniques books flows much better with the Beginning CSS Web Development than the CSS Mastery (Advanced Web Standards Solutions) Book.

In conclusion, if you are serious about learning CSS fast, have a little HTML under your belt, and can spare 4-5 days going through the book, you can't go wrong. I highly recommend this book. You can also download the full source from the author's site; in addition, you can download the entire book in electronic format for $10 (limited time) once you purchase the physical book.

On a side note, I did not find any errors in the book -- it was well edited.

Again, highly recommended. Great work Simon!

Finally, I have a book that I can recommend to someone as *The* first CSS book.
The first indication to me that this was an excellent purchase was the fact that Simon started off this book with a strategy as to how *organize* your CSS!
After all, it's a Given that throughout the years you will be spending as a web designer, that you will be continually adding to your collection/library of CSS code! So you've got that excellent foundation of Simon's seasoned experience in how to best structure your growing library of reusable and specific-purpose CSS.

Also, some instant gratification, for me at least: Early in my reading, I was happy to come to the very clear distinction between How to use, When to use, the Id (the pound sign) and the Class (the period). It made me feel like a CSS Pro from the get-go.
-How does that "em" thing really work? Read this book.
-How do those tedious margin and padding properties work? Finally, no more trial and error with these CSS properties. YOu'll know how these work.
-Ever wonder what are good Fonts to use, so that you can finally build that "ultimate template" CSS file which will serve as your starter CSS for every new project? Simon will let you know. (Verdana is one of them)

I'll stop here and just mention that there's nothing to criticize here. And trust me, there's more complex subjects than just the above.
I still even now pick up this book, because I have the convenient "CSS Reference" section marked with a label. Since the book is relatively small compared ot the large CSS books out there, it's easy to physically pick up and utilize this CSS Reference.

I also have CSS Mastery which was co-authored by Simon. I'd recommend that highly too when you get around to it.
( I wish this book were available 4 years ago, when I thought I was smart enough to dig right into one of the professional CSS books, just because I knew programming languages such as c and python )

With so many CSS book out there today its refreshing to see one that takes it a little differently. Simon Collison [...] is a very well known and accomplished web developer (co-authored CSS Mastery with Andy Budd) has wrote an excellent CSS book that focuses on how to use CSS effectively in a way that most books fall short. I have bought over the years at least 6 or 7 CSS books from beginner to advanced (actually most are intermediate at best) and none have I found really shows you the power and simplicity using CSS make your web designs.

The first part of the book gives the reader a great foundation on topics like: types of style sheets; print style vs. screen style; importing and combining styles; keeping styles modular; IDs vs. Classes; how CSS cascading really works; the power of inheritance, pixels vs. em's; box model; fonts; color and images. As you look through most of these topics (in chapter 1 thru 5), you'll say to yourself..."we'll I know most of those, no big deal". That may be true, but I knew most of these topics too, but I never found all of these in the same book before.

Next, the middle of the book covers a very useful use of CSS styling with lists. With all the emphasis on web standards with difference technologies (especially JavaScript), this simple html tag ul and li has been the foundation for many re-deigns for creating accessible, standard and semantic markup. Simon goes through in great detail the use of lists for navigation and shows many examples that are great reference as you design (or re-design) your own web site(s). Other chapters focus on using CSS with tables and forms with some very helpful suggestions and examples that I have already used in my current sites I have created.

The best part (in my opinion) and most `advanced' section is the latter part of the book (chapter 10 thru 13) which is how CSS is used for page layout. I could've saved some money if this book came out a year or two earlier with all of its many great detailed examples of CSS layouts. Simon first talks about using floats and absolute positioning for layout which I kind of knew already but he covered points I didn't quite grasp yet and later he went into discussing how CSS is used for the basic types of layouts that are currently on the web: fixed, liquid, elastic, and variable fixed width as well as variations of each. This chapter alone (chapter 11) is worth the price of the book because no other book I have looked at or bought has covered this. The next chapter is just as good which covers using your layouts and cutting them up into templates. This is great if you create medium to large sites or create many sites with only slight variations of each. A great "real-world" topic that I have also never seen in any other CSS book. And to top it off, the last few chapters (14-16) goes into usability and accessibility, tips and tricks (IE6 hacks, IE7 differences, IE Mac issues, etc.) and a case study.

So if you're new to CSS all you need is this book, and if you already know the basics of CSS, then this book will advance your existing skills, and if you're a season-pro, you'll still learn something new about CSS.

This is hands down the best CSS book on the market!

Beginning CSS Web Development is a thorough tutorial on designing websites with cascading style sheets. The subtitle of this book, From Novice to Professional, is a reasonably accurate description -- it might overstate how much an expert would get out of this volume, but there is plenty of knowledge and insight to benefit most CSS users.

Simon Collison starts by covering concepts such as class and ID selectors, what he calls "technical theory." It is not until chapter 4 that he gets to styling text. There is a question in my mind as whether this is the most effective way to present CSS for beginners. I do not think the technical concepts mean anything to novices until they have actually worked with CSS. Collison recognizes this dilemma and says at the start that you can skip the beginning and go back afterwards. I would second that suggestion, though I can't say how the book would flow if a reader starts in the beginning, nor would it be clear when to go back other than when things get too confusing.

That general point aside, this book is not only a very effective introduction to CSS, it is also a trove of insight into web design and the judgment calls that are part of the process.

The book is divided into two parts. The first is about styling the appearance of a page, and the second is about layout. Collison very concisely teaches the basics of CSS in the first section and give some good examples of page templates in the second.

The book as a whole covers a lot of ground efficiently with well thought out examples, but the value in this book for experienced as well as beginner designers is the perspective on how to put the techniques together for good design practices. Often the ideas are drawn from other sources, and Collision gives appropriate credit when due.

The chapter on tables starts with a good perspective on why and when to use tables. I found this chapter, which also covered definition lists, particularly instructive, and accessibility was addressed as well as appearance.

The concluding chapters of the book are valuable for anyone. The writer has a good review of accessibility from the perspective of an experienced designer, and he keeps it realistic as far as what one can accomplish, at least at the beginner level. The final chapter on process emphasizes starting with Photoshop or even a pen and paper to wire frame a page before getting into the coding.

The appendix is a well-organized listing of CSS 2.1 properties with a particularly useful section on shorthand properties.

The book has minimal but useful sidebar interruptions. The source can be downloaded from the publisher's website, and the examples are nicely annotated to let you easily relate them to the corresponding text. I found three or four errors and submitted errata notices. I suggest checking the publisher's website for updates.

Beginning CSS Web Development by Simon Collison is the perfect beginners guide to CSS. As the subtitle says, the book is about taking you from novice to professional by the time you are finished. This book is laid out very well, and moves at a perfect pace. Now, for those who are advanced CSS developers - this book is still a great book to have as reference to different aspects or topics. I agree with Simon, in that I wish I would have had a book like this when I started using CSS a few years ago. It would have saved many headaches and late nights of figuring things out the hard way. Here are some of my thoughts after reading the book:

The book's pace was perfect.

Simon did a great job of breaking this book into two major sections. The first section is comprised of understanding CSS. It starts with a very brief discussion of CSS and some core concepts. He doesn't dwell on this, though, and dives right into the meat of the book. Some of the different aspects discussed were styling text, backgrounds, colors, images, lists, links, and tabular data. Each having its own chapter to discuss the basics.

The second section gets into more advanced CSS. It discusses positioning, floating, layouts, templating, usability, accessibility, and some tips and tricks. Each of these given a good amount of time with some great examples. The end chapter brings it all together with a case study, a very interesting case study to say the least (you'll just have to read the book to check it out).

Styling of headers left me thinking about a few things. I agree with his approach, in using an actual image in the markup (since it IS content). The flip side would be using image replacement - but then losing any textual representation or alt attribute if images are disabled and CSS is still active (unless you implement Richard Rutter's method with some JavaScript). With his style of setting up templates and reusable CSS - it would be tough to update h2 images over an entire site when updating a template, design scheme, or even typeface (depending on the size of the site). This discussion has been had many different times, and I am not sure I am completely settled on one specific solution for image replacement. So, he gives the best solution for a beginner - I was just left wondering if there was a better option.

Styling of forms is something that is super tricky, even for the advanced CSS developer. He does a great job of covering three different approaches (table, using a combination of p and br and finally using a definition list). The tricky part is: What is the best solution? He gave the answer I would have given, in that it depends on the job and the needs. Lately I have been very prone to using a definition list to style some of my basic forms (contact, newsletter, etc). I believe this does a great job and gives great flexibility. Some would say that it is not a proper use of the definition list, but I would beg to differ. I think there are many uses for the definition list. Simon walks through each, giving you a base form template, and then using the cascade to style via the other methods.

Frustrations in CSS often lie in the confusions of browsers, hacks, and filters. Dealing with the different quirks in the different browsers makes things complicated (at times). I believe the best thing to do is to understand how each browser renders different elements with its default stylesheet. Simon discusses some of these differences, and then shows how to override with the cascade to get the desired results (IE: zero out margins and padding). I have always felt that using hacks was simply not the best option. Simon agrees with this, but at the same time shows how to manage hacks and filters - with descriptions of each and their workings (how they manipulate the browser bugs, etc). This discussion, coupled with his beginning chapter of managing your style sheets will ultimately help you to keep your CSS clean, organized, and protected against future browser fixes. Simon makes this process easier by explaining best practices and showing solutions.

This book is full of much more information, and I even learned a few things myself (I was not aware of the content: property and how to use it with a:after). If I were just starting out CSS - I truly believe this book would have been the perfect starter. Not only did Simon cover the basics of CSS styling, managing your CSS, and using CSS for advanced layouts - he also encouraged me to drink more tea. My evenings consisted of banana bread, some peach tea, and Beginning CSS Web Development. I think the tea helps you understand the chapters better, therefore making it a necessity.

For those beginning CSS and looking for the perfect book, this is it. Having read CSS Mastery by Andy Budd and Bulletproof Web Design by Dan Cederholm, I can say that all three of these books work very well together. If I could recommend a sequence, it would be to read this book first, followed by Bulletproof Web Design, and finally CSS Mastery. All three books are great, and all three serving a different purpose and audience.

I can't tell you how many computer books I have purchased that claim to be able to teach programming skills. This is the only one I have been able to learn from - right the way through, from start to finish. The author has an ability that is very very rare - the ability to break things down into understandable chunks and to actually TEACH NEW SKILLS.

That said, this is not a book for people who don't know any HTML, it's a book for people who have a good grasp of HTML, have possibly been working with CSS for styling, have possibly been building web sites with tables for many years, but have been frustrated by attempts to learn CSS positioning.. (that pretty much describes this reviewer).

One thing you need to be willing to do though, in order to get the full benefit from this book, is work through the coding exercises. Not necessarily every single one, but the material that you are not already working with on a regular basis. Generally I find this kind of thing tedious, but in this case, somehow, it is fun! Simon has a great sense of humor and that really transforms the material from mind-numbing to entertaining.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's one in a million.

This is one of the best and most useful books I have read (and I have read many as a software developer for 20+ years). I thought I had learned everything to know about CSS after reading online tutorials and relying on google, but after reading this book, I realize I had so much more to learn -- everything is so much more clear after reading this book. Simon explains things SO well and he has a knack for narrowing in on what is important. He includes lots of examples and images. He also has a great sense of humor and actually makes the book enjoyable to read (which is hard to do for a topic like CSS!). I will continue to rely on this book as my CSS "bible". Note that he has included a great, well-organized CSS reference at the end.

I agree with other reviewers that this is a good book for intro to CSS and I recommend its purchase. It is fairly thorough and Collison explains the subject clearly, in most cases. However, I disagree that it's fantastic or any other superlative that others have applied.

My biggest complaint is the short-shrift given to the subject of the CSS box model. Without a crystal clear understanding of this subject you will never understand why margins, borders and padding are screwing up your layout. For understanding CSS layout there is nothing more important than the box model and the precise relationship between margin, border and padding.

Directly related to the paragraph above, in chapter 11, page 248, the exercise instructions tell you to switch the physical order of two elements in the html file (and there is a big erratum here, too), and then additionally lists the required changes to the css file. HOWEVER, if you make only the html changes the layout will be completely messed up even though that doesn't seem to make any sense! Collison missed an important opportunity here to explain WHY switching the order of the html requires changes to the css! The true learning opportunity in this exercise was squandered.

Onto more picky items, every single time the author refers to web markup, he writes (X)HTML. After the first 10 times it's incredibly annoying. He should have just written XHTML since his book is 100% compliant with the new standard.

Lastly, and clearly leastly, for a Brit his humor is NOT funny! Collison needs to read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" if he wants to learn about British humor. In the meantime, just skip it; you're not John Cleese!

I read this book from cover to cover. It is excellent, and I successfully used it to convert my cash4books website from table-based disorganization to use CSS and web standards.

However, I think what was missing was a discussion on Quirks mode. Go to wikipedia and search for "Quirks mode" if you do not know what that is. In fact, if you use the code examples Collison provides, a few of them do not work right, due to Quirks mode issues. Specifically, once you get to the layout chapters, things don't work quite right in the latest versions of BOTH IE and Firefox.

But, as I said, other than that bit of quirkiness, the book is great.