Stylin' with CSS: A Designer's Guide [Paperback]

Charles Wyke-Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0321305256 | ISBN-13: 978-0321305251

Cascading Style Sheets enable you to rapidly create web designs that can be shared by hundreds of web pages, accelerating development times and centralizing text and layout information for easy editing and updates. Stylin’ with CSS teaches you everything you need to know start using CSS in your web development work, from the basics of markup of your content and styling text, through to creating multi-column page layouts without the use of tables. Learn how to create interface components, such as drop-down menus, navigation links, and animated graphical buttons, using only CSS – no JavaScript required. Discover how to design code that will work on the latest standard-compliant browsers, while working around the quirks of the older browsers. With a mastery of CSS, your web design capabilities will move to a new level, and everything you need to know to get your started and build your skills is right here in this book. You’ll be stylin’ in no time!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles Wyke-Smith who has been creating Web sites since 1994, and is currently Director of Production at Nacio, a corporate hosting and development company in Novato, California, that focuses on user experience, information architecture, and interface design. He has worked as a Web design consultant for such companies as Wells Fargo, ESPN Videogames, and The University of San Francisco. Wyke-Smith has also taught multimedia and interface design and spoken at many industry conferences.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press (May 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321305256
• ISBN-13: 978-0321305251
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #902,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up in the North of England in Derbyshire and in the (Full Monty) city of Sheffield, across the border in Yorkshire. After school, I moved to London and worked for tech companies staging corporate events and rock shows, which got me on the road with bands including Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Santana. I was there when Led Zepplin first performed LZ3 at 2 a.m. to 200,000 ecstatic dancing fans at an outdoor festival at Sheppton Mallet - that's in Dorset, I think, (site of the original gallows pole : )...perhaps the most exciting night of my life...or was it the four Dark Side of Moon shows at the Earl's Court arena in London?....go to www.bbd.com to see me playing Nick Mason's drums after one of those shows - can't add URLs here...those were crazy, magical days. But it was staging the big corporate events that first brought me to California, and once I got here, it wasn't long before I sold my house in London and settled in San Francisco. I bought four Mac Plus computers (upgraded to 2 meg of RAM!) and a laser printer and started PRINTZ Electronic Design, which went from desktop publishing to CD-ROM design to web development in the course of 12 years. The 80s and 90s were a great time to be in South of Market - the area that became known as Multimedia Gulch.

Today, I live a slighly more normal life as the Director of Production of Nacio, a web hosting and development company in Marin. I write books about web development, and I am designing and coding what I hope will be a revolutionary new tool for learning to play music; check back at bbd.com for more on that in the coming weeks.

Most of all, I just enjoy being a part of my family and living the beautiful Napa Valley. Life is good, and I hope yours is too.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

197 of 202 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cheesy Title, but an Awesome CSS Book!, September 12, 2005

By 

Spencer M. Hall (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stylin' with CSS: A Designer's Guide (Paperback)

When I started browsing Amazon for a CSS book appropriate for a beginner, I was overwhelmed by just how many there are out there! I read all the reviews and such, but could not really determine any major difference between the books or figure out which ones were `better than the others.

I decided that in order to make my decision I was going to have to flip through the books a little myself before purchasing. I took my little list to the local bookstore, gathered all of them up, and plopped down on a couch. I flipped through about 6 different books including Designing with Web Standards, CSS Core, CSS Cookbook, Beginning CSS, both Eric Meyer books, and of course, Stylin' with CSS.

I really didn't expect much from this book, I kind of grabbed it as an afterthought, or "might as well..."

I spent a good hour or so browsing the table of contents, reading bits and pieces of each book to get a feel for the author's style. I have to say I was not impressed with most of these, particularly the Eric Meyer books that so many people seem to swear by. My decision came down to Stylin' With CSS or Designing with Web Standards by Dan Cedarholm.

I chose Stylin' with CSS for several reasons. For one, Charles Wyke-Smith has a great, easy style of writing and explaining the concepts behind the rules of CSS. CSS is not overly difficult, but there is a learning curve and Wyke-Smith breaks it down into plain English. Secondly, the organization of the book is probably the most logical among the CSS books. It is not a reference book, as there are thorough explanations, but it is organized like a reference- by topic, in a sensible order. This makes it not only easy to follow the first time around, but makes it much easier to jump back to as a reference when needed. The quick reference chart in the back also comes in handy, and this book stays next to my computer at all times. Lastly, the page layout of the book is also visually appealing. It's not a picture book, but it doesn't look like a dictionary either. There's just the right amount of helpful images and screenshots, as well as colored text to differentiate code from explanations.

This book is the best that I can recommend for getting started in CSS. I can honestly say that my purchase was the best $20 I've ever spent on web design.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful and easy, September 2, 2005

By 

S. Holsey (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stylin' with CSS: A Designer's Guide (Paperback)

Stylin' has easy to understand examples, and gets straight to the point. If anyone wants to learn CSS, in an easy and none confusing way, I really recommend this book. Unlike other books I read on the subject, books that tend to overwhelm the reader with un-necessities, Stylin' gets to the heart of what's important and provides examples of how to do the design.

I originally pursued this book because I wanted to learn how to design web pages without using tables, and this book has helped me tremendously. It's a starter book, not an advanced. But after reading, you'll be designing web pages properly using cascading style sheets for presentation, and XHTML for content.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Learning Resource on CSS, July 13, 2005

By 

Edmon Begoli (Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stylin' with CSS: A Designer's Guide (Paperback)

If you are a beginner or an intermediate user who wants to learn CSS from the ground up this is simply the best source out there.

I got this book two days ago and I did not stop reading it since.

It is very well written - detailed, funny, interesting and it does not treat you like a CSS dummy, but like someone who has to learn this skills to apply it in practice.

Its use of visuals, step-by-step examples and supporting tips is excellent.

If you are looking to learn CSS styling, specially for business applications - buy this book. I also liked "Eric Myer on CSS" book, but that one was more design oriented, and less pedagogical.