Cascading Style Sheets: Designing for the Web (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

by Hakon Wium Lie (Author), Bert Bos (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Since 1996, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) has been the standard language for describing the layout of Web pages. This classic, fully four-color book explains how to use the latest release of the CSS language, with clear and practical examples for each CSS language element. And more than just the "how," the book also explains the "why" behind the design of each CSS element, ensuring that readers have the understanding they need to create their own CSS libraries.The foreward is written by Jeffrey Zeldman, author of Designing with WebStandards and Taking Your Talent to the Web.

From the Back Cover

In this updated edition to their original best-selling classic, the co-creators of CSS clearly, logically, and painlessly explain the hows and whys and ins and outs of the visual formatting language that is their gift to us. The Web would be a poorer place without Messieurs Bos and Lie. Your shelf will be richer for the addition of this book.

Rely on it. Study it. Savor it.

The Indispensible CSS Tutorial and Reference—Straight from the Creators of CSS

Direct from the creators of CSS, this is the definitive guide to CSS, today's indispensable standard for controlling the appearance of any Web or XML document. This book doesn't just show how to use every significant CSS 1 and 2.x feature; it carefully explains the "why" behind today's most valuable CSS design techniques. You'll find practical, downloadable examples throughout—along with essential browser support information and best practices for building high-impact pages and applications.

Cascading Style Sheets: Designing for the Web, Third Edition covers every CSS 2.1 improvement and fix, from new height/width definitions in absolutely positioned elements to new clip property calculations. Clear, readable, and thorough, it's the one must-have CSS resource for every Web developer, designer, and content provider. Coverage includes

• Mastering essential CSS concepts: Rules, declarations, selectors, properties, and more

• Working with type: From absolute/relative units to font size and weight

• Understanding CSS objects: Box model, display properties, list styles, and more

• Exercising total control over spacing and positioning

• Specifying colors for borders and backgrounds

• Managing printing: Margins, page breaks, and more

• Implementing media-specific style sheets for audio rendering, handhelds, and other forms of presentation

• Moving from HTML extensions to CSS: Five practical case studies

• Making the most of cascading and inheritance

• Using external style sheets and @import

• Integrating CSS with XML documents

• Optimizing the performance of CSS pages

• Includes a handy CSS Quick Reference printed on the inside covers

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 3 edition (May 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321193121
• ISBN-13: 978-0321193124
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #55,445 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Speaks with an authority as no other, November 18, 2005

By	Brett Merkey (Palm Harbor, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have gotten each edition of this book as it came out -- giving the still valuable previous edition to the most worthy co-worker. This book (whatever edition!) is rightly regarded as one that belongs by the desk of the astute and experienced Web worker.

When the first edition came out, I rejected it for another book on CSS. I figured that a book explaining CSS by the W3C alpha geeks who *created* the CSS recommendation would be too technical and unreadable. I learned how wrong I was. Lie and Bos's classic book turns out to be one of the most readable and clear treatments of CSS you can obtain.

I can agree that if you have a previous edition, there probably is no compelling reason to update. Some explanations have been elaborated and browser compatibility is updated for Firefox. The core value remains the same: simple enough for novices, detailed enough for experts.

Given the relation of the authors to the official work of the W3C, the book speaks with an authority as no other.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cascading Style becomes a Reality, August 2, 2005

By	Laurie Ann Mena (Riverside, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When a developer is in the middle of a project, what is needed is a guidebook that is short, well-written and organized logically. The book must also contain plenty of examples that are specific to the current chapter section, leaving out other confusing cross-references.

Cascading Style Sheets by Lie and Bos does all of the above. The book can be read cover-to-cover, or used as a reference as needed. I rarely had to use the index to find a subject, because the chapters are well-named and stick to their subject. This is rare.

The authors have exceptional credentials, authoring technical and exacting specifications for CSS. Yet they wrote a book that is clear and understandable for us mere mortals. Every web developer should have a copy.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, not perfect, June 2, 2005

By	David Naylor (Sweden) - See all my reviews

This is a great CSS guide and reference. It has something for all skill levels.

Beforehand I thought the book would only be a technical (code-centered) guide to CSS, but it turned out to contain many practical design tips as well. I would say it is useful for both beginners and advanced website designers. If you're new to CSS, this book gives a great introduction to the subject, and if you've been in the game for a while you'll most likely find there were several handy, nifty little features of CSS 2.1 you didn't know about. (I thought I knew basically what there was to know about CSS, but the book has already tought me several new and useful things.)

The book is logically laid out and divided into chapters. One very useful feature is the complete list of CSS 2.1 properties found on the inside cover, as well as the browser compatibility information listed for each property. (Although I've found the latter to be slightly misleading at times. Specifically, the book claims that Firefox understands the 'quotes' property properly, while it quite obviously doesn't.)