CSS: The Definitive Guide (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: table layout, paged media, text properties, Internet Explorer, Basic Visual Formatting, Non-Screen Media (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

CSS: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition, provides you with a comprehensive guide to CSS implementation, along with a thorough review of all aspects of CSS 2.1. Updated to cover Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft's vastly improved browser, this new edition includes content on positioning, lists and generated content, table layout, user interface, paged media, and more.

Simply put, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a way to separate a document's structure from its presentation. The benefits of this can be quite profound: CSS allows a much richer document appearance than HTML and also saves time--you can create or change the appearance of an entire document in just one place; and its compact file size makes web pages load quickly.

Author Eric Meyer tackles the subject with passion, exploring in detail each individual CSS property and how it interacts with other properties. You'll not only learn how to avoid common mistakes in interpretation, you also will benefit from the depth and breadth of his experience and his clear and honest style. This is the complete sourcebook on CSS.

The 3rd edition contains:

• Updates to reflect changes in the latest draft version of CSS 2.1
• Browser notes updated to reflect changes between IE6 and IE7
• Advanced selectors supported in IE7 and other major browsers included
  
• A new round of technical edits by a fresh set of editors
• Clarifications and corrected errata, including updated URLs of referenced online resources

About the Author

Eric A. Meyer has been working with the Web since late 1993 and is an internationally recognized expert on the subjects of HTML, CSS, and web standards. A widely read author, he is also the founder of Complex Spiral Consulting (www.complexspiral.com), which counts among its clients America Online; Apple Computer, Inc.; Wells Fargo Bank; and Macromedia, which described Eric as "a critical partner in our efforts to transform Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 into a revolutionary tool for CSS-based design." Beginning in early 1994, Eric was the visual designer and campus web coordinator for the Case Western Reserve University web site, where he also authored a widely acclaimed series of three HTML tutorials and was Project Coordinator for the online version of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History and the Dictionary of Cleveland Biography, the first encyclopedia of urban history published fully and freely on the Web. Author of Eric Meyer on CSS and More Eric Meyer on CSS (New Riders), Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly), and CSS2.0 Programmer's Reference (Osborne/McGraw-Hill), as well as numerous articles for the O'Reilly Network, Web Techniques, and Web Review, Eric also created the CSS Browser Compatibility Charts and coordinated the authoring and creation of the W3C's official CSS Test Suite. He has lectured to a wide variety of organizations, including Los Alamos National Laboratory, the New York Public Library, Cornell University, and the University of Northern Iowa. Eric has also delivered addresses and technical presentations at numerous conferences, among them An Event Apart (which he cofounded), the IW3C2 WWW series, Web Design World, CMP, SXSW, the User Interface conference series, and The Other Dreamweaver Conference. In his personal time, Eric acts as List Chaperone of the highly active css-discuss mailing list (www.css-discuss.org), which he cofounded with John Allsopp of Western Civilisation and which is now supported by evolt.org. Eric lives in Cleveland, Ohio, which is a much nicer city than you've been led to believe. For nine years, he was the host of "Your Father's Oldsmobile," a Big Band-era radio show heard weekly on WRUW 91.1 FM in Cleveland. You can find more detailed information on Eric's personal web page at http://www.meyerweb.com/eric.

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 3 edition (November 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596527330
• ISBN-13: 978-0596527334
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,511 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #7 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Languages & Tools > CSS
  #13 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Graphic Design > Website Architecture & Usability
  #44 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Web Development > Programming

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CSS in All Its Warts and Glory, November 28, 2006

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

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When Eric wrote the first edition of this book way back at the turn of the millenium, he proposed to "explain CSS in all its warts and glory." For CSS enthusiasts at the time, that was an advance -- every other author and Web lecturer fixated on the warts!

Six years have changed a lot. CSS, as a tool of modern Web professionals, has moved way beyond its former role as window-dressing for HTML. HTML (and XML) work in partnership with CSS to produce the most logical and yet most flexible page structure that defines current Web document standards.

The book has just about all you need as both a reference and basic how-to. Eric concentrates on the CSS properties and techniques that have real support among browsers. This increases the practical value of the book. Discussion of CSS selectors has been expanded to reflect the growing support for more powerful (and complex!) selector syntax. Most pages have multiple illustrations to clarify text. The book has updated information related to Firefox and IE7.

One disappointment was the sparse coverage of print media styles. Admittedly, browser support of print styling is itself disappointing but a lot of printing is done from the browser and there are still lots of things we can do, as Eric shows in some of his other writings.

Eric's ongoing experience with key real-life Web issues and design knowledge binds the material together and makes this a superior book.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely Definitive!, January 20, 2007

By	Joshua Benuck - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

CSS: The Definitive Guide details the ins and outs of the CSS specification. It is filled with numerous easy to follow examples. The illustrations that accompany the examples are invaluable as they allow you to easily compare the markup, the applied style sheets, and the results which greatly enhanced my understanding of the material. The humor included in the examples made me laugh more than once which is a welcome relief when tackling such a complex topic as cascading style sheets.

This edition of the book covers version 2.1 of the CSS specification. The author routinely points out where the specification was unclear as well as how certain browsers violate the spec which really helps point out what style sheet authors need to watch out for when targeting certain browsers. This is information that is not in the specification and could take a lot of time to find out on your own.

If you are wanting to learn all you can about how to enhance the visual presentation of your site, are wanting to learn more about the capabilities of CSS so you can see how to modify the look of sites you visit using reader style sheets, or just want to find out what all of the buzz surround cascading style sheets is about then I'd recommend this book.

I do have to warn you though, the author leaves no corner unturned. He starts out slow with an introduction to cascading style sheets and what they bring to the table. The following chapters then delve head first into topic after topic. You can be sure that you will know the technology through and through by the time you are finished with the book, just be prepared to spend some time working through the material.

The author has done a wonderful job bringing to life a subject that might otherwise be quite dry. The years of experience he shares in chapter after chapter has made me glad that I've added this book to my library.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CSS The ["Most Excellent"] Definitive Guide, January 26, 2007

By	Jerry Cline "jaCie" (Phoenix, Az) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Reader Review: "CSS: The Definitive Guide" by Eric Meyer

CSS: The Definitive Guide Paperback
by Eric A Meyer

I'm a beginner; just learning and using CSS, and need finite assistance, a resource guide, and a mentor during my learning curve.

As a beginner, I've looked through several books, and in my opinion, I believe "CSS: The Definitive Guide" is exactly that, a definitive guide, but I also believe it deserves the words "Most Excellent" in the title. ;-]

When I received the book I was using Dreamweaver CS2, and in the process of converting older files to xhtml and CSS. I was in a problem solving mode concerning background images not showing in Dreamweaver's (wysiwyg), but the background image were showing in browser tests. Holding the book by the spine with my left hand, I separated the pages with my right hand forefinger and thumb, and it just happened to fall open at the book's approximate midsection, page 255, where one of the subheadings stated "Background Images". Wow! I was impressed at this serendipitous, and fortuitous accidental event.

As I read though a few paragraphs, I noted the examples, looked at the Dreamweaver code and made the changes according to the book. Immediately, Dreamweaver reacted and displayed the page as I had expected it to see it.

This book is not a cover to cover read where you curl up by the fire and read all night, it is a well indexed research support manual -- keep it within reach -- you got a problem w/CSS? -- articulate the problem in your mind, then solve the problem using this book's resources -- checking the adequate table of contents and/or index.

I'm presently involved in several computer projects, but this book keeps calling my name... I like it! I pick it up, open it, read a few paragraphs, and I am seeing and understanding a language that up until now, was just out of my reach. It is fun and rewarding to know I am beginning to understand a new language, CSS, and I am reminded of my 9th grade Spanish teacher who would praise us verbally saying when one of us (students) would read an English sentence then state it correctly in Spanish, "Now you're cooking with gas!" We all wanted, and worked hard to hear that reward, and now as I begin to "speak CSS" I feel that by saying the reward phrase to myself. ;-]

I love it when authors write about the subject, and even though it may be dry, they can offer a bit of humor. I also appreciate those authors who leave their ego out of the dialog, e.g., "now I am going to show you..." UGH!

(CSS) Cascading Style Sheets is of course, the accepted stylesheet language for describing and formatting the presentation of markup language documents, and this book can teach the reader to "read, speak, write and converse in the language."

The book "CSS: The Definitive Guide" goes to the point discussion, defines the point, often in more than one way, explains the principle of the rule, and when necessary shows example code and an illustrative example... what more could you ask? ... Color illustrations maybe ;-] -- Buy the book.

Jerry L Cline, Phx Az