Cascading Style Sheets: A Primer [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Cascading Style Sheets: A Primer is a simple and informative book that introduces you to the background and concepts of style sheets and includes a tutorial to help you add style sheets to your Web pages. The book begins with basic concepts of HTML page typography and layout using frames and tables and then moves into style sheets, finishing with some real-world examples. The guide teaches you how to design style sheets for both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. A helpful compatibility chart shows the tags and features that each browser supports. The final portion of the book examines case studies of sites that use cascading style sheets in different ways and explains how to add style sheets to an existing site to improve layout and design.

Product Description

One of the greatest challenges a Web designer must face is how to create content that displays the same in all browsers. There has never been a clear-cut solution to this formidable task -- until now. Programmers and designers the world over are singing the praises of Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, for its ability to provide designers complete control over how their content appears on users screens.

Cascading Style Sheets: A Primer is a hands-on guide to understanding and implementing this new technology in your Web site. You learn how to use tables and transparent images to achieve layout control, use advanced selectors to control every last detail of presentation, add interactivity with Dynamic HTML and JavaScript Enhanced Style Sheets, and much more. In addition to discussing the fundamentals of CSS, the book also tackles the topics of basic graphic design theory, typography and Web design, and advanced CSS techniques and methods.

Authors Joseph R. Jones and Paul Thurrott have also created a supplemental Web site that is a perfect companion to the book. Here you find online tutorials about CSS and HMTL as well as the latest news and information about this exciting technology.

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Mis Pr; illustrated edition edition (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558285792
• ISBN-13: 978-1558285798
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,311,088 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars A lot of typos!, January 10, 2001

By	"lauramhaz" (Glendale, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

Do *not* buy this book. It is not well edited and contains numerous typos in the HTML and CSS syntax. It is now 2001 and this book was published in 1997, so it's very out of date. The browser compatibility charts only go up to Netscape 4 and Internet Explorer 4. There is no coverage of Opera at all. (The age of the book is not the author's fault, but if you are looking for a good reference, try Hakon Wium Lie and Bert Bos' book, or Eric Meyer's.)

1.0 out of 5 stars typos, typos, typos, October 22, 1999

By A Customer

This book represents one of the poorest editing jobs I've ever seen. The number of typos, images that don't match content, and outright errors make this book a pain to read. While there is useful info throughout, the poor editing quality is distracting.

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor quality, not worth the money, September 1, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Glasgow, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This book is not worth it. There are a host of typos and other mistakes in it. Worse, at times there are mistakes in the authors' understanding of HTML rules (which makes me worry about their grasp of CSS).

The book also claims to be supported by a web site with "online tutorials about CSS, HTML, and up-to-the-minute information about these Web technologies." The site, however, has only one page (containing unrelated information about browsers) with one link -- to itself. I emailed the author to ask and was told he was behind and hasn't finished any of it yet. That was months ago.

This book does have some marginal value in that it lists things like common fonts available across several platforms, and it touches on advanced design issues. However, you will be far better off purchasing one of the other guides to CSS. Don't waste your money on this one.