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The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web [Paperback]

Dave Shea (Author), Molly E. Holzschlag (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Proving once and for all that standards-compliant design does not equal dull design, this inspiring tome uses examples from the landmark CSS Zen Garden site as the foundation for discussions on how to create beautiful, progressive CSS-based Web sites. By using the Zen Garden sites as examples of how CSS design techniques and approaches can be applied to specific Web challenges, authors Dave Shea and Molly Holzschlag provide an eye-opening look at the range of design methods made possible by CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). By the time you've finished perusing the volume, you'll have a new understanding of the graphically rich, fully accessible sites that CSS design facilitates. In sections on design, layout, imagery, typography, effects, and themes, Dave and Molly take you through every phase of the design process--from striking a sensible balance between text and graphics to creating eye-popping special effects (no scripting required).

From the Back Cover

Proving once and for all that standards-compliant design does not equal dull design, this inspiring tome uses examples from the landmark CSS Zen Garden site as the foundation for discussions on how to create beautiful, progressive CSS-based Web sites. By using the Zen Garden sites as examples of how CSS design techniques and approaches can be applied to specific Web challenges, authors Dave Shea and Molly Holzschlag provide an eye-opening look at the range of design methods made possible by CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). By the time you've finished perusing the volume, you'll have a new understanding of the graphically rich, fully accessible sites that CSS design facilitates. In sections on design, layout, imagery, typography, effects, and themes, Dave and Molly take you through every phase of the design process--from striking a sensible balance between text and graphics to creating eye-popping special effects (no scripting required).

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Peachpit Press (February 27, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0321303474
  • ISBN-13: 978-0321303479
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #33,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #15 in  Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Languages & Tools > CSS
    #32 in  Books > Computers & Internet > Graphic Design > Desktop Publishing

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More About the Authors

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Molly E. Holzschlag
Molly E. Holzschlag
Dave Shea
Dave Shea

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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oceans apart, box model hack, regular document flow, transparent url, invigorating fashion, child selector, attribute selectors, image replacement, fixed positioning, css file, page weight, absolute positioning, positioning model
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Zen Garden, Internet Explorer, Cascading Style Sheets, Dave Shea, Adobe Photoshop, The Road, White Lily, Creative Commons, Radio Zen, Coastal Breeze, Bonsai Sky, Golden Mean, Release One, Lucida Sans Unicode, Lucida Grande, Elastic Lawn, Blood Lust, Michael Pick, Web Standards Project, List Apart, United States, Times New Roman, Night Drive, Douglas Bowman, Netscape Navigator
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Customer Reviews

94 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (94 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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157 of 165 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A most unique and inspirational book..., May 8, 2005
By Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web (Paperback)
If you've already picked up the basics of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and want to see what is *really* possible, check out The Zen of CSS Design by Dave Shea and Molly E. Holzschlag (New Riders). This is a unique book...

Chapter List: View Source; Design; Layout; Imagery; Typography; Special Effects; Reconstruction; Closing Thoughts; Index

This book covers the topic of CSS in an unusual fashion. Dave Shea came up with the idea for a web site called csszengarden.com. The basic premise is to have a standard HTML file, complete with class and id tags that can not be changed. The goal is to then use a CSS style sheet to apply unique styles and graphics to the page, resulting in some stunning visual displays of web design. But the basic thing to remember is that the page content doesn't change, just the CSS design file that's applied to it.

Shea and Holzschlag take some of the more unique designs that have been submitted and use them to explain various CSS concepts and techniques that can be used to push your design efforts beyond the ordinary. The techniques are very well documented, as well as giving explanations on what will and will not work in the major browsers due to differences in CSS rendering. Since so much of the design is driven by choices in graphics and typeface, you'll also be exposed to quite a bit in the way of design concepts, how to choose and render text, different graphic formats, and so on. While none of the information would be considered a complete reference work on any given subject, you do have enough information to apply the technique and continue on from there if necessary.

In addition to being a book to teach technique, it also does a wonderful job in providing inspiration. If you're looking for ideas to create a site that stands out, a leisurely perusal of the pages (or of the website) will offer up endless ways to reach that goal. "You can do that?" will be a phrase that escapes from your lips on a number of occasions.

Beautiful, instructional, and inspirational... This should probably be the second or third CSS book you buy once you buy a tutorial and/or a reference guide. A recommended read...
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly what I expected, November 13, 2006
By W. Boon (Dublin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web (Paperback)
This book should probably be called A Portfolio of CSS Design. It contains lots of nice pages showing examples of some lovely CSS design. However, it doesn't present enough constructive information to really help you. Tell me exactly how the page put to together rather than some obscure problem which the average CSS user is unlikely to encounter. I don't know who this book is aimed at. There's not enough in it for it to be a tutorial book and while it's nice to look at, is this any better than viewing the actual web pages on the Internet?
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29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Let's review, one more time, December 8, 2005
This review is from: The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web (Paperback)
This is important to understand: this is not a book that will teach you the fundamentals of CSS. Repeat, NOT a primer on CSS. Rather, it is a book aimed at users who want to write or improve the aesthetics of their website by incorporating CSS. For that reason, it is fairly solid. Most of the premises are fairly basic and straightforward, covering the usual elements of type, layout, images, grids, etc. It is a decent resource for ideas and perhaps some alternative ways to approach building or rebuilding your site (using CSS presumably). Advanced designers would probably want to look elsewhere for ideas, theories and techniques.

If you want to understand what CSS is really about, in terms of writing it (to make your site as pretty as the examples in this book) you should turn elsewhere, like Eric A. Meyer's book on the subject. And you can easily check out the publisher's website and probably see everything you need to that is in this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great CSS insight for novices, ameatures, and intermediates.
Hi, I'm a sophomore who bought this book to help me with my MYP/IB Personal Project (which was to create a website), and it was a GREAT resource! Read more
Published 7 months ago by Dennis Yeung

5.0 out of 5 stars Zen of CSS desdign
Well written and illustrated concepts and ideas for using CSS in a 'clean' coding environment. Loaded with ways to avoid overly cumbersome and ineffective coding.
Published 9 months ago by Susan C. Marsala

2.0 out of 5 stars The same information is available on the web
The basis behind this book is excellent. It takes CSS to another level.

However, you can find all of the information that is here in print on the Internet or... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Chris Moyer

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Book!
As a dabbler in HTML for the last ten years, I have heard about CSS and it's many benefits, but had no hands-on experience with it. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mark L. Howell

5.0 out of 5 stars great book
Excellent assortment of examples on just how CSS can manipulate HTML. Not only does it teach Css basics and advanced markup, it explores just how versatile CSS really is. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Willis Lasell

4.0 out of 5 stars What Every Designer Should Own
Truly one of the most amazing books I've read when it comes to web design. The Zen of CSS Design is a great book for all levels of knowledge for ideas, but it is recommended you... Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. Martin

4.0 out of 5 stars The layers of design
The Zen of CSS Design is a book about the application of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) over a structure of HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). Read more
Published 21 months ago by Brad Bice

5.0 out of 5 stars For the beginner to aspire to
I bought this book understanding that it would help me learn CSS design, but soon found that it was not for the beginner but for an experienced CSS practitioner. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Hedley Finger

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely well written book!
Very readable and enjoyable book. The authors' carefully chosen example designs are dissected to highlight key CSS concepts. Read more
Published on August 9, 2008 by James G. Swanson

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Illustrations, but left me a little puzzled
I bought this book years ago wanting to learn CSS before it became popular. I have always loved the artwork produced on csszengarden's web site. Read more
Published on July 11, 2008 by Leo Mckenzie III

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