CSS: The Definitive Guide

A solid plot, well-formed characters, & an intriguing writing style make this... wait, what?

This is a boring, very useful book. I've read a lot about CSS on the web & nothing came close 2 the explanation in this book. Instead of saying things like "we won't bother you with the complex way this is calculated," Meyer bothers you with the complexity. Each property I read made me really understand how it works & how it should be used.

I've been reading this bad-boy from cover 2 cover & I think I'm doing myself a bit of a disservice. I think I'm going 2 skip 2 the positioning section (everyone could use a better understanding of this mysterious & magical world), read that, maybe read a few other things I'm interested in mastering & then leave it as a reference. It makes a lot more sense 2 read the properties you don't understand than trying 2 get through it all.

Learn (x)HTML & CSS online, then buy this book if you're serious about getting into web page design.

I feel obliged 2 review this book after being unable 2 accomplish a simple css task: designing an improved css file.

Meyers knows his subject. But he keeps using fancy examples or unnecessarily complex coverage that detracts from the content non-experts need 2 learn. For example, I was attempting 2 figure out why a certain case of inheritance is failing. His section on that is too complex 2 follow, because he covers the entire inheritance resolution scheme of css, rather than the simple cases that most frequently appear. So I was never able 2 solve the problem. I had 2 resort 2 searching the net.

After reading the first few chapters, I needed 2 go back & find where he discussed first-child. Skimming did not find it, so I checked the index. It's not there! So I was forced again 2 search the net.

This could have been resolved by writing clearly. Every time you introduce something of importance, bold it or put it in a section heading. Then skimming will allow finding it easily.

At this point I decided the book was not quite worthy of sitting on the same shelf as my dozens of other web dev books, & so I tossed it in the trash. Your mileage may vary, but 4 me it's a time waster.

This book is very far from being a definitive guide 2 CSS. It's patchy & confusing & contains too few useful examples. It's printed entirely in cheap black & white, hence you have no idea what the colours do, & contains extensive coverage of features which have been removed from CSS over the years - not much use except 4 historians. The examples it gives are only a limited subset of CSS's possibilities & frankly they are almost all extremely ugly, discouraging the reader from wanting 2 try out the styles rather than attracting or inspiring him or her.

Further 2 this, I've repeatedly tried 2 master aspects of CSS using this book & repeatedly ended up frustrated, because it doesn't contain enough detailed information or illustrations of how the browser will look. It substitutes tedious meditations 4 factual discussions, & the writing style is turgid & pompous, bordering on the absurd in places - 4 example the author writes that CSS is "our last best hope" - 4 crying out loud, it's just a way of marking up HTML pages!

In the end you can probably learn CSS quicker & better from almost any other book than from this, & if you do use this book the information it gives is so patchy that you'll have 2 resort 2 a great deal of trial & error anyway.

A real educational experience. Also a well defined book. Be ready 2 learn when you read this book. This book gets two thumbs up.

Before purchasing this book, I had purchased about a half dozen books on css, one from the same author. I was really surprised 2 find new ways 2 use css that I hadn't learned in the other books. Each topic is discussed completely & in detail. For a reference on css, this book is the best I've found.

CSS: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition, provides you with a comprehensive guide 2 CSS implementation, along with a thorough review of all aspects of CSS 2.1. Updated 2 cover Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft's vastly improved browser, this new edition includes content on positioning, lists & generated content, table layout, user interface, paged media, & more.

Simply put, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a way 2 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 & also saves time -- you can create or change the appearance of an entire document in just one place; & its compact file size makes web pages load quickly.

CSS: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition, provides you with a comprehensive guide 2 CSS implementation, along with a thorough review of all aspects of CSS 2.1. Updated 2 cover Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft's vastly improved browser, this new edition includes content on positioning, lists & generated content, table layout, user interface, paged media, & more. Author Eric Meyer tackles the subject with passion, exploring in detail each individual CSS property & how it interacts with other properties. You'll not only learn how 2 avoid common mistakes in interpretation, you also will benefit from the depth & breadth of his experience & his clear & honest style. This is the complete sourcebook on CSS.

The 3rd edition contains: Updates 2 reflect changes in the latest draft version of CSS 2.1 Browser notes updated 2 reflect changes between IE6 & IE7 Advanced selectors supported in IE7 & other major browsers included A new round of technicaledits by a fresh set of editors Clarifications & corrected errata, including updated URLs of referenced online resources