CSS: The Missing Manual

CSS: The Missing Manual
by David Sawyer McFarland

CSS: The Missing Manual
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Book Summary Information

Author: David Sawyer McFarland
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-08-31
ISBN: 0596802447
Number of pages: 538
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Product features:
  • ISBN13: 9780596802448
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Book Reviews of CSS: The Missing Manual

Book Review: My favorite CSS book
Summary: 5 Stars

Here's my situation. I'm a professional technical writer who uses a single-sourcing tool called MadCap Flare to write, format, and produce content for printed manuals and online help systems. Flare itself isn't so hard to use. But it relies completely on CSS to format its output. For many years now, I've been using style sheets (in Word and FrameMaker), but I've only had a rudimentary knowledge of CSS. My use of Flare mandated that I get up to speed with CSS, otherwise I'd never be able to control Flare's output to the degree that I needed to.

To start out, I did a couple of web tutorials on CSS. Then I read Hakon Wium Lie's book, which is a terrific reference resource, but not the best "learning" book. Nor does it clearly illustrate the full potential of CSS (which is ironic, since Lie helped define CSS specification). But it did get me moving down the right path and improve my Flare output. Wanting more, I read a couple of other books. But they were geared more toward advanced techniques for users who already understand CSS's capabilities. I needed to step back a bit and find the right book directed at intermediate users. Based on the Amazon reader reviews, I decided to give McFarland's CSS: The Missing Manual a try. And I'm really glad I did.

For beginners, McFarland assumes you know a little bit of HTML, but that's about all. He guides you through CSS and its awesome capabilities with an easy, conversational writing style and clear examples that explain the interaction between CSS and HTML. The book teaches you gradually, and in a very logical order. You are always building on stuff you already learned in earlier chapters. Best of all, he provides tutorials so you can apply your new knowledge right away with practical, real-world examples. He also explains how to minimize your CSS markup to get the most versatility out of the last amount of code. His chapters on floating elements, managing divisions, and multiple columns is worth the price of the book, alone. He also provides common fixes so your CSS works with quirky web browsers (IE6, etc.). He also has a chapter dedicated to managing print output, so your web pages print nicely, which is invaluable to us who manage single-source content for multiple output formats. Upon finishing this book, I was able to completely overhaul and streamline my CSS files, and get much better results from my print and online output.

If you are a beginner with CSS, start here. I promise you, this book will get you up to speed quickly. If you are an intermediate user, this book is a great refresher, and it covers all of the same techniques I found in books for advanced users, but with examples and tutorials that are much easier to follow. In short, this book's content is clear, thorough, and straightforward. Isn't that what you want when you are trying to learn something new?

CSS is very, very cool. And this book is a superb learning guide that will help you realize its full potential. If you are a tech writer or a web designer, this book deserves a place on your shelf.

Summary of CSS: The Missing Manual

Cascading Style Sheets can turn humdrum websites into highly-functional, professional-looking destinations, but many designers merely treat CSS as window-dressing to spruce up their site's appearance. You can tap into the real power of this tool with CSS: The Missing Manual. This second edition combines crystal-clear explanations, real-world examples, and dozens of step-by-step tutorials to show you how to design sites with CSS that work consistently across browsers. Witty and entertaining, this second edition gives you up-to-the-minute pro techniques. You'll learn how to:

  • Create HTML that's simpler, uses less code, is search-engine friendly, and works well with CSS
  • Style text by changing fonts, colors, font sizes, and adding borders
  • Turn simple HTML links into complex and attractive navigation bars -- complete with rollover effects
  • Create effective photo galleries and special effects, including drop shadows
  • Get up to speed on CSS 3 properties that work in the latest browser versions
  • Build complex layouts using CSS, including multi-column designs
  • Style web pages for printing

With CSS: The Missing Manual, Second Edition, you'll find all-new online tutorial pages, expanded CSS 3 coverage, and broad support for Firebox, Safari, and other major web browsers, including Internet Explorer 8. Learn how to use CSS effectively to build new websites, or refurbish old sites that are due for an upgrade.

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