CSS books

The most authoritative quick reference available for CSS programmers. This handy resource gives you programming essentials at your fingertips, including all the new tags and features in CSS 2.0. You'll get concise information on designing and deploying complex style sheets as well as details on browser support.

Cascading style sheets (CSS) are the modern standard for website presentation. When combined with a structural markup language such as HTML, XHTML, or XML (though not limited to these), cascading style sheets provide Internet browsers with the information that enables them to present all the visual aspects of a web document. Cascading style sheets apply things such as borders, spacing between paragraphs, headings or images, control of font faces or font colors, background colors and images, textual effects such as underlined or strike-through text, layering, positioning, and a number of other presentational effects. CSS controls the presentational aspects of a web page's design, whereas HTML, XHTML, or XML controls the structure of a web page, which means little more than determining that certain text is a heading, other text is a paragraph, still other text is a list of hyperlinks, and so on. CSS provides enhanced and precise visual rendering; markup languages such as HTML provide meaning and structure.

Beginning CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for Web Design, Second Edition covers all the details required to combine CSS with HTML, XHTML, or XML to create rich, aesthetically powerful designs. Throughout the book, you’ll focus on combining CSS with XHTML specifically because XHTML is the standard hailed by Internet standards bodies as the successor to HTML and the present and future of website design. CSS and XHTML allow a web document to be presented with less code, resulting in a significantly smaller file size and greatly increased ease of maintenance. CSS also enables the presentation of a web document to be centralized, which allows for the look and feel of an entire website to be written and centralized in one or a few simple documents, which makes updating a website a breeze. With only a few simple edits to a single document, the look and feel of an entire website can be completely changed.

By using modern standards like CSS and XHTML, you can drastically reduce the cost of building and maintaining a website when compared to legacy HTML-only pages. You can also greatly reduce the amount of physical bandwidth and hard disk space required, resulting in immediate long-term benefits for any website.

This book also discusses how to style XML documents with CSS—XML being a more advanced markup language with multipurpose applications. XML will play an increasingly larger role in the production of XHTML documents in the future.

This second edition of Beginning CSS features a near-complete overhaul of the content from the first edition. Changes based on what readers had to say about the first edition helped to create the most comprehensive introduction on CSS available on the market. Throughout this book, you see CSS broken down into simple examples that focus on a single concept at a time. This allows you to better understand how and why something works, since you aren't presented with a lot of irrelevant code, and you can better see the bits and pieces that come together that make something work. While these examples may not be particularly pretty, they are extremely valuable learning tools that will help you master cascading style sheets.

To enhance the learning experience, most of the source code examples are presented in syntax-colored code, a special feature in this book. Syntax coloring is a feature that you commonly see in fancy development software, such as Zend Studio (used to develop PHP), or Microsoft's Visual Studio (used to develop ASP, C#, and so on), and other software used by professional programmers every day. Syntax coloring is used in these software suites to make programming easier and more intuitive, and it offers tremendous benefits in teaching as well. It allows you to see what the different bits and pieces are in source code, since each of the different bits and pieces has a different coloring to identify its purpose. It helps you to distinguish the building blocks of code more easily, and if you use similar development software to write your CSS and HTML documents, you'll also find that you make fewer mistakes and typos, since syntax coloring also helps you to write code that is more bug free.

Many of the source code examples feature annotations to highlight important, not-to-be-forgotten bits of information, and to visually point out concepts that are discussed in the surrounding text.

This edition also features every screenshot from a browser in color, a first for Wrox. Presenting the browser screenshots in color makes it easier for you to compare your results with what you see in the book.

This book also approaches CSS development from a browser-neutral point of view, and provides all the information that you need to get a good healthy start on professional cross-browser, cross-platform website design with IE 6, IE 7, Firefox 2, Opera 9, and Safari 2, which will allow you to reach over 99 percent of the web browsing public.

You also see comprehensive coverage of bugs, and workarounds for the IE 6 and IE 7 web browsers. Long a thorn in the side of CSS developers, making CSS work in IE 6 can be quite a chore without detailed knowledge of its quirks and shortcomings. This book covers many of the hacks and nonstandard workarounds that you may need to develop compatible CSS content in IE 6. IE 7 features many great improvements to CSS support, and though they are much fewer than its predecessor, you still need a few tricks to make your web page shine in Microsoft's latest browser. It covers the workarounds that you'll need to make your pages work just as well in IE 7 as they do in all the other popular browsers. In addition, you'll find the quick reference in Appendix B updated to reflect all of IE 7's new CSS support.

Along with better coverage of Internet Explorer, there’s greatly improved coverage of Mac OS X browsers, Safari, Firefox, and Opera. You'll see that Mac browsers are equally represented among their Windows brethren.

Whom Is This Book For? This book's primary audience is anyone seeking to learn how to use cascading style sheets to present web documents. Because cascading style sheets are used to control the presentational layout of a web document, people from backgrounds in art, graphic design, or those who prepare print layouts for publishing will feel at home using CSS. Regardless of your background, CSS is a simple and powerful language designed so that anyone can understand and use it.

To get the most out of this book, you need some experience with markup languages like HTML or XHTML. If you are completely new to website design and development, you should begin learning web programming with Jon Duckett's Beginning Web Programming with HTML, XHTML, and CSS. Jon Duckett's book provides a complete overview of website development and design for the complete beginner, whereas Beginning CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for Web Design, Second Edition focuses specifically on the role of CSS in website design.

This book presents all of the material you need to become comfortable with writing CSS from scratch.

What Does This Book Cover? This book covers portions of the CSS Level 1, 2, 2.1, and 3 specifications. These specifications are created by an independent, not-for-profit Internet standards organization called the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that plans and defines how Internet documents work. The majority of the book is written using what is defined in the CSS Level 2.1 specification.

This book leads you through how to write CSS so that it is compatible with all of the most popular web browsers, focused on all of the following popular browsers:

* Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 for Windows

* Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Professional 64 bit, and Windows Vista

* Safari 2 for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)

* Mozilla Firefox 2 for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux

* Opera 9 for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux

The preceding browsers make up over 99 percent of the web browser market share at the time of this writing. For your convenience, this book also includes an integrated CSS feature reference throughout the book, as well as notes on browser compatibility. A CSS reference is also included in Appendix B.

How This Book Is Structured: This book is divided into three parts. The following explains each of these three parts in detail, and what each chapter covers.

Part I: The Basics: Throughout Chapters 1 through 4 you learn the founding principles of CSS-based web design.

* Chapter 1, "Introducing Cascading Style Sheets": This chapter talks about what CSS is, why it exists, who created it, where it is maintained, and how it has evolved. It also discusses some of the basic differences among the various CSS specifications—CSS Level 1, CSS Level 2, CSS Level 2.1, and CSS Level 3—and how these specifications define what CSS is. You also learn more about each of the most popular browsers in use today, how to obtain them, and write your first CSS-enabled document. It also shows you how to install Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7 side-by-side on the same computer for testing.

* Chapter 2, "The Essentials": This chapter introduces the basics of CSS. Now that you have seen an example CSS doc...

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) by Example allows you to learn the fundamentals of CSS by taking you through small, gradual steps. It provides examples using CSS in "real world" scenarios. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) by Example follows a logical, linear teaching style that will ultimately have you using CSS to utilize more control over the appearance and styling of Web pages.

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.

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

They say that good things come in small packages, and it's certainly true for this edition of CSS Pocket Reference. Completely revised and updated to reflect the latest Cascading Style Sheet specifications in CSS 2.1, this indispensable little book covers the most essential information that web designers and developers need to implement CSS effectively across all browsers.
Inside, you'll find:

• A short introduction to the key concepts of CSS


• A complete alphabetical reference to all CSS 2.1 selectors and properties


• A chart displaying detailed information about CSS support for every style element and its cross-browser compatibility

This reference neatly condenses the details of its top-selling companion volume, Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide into one easy-to-use cheat-sheet that delivers all the CSS details you need to complete the task at hand. Whenever you're stuck and need an answer quickly -- or if you just want to be sure you're applying CSS correctly -- this edition of the CSS Pocket Reference is the book you'll want by your keyboard or, conveniently, in your back pocket.

The Definitive Guide to HTML & CSS--Fully Updated

Written by a Web development expert, the fifth edition of this trusted resource has been thoroughly revised and reorganized to address HTML5, the revolutionary new Web standard. The book covers all the elements supported in today's Web browsers--from the standard (X)HTML tags to the archaic and proprietary tags that may be encountered.

HTML & CSS: The Complete Reference, Fifth Edition contains full details on CSS 2.1 as well as every proprietary and emerging CSS3 property currently supported. Annotated examples of correct markup and style show you how to use all of these technologies to build impressive Web pages. Helpful appendixes cover the syntax of character entities, fonts, colors, and URLs. This comprehensive reference is an essential tool for professional Web developers.

• Master transitional HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 markup
• Write emerging standards-based markup with HTML5
• Enhance presentation with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS1 and CSS 2.1)
• Learn proprietary and emerging CSS3 features
• Learn how to read (X)HTML document type definitions (DTDs)
• Apply everything in an open standards-focused fashion

Thomas A. Powell is president of PINT, Inc. (pint.com), a nationally recognized Web agency. He developed the Web Publishing Certificate program for the University of California, San Diego Extension and is an instructor for the Computer Science Department at UCSD. He is the author of the previous bestselling editions of this book and Ajax: The Complete Reference, and co-author of JavaScript: The Complete Reference.

Since 1996, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) has been the standard language for describing the layout of Web pages. This classic, fully four-color book explains how to use the latest release of the CSS language, with clear and practical examples for each CSS language element. And more than just the "how," the book also explains the "why" behind the design of each CSS element, ensuring that readers have the understanding they need to create their own CSS libraries.The foreward is written by Jeffrey Zeldman, author of Designing with WebStandards and Taking Your Talent to the Web.

CSS is finally supported by all modern web browsers, empowering Web designers to do what they've been hungering to do for years: control layout more precisely, use color more effectively, and expand typographic options beyond the frustrating limitations of the past. So where to begin? Where can you get design-focused instruction on CSS while learning the technical details?
Cascading Style Sheets: The Designer's Edge is precisely the resource you've been looking for. Written by renowned web designer Molly Holzschlag, this book begins with an in-depth look at structured markup, both XHTML and CSS. It then explains how to use CSS to achieve specific design goals involving typography, color, layout, and more. Finally, it deconstructs a series of impressive designs, showing you how the authors used CSS to maximize their efficiency and get exactly the right effect.
Key topics you'll learn about include:
* Writing valid XHTML
* Authoring effective CSS rules
* Working with classes and IDs
* Validating your CSS
* Creating great typographical designs with CSS
* Using CSS for backgrounds, borders, and color
* Creating multiple link styles
* Using absolute positioning
* Working with relative positioning
* Positioning with float
* Creating great CSS layouts

• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a Web markup standard that allows Web designers to define the appearance and position of a Web page using special dynamic effects
• This book is the perfect beginner reference, showing those new to CSS how to design Web pages and implement numerous useful CSS effects available
• Seasoned For Dummies author Richard Mansfield explains how CSS can streamline and speed up Web development
• Explains how to take control of the many elements in a Web page, integrate CSS into new or existing sites, choose the best coding techniques, and execute advanced visual effects such as transitions
• U Features a special discussion on browser incompatibility issues involving CSS and how to solve potential problems