To start off I should mention that this is my first CSS book. Prior to getting this book I would flip through CSS books in the bookstore and never found anything I found helpful at first glance. Having minimal knowledge of CSS and only really modified existing code I was looking for a good first book to get me started. As it turns out, this is that book.
I have found CCS The Missing Manual to be a very good resource and an interesting read. The author has a witty and engaging writing style that draws you on through the book, unlike some dry manuals I have experienced.
The author assumes the reader has some knowledge of HTML. The book starts out with a brief review of HTML with tidbits of history along the way. All through the book the author offers information highlights on various subjects for those people who want more. After looking at how page formatting works with basic HTML the author jumps in to CSS.
One thing that I really like about this book is that the author doesn’t just dump a bunch of information on you and expect you to figure out how to put it to use on your own. Each chapter has exercises to complete that take you through the material covered. The code for these exercises can be downloaded from the author’s website.
In addition to being introduced to the various CSS tags and how to successfully use them the author also covers browser problems that occur, especially with Internet Explorer 6. I was also surprised to find that this book covers Internet Explorer 7, which has only recently become available to the public.
The author devotes a chapter on how to create print style sheets for pages that need to be printed. And the last chapter gives recommendations on how to improve you CSS. The book also includes three appendixes, the first is a CSS property reference, the second gives an overview of how to generate style sheets in Dreamweaver 8, and the last appendix is references.
Check out the TOC online for a full description of the book contents:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/csstmm/toc.html (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/csstmm/toc.html)
CONCLUSION
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I have enjoyed this book and would recommend it to those looking to learn CSS or use it as a reference. Parts I found appealing were the hands-on exercises that went along with the instruction. Being a big fan of the O’Reilly Nutshell books, I also liked that the book includes a CSS reference to flip to.
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