Web site design has grown up. Unlike the old days, when
designers cobbled together chunky HTML, bandwidth-hogging graphics, and a
prayer to make their sites look good, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) now lets
your inner designer come out and play. But CSS isn't just a tool to pretty
up your site; it's a reliable method for handling all kinds of
presentation-from fonts and colors to page layout. CSS: The Missing Manual
clearly explains this powerful design language and how you can use it to
build sparklingly new Web sites or refurbish old sites that are ready for
an upgrade.

Like their counterparts in print page-layout programs, style sheets allow
designers to apply typographic styles, graphic enhancements, and precise
layout instructions to elements on a Web page. Unfortunately, due to CSS's
complexity and the many challenges of building pages that work in all Web
browsers, most Web authors treat CSS as a kind of window-dressing to spruce
up the appearance of their sites. Integrating CSS with a site's underlying
HTML is hard work, and often frustratingly complicated. As a result many of
the most powerful features of CSS are left untapped. With this book,
beginners and Web-building veterans alike can learn how to navigate the
ins-and-outs of CSS and take complete control over their Web pages'
appearance.

Author David McFarland (the bestselling author of O'Reilly's Dreamweaver:
The Missing Manual) combines crystal-clear explanations, real-world
examples, a dash of humor, and dozens of step-by-step tutorials to show you
ways to design sites with CSS that work consistently across browsers.
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 CSS-only rollover effects that add interactivity to your
Web pages
* Style images to create effective photo galleries and special effects like
CSS-based drop shadows
* Make HTML forms look great without a lot of messy HTML
* Overcome the most hair-pulling browser bugs so your Web pages work
consistently from browser to browser
* Create complex layouts using CSS, including multi-column designs that
don't require using old techniques like HTML tables
* Style Web pages for printing

Unlike competing books, this Missing Manual doesn't assume that everyone in
the world only surfs the Web with Microsoft's Internet Explorer; our book
provides support for all major Web browsers and is one of the first books
to thoroughly document the newly expanded CSS support in IE7, currently in
beta release.

Want to learn how to turn humdrum Web sites into destinations that will
capture viewers and keep them longer? Pick up CSS: The Missing Manual and
learn the real magic of this tool.

Web site design has grown up. Unlike the old days, when designers cobbled together chunky HTML, bandwidth-hogging graphics, and a prayer to make their sites look good, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) now lets your inner designer come out and play. But, CSS isn't just a tool to pretty up your site; it's a reliable method for handling all kinds of presentation - from fonts and colors to page layout. "CSS: The Missing Manual" clearly explains this powerful design language and how you can use it to build sparklingly new Web sites or refurbish old sites that are ready for an upgrade. Like their counterparts in print page-layout programs, style sheets allow designers to apply typographic styles, graphic enhancements, and precise layout instructions to elements on a Web page. Unfortunately, due to CSS's complexity and the many challenges of building pages that work in all Web browsers, most Web authors treat CSS as a kind of window-dressing to spruce up the appearance of their sites. Integrating CSS with a site's underlying HTML is hard work, and often frustratingly complicated. As a result many of the most powerful features of CSS are left untapped.

With this book, beginners and Web-building veterans alike can learn how to navigate the ins-and-outs of CSS and take complete control over their Web pages' appearance. Author David McFarland (the bestselling author of "O'Reilly's Dreamweaver: The Missing Manual") combines crystal-clear explanations, real-world examples, a dash of humor, and dozens of step-by-step tutorials to show you ways to design sites with CSS that work consistently across browsers.

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 CSS-only rollover effects that add interactivity to your Web pages; style images to create effective photo galleries and special effects like CSS-based drop shadows; make HTML forms look great without a lot of messy HTML; overcome the most hair-pulling browser bugs so your Web pages work consistently from browser to browser; create complex layouts using CSS, including multi-column designs that don't require using old techniques like HTML tables; and, style Web pages for printing. Unlike competing books, this "Missing Manual" doesn't assume that everyone in the world only surfs the Web with Microsoft's Internet Explorer; our book provides support for all major Web browsers and is one of the first books to thoroughly document the newly expanded CSS support in IE7, currently in beta release. Want to learn how to turn humdrum Web sites into destinations that will capture viewers and keep them longer?

Pick up "CSS: The Missing Manual" and learn the real magic of this tool.

Cascading Style Sheets are now a reliable method for handling
all kinds of Web page presentations -- from fonts and colors to page
layout. But due to CSS's complexity most designers treat it as a kind of
window-dressing to spruce up the appearance of their sites without tapping
into the real power of CSS. CSS: The Missing Manual clearly explains this
powerful design tool and how you can use it to build sparklingly new Web
sites, or refurbish old sites that are ready for an upgrade.

David Sawyer McFarland is the president of Sawyer McFarland Media Inc., a web development and training company located in Portland, Oregon. In addition, he teaches JavaScript programming, Flash, and web design at the University of California, Berkeley, the Center for Electronic Art, the Academy of Art College, and Ex'Pressions Center for New Media. He was formerly the webmaster at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Berkeley Multimedia Research Center.

2008-07-19 Top CSS book

I have been a student web designer for a few years never touching the coding side of it because well... it scared me. I ended up realising that if I wanted a job as a web designer I needed to learn at least the basics of XHTML and CSS. I started by taking out 'The visual quickstart guide to HTML, XHTML & CSS' from the library. This was a good basic book that got me to grips with it very quickly. As I had to return it after a week I bought CSS The missing manual based on the reviews here.

I prefer it to the quickstart guide as the author explanations are more in-depth, he explains why certain rules get inherited and others don't. However I am glad I had the quickstart book first as it explained more about HTML than this book does. I think if you are completely new to HTML as well as CSS maybe another book is more suited. If you know the basics( and it can be the very basics) of HTML then this book is perfect for teaching you how to use CSS along side HTML for best results.

The books chapters are spit into theory and practical. You will have to read a few pages of explanation and then put that in practise using downloaded html files from the website. This really suited my style of learning. Having a written explanation before the practical also allows it to became a reference book once you have finished the book.

There is also a chapter near the end for people with Dreamweaver showing you how to add CSS in the design view.

Big thumbs up from me. I am currently turning image based websites into fully functioning CSS sites. The only downside is that I'm more of a geek than I was before.