HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS, 2nd Edition, SitePoint
Microsoft .NET Framework, ASP.NET, Visual C# (CSharp, C Sharp, C-Sharp) Developer Training, Visual Studio
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C# Online.NET Book Review
Back in the good old days, Web designers struggled to achieve a measure of layout control by using HTML tables and transparent GIFs. There is a performance penalty in this approach; and, content is inextricably mingled with presentation making Web pages diffcult to maintain.
Modern Web designers use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) instead. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a simple mechanism for adding style—e.g. colors, fonts, spacing—to Web documents. Style sheets specify how HTML elements will be displayed. The main reason to use style sheets is to separate content from presentation. Styles are often saved as external style sheets in .css files. External style sheets enable the Web designer to change the appearance and layout of all the Web pages on a site merely by editing a single CSS document.
This book is a tutorial-style introduction to designing Web pages like the pros—with style sheets. In contrast to most reference-style CSS books, it is written in an easy-going, conversational style. The book uses example sites to illustrate and explain how the layout and appearance are achieved. And, an extended tutorial is provided to bring everything together and reinforce it. At the end of the book is a useful reference to CSS properties.
The book is aimed at budding Web designers or one-man shops where the author is both Web designer, content provider, and programmer. After reading the book, you will have a good appreciation for the power and utility of CSS. And, you will know how to use it. This is not specifically a CSS reference book;but, it will carry the CSS beginner a long way.
This book is the second edition. The first edition received mixed reviews. So, do not be confused by reading first edition reviews.
I am rapidly becoming a SitePoint fan for their ability to make complex technologies approachable and assimilable.
Bottom line
HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS is a great introduction to CSS design.
Publisher's description
So, how can CSS help me?
After reading HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS you will not only understand how to use CSS to emulate old-school, table-driven web layouts, you will be creating Web sites that would be impossible to design using traditional methods
This completely revised and expanded second edition includes new techniques for laying out your web pages using positional CSS, and makes crafting beautiful, accessible and maintainable websites a snap. First published in 2003, the first edition was considered to be the definitive guide to CSS - a step-by-step, clearly written tutorial. The 2nd Edition revision and updates ensure it remains just as relevant to web developers today.
What will I learn?
Rachel Andrew and Dan Shafer’s book is a comprehensive guide to learning and applying the principles of CSS to your Website.
This book will teach you how to…
- Appreciate why maintaining tables is a nightmare and how CSS can help
- Understand when to use CSS and when not to use CSS
- Build robust, flexible two- and three-column layouts using CSS positioning.
- Easily build both fixed-width and liquid page layouts
- Reap the benefits of inheritance in CSS
- Style text and other content using CSS
- Make the most of other non-obvious uses of CSS
- Use CSS to achieve maximum Web Accessibility
- Design sites that are standards compliant
- Accommodate older Browsers
- And much more...
Plus, it also comes with a sophisticated sample website styled and layed out completely with CSS and a FREE download of the site and all of its code.
And on top of this HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS, 2nd Edition also includes the most complete CSS Property Reference of any book ever written about CSS - with over 150 CSS properties described.
What's new in the 2nd edition?
- New information on making your site compatible with Firefox 1.5 and the upcoming Internet Explorer 7
- New sections on making 1-, 2- and 3-column layouts, using both floated and absolutely positioned elements
- How to create site footers below columns, and how to extend columns vertically down to the footer
- Information on making your site more accessible using CSS and semantic HTML
- All new sample website demonstrating the CSS techniques used in the 2nd edition
- Included property reference has been updated to CSS 2.1
- Corrections and clarifications throughout the book
All of the layout techniques used in the 2nd edition have been thoroughly tested in production in all of the popular modern browsers and are hack-free, so they will continue to work in Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, and beyond.
Who should read this book?
Like all SitePoint books, HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS, 2nd Edition is written in a clear tutorial format that's easy to understand. If you hate wading through dry, academic-style books on web design, this book is the breath of fresh air you've been waiting for.
If you've never built a website completely with CSS before and you're looking to go beyond the limitations of old-fashioned, table-based sites, this book will have you creating professional CSS-based sites in no time.
About the author(s)
Rachel Andrew is the Director of edgeofmyseat.com, a Web solutions company in the UK. She is a member of the Web Standards Project, serving on the Dreamweaver Task force.
Dan Shafer is a well-known Web design consultant and pundit. He cut his teeth as the first Webmaster and Director of Technology a Salon.com, then spent almost five years as the Master Builder at CNET’s Builder.com division.
Table of Contents (abbreviated)
Getting the Lay of the Land
Putting CSS into Perspective
Digging Below the Surface
Validation and Backward Compatibility
Splashing Around a Bit of Color
Working with Fonts
Text Effects and the Cascade
Simple CSS Layout
Three-column Layouts
Fixed-width Layouts
CSS Miscellany
CSS Color Reference
CSS Property Reference
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