Rating: - Not the best choice
There are many books to learn CSS, but this is not your best option. This is a dry read. And it's exclusive use of css embedded in HTML pages defies the purpose of CSS, which is to create a uniform look across a collection of pages. Embedded in the HTML, CSS becomes merely an upgrade to HTML.
Rating: - Clearest and most informative book I've read on CSS
I am in a beginning html and css class at a college, and have checked out numerous books from the library on html and css, all of which have their good and bad points. One other recommended book was good only after you got past the introductory 100 pages, which included history of html, as well as touting their friends' books. Too many of the books try to be funny, which is not what you need from a good computer book. I came across this book accidentally at the library. It may be written by "computer geeks," but it explained clearly what CSS is and how it fits in with html, gives all the correct terms for selectors and such (for us new users), tells you when something is case sensitive or not, and gives clear examples of good code and how it will show in a browser. I finally grasped what the em unit is and how and why its used, and the difference between class and ID attributes. My only complaint are the typos, but they were mostly obvious and haven't caused me any problems yet. I got this book at the library, but plan on ordering a copy to keep and highlight!! I think this book is great for beginner through intermediate users.
Rating: - Brilliant for IT people wanting to get into CSS
If you are an IT person, or someone with an IT mindset, and you want to get into CSS, this book is for you. This is the best for you. This book does presume knowledge of markup (HTML/XHTML).
However, this book does not cover advanced layout, which was never really included in CSS (there is hope in CSS3). Discussions of layout will need to be found in other resources.
On the other hand, if you are an artsy person who likes to learn by doing, this book is not for you. It would be better if you searched for Eric Meyer on CSS, which takes you through implementing CSS on a project like basis. Eric Meyer on CSS does presume knowledge of markup (HTML/XHTML) however.
Rating: - Good Choice for the CSS beginner and up
This book is a well written introduction into the world of css and pinpoints key concepts of css. It's by far one of the most readable texts that I have picked up out of all the technical books I've read in my few years of being alive. The book lacks a little in having some references to an example on a previous page while the reference to it is one to pages after the example. This discrepency is understood though since it is hard to keep everything together and not spill out onto other pages when planning the layout of a book. Overall this is a good book on css, and I would recommend it to anyone wishing to start into css.
Rating: - Good book but irritating typos
I would have given this book atleast 4 stars if it weren't for the misleading typos! here's a few - Chapter 6 Pg 127 refers to Figure 6.2 (which doesn't exist!) instead of Figure 6.3; Chatper 10 Pg 228 the example "H1 {color: #ff000 }" is plain wrong (needs a extra zero at the end) and will not work.
Otherwise, it is a very good book. I especially like Chapter 4 - describes CSS selectors in great detail.
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