The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks
Kayla Meleshenko, Little Fish Web Solutions
While CSS has been around for several years, it’s presence on the web was scarce, mostly due to limited browser support and a resistance to change within the web design community. Busy web designers simply don’t have time to learn a new language, especially when the old way seems to be working just fine. The problem is that web standards are constantly changing and sites that are loaded with nested tables and numerous font and style tags are just no longer compliant.
So, what can you do? How can you learn CSS without spending hours and hours on research, tutorials and classes? The answer is Rachel Andrew’s newly released CSS book, “The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks.”
What I Love About This Book
The most appealing feature of this book is that it gives you an excellent foundation and allows you to begin working with CSS immediately. It does not inundate you with concepts and theories, but provides you with practical solutions to common situations. I literally read through the entire book in one weekend and within a short period of time was able to use most of the techniques presented. The chapters are easy to read and are formatted in a question-and-answer format that allows you to quickly search for the solution you need and easily put it into practice.
The bonus is that Rachel provides explanations for each technique, giving the reader a better understanding of why each solution is appropriate for the task at hand. This allows you to use that knowledge as a basis to expand your CSS creativity as you become more comfortable with the language.
What This Book Is Not
This book is not a step-by-step tutorial. It does not provide you with chapters of hands-on practice exercises, nor does it get into the more advanced techniques of CSS. However, it does leave room for experimentation and provides several resources to help you in your quest for CSS knowledge. It even provides an online library of code that you can download to assist you while working through the solutions.
Who Should Read This Book
This book is mainly geared towards designers who already have basic web design knowledge and are looking to transition into CSS layouts. While the book recommends that you have a basic understanding, the first few chapters provides a great introduction and cover many basic CSS techniques. With this book, Rachel provides a practical tool for CSS beginners and mid-level users to learn how to handle text styling, images, navigation, tables, forms, tableless layouts and many other common situations. She even expands on a few advanced and future techniques.
Summary
If you have been resisting the CSS movement because you just don’t have the time to learn yet another language, take a peak at Rachel Andrew’s book. If you are unsure of whether this book is right for you, you can download the first four chapters from http://www.sitepoint.com/books/cssant1/. When you are ready to jump into the CSS knowledge pool, this book may just be the perfect place to start. As a matter of fact, my copy hasn’t even been placed on the bookshelf – it is still sitting on the corner of my desk as an everyday reference for my CSS designs.
Reviewed by: Kayla Meleshenko
Kayla Meleshenko has been involved in web design since 1997. Her company, Little Fish Web Solutions, specializes in web site design for small businesses.
Mrs. Meleshenko resides in McKinney, Texas with her husband (Jon) and her two-year old daughter (Ava).
