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Summary: Cascading Styles Sheets - The Definitive Guide
Review: Of the hundred or so computer technology/web related books that I have read over the past decade, this is clearly the worst one. After successfully taking a college level CSS class, I wanted to update my practical knowledge to the new W3C guidelines so I bought this book. I expected at least one chapter of CSS review, if for no other reason to establish common vocabulary with the reader - which it did not. This is certainly not a beginner's book because it doesn't explain the basics at all. It isn't an intermediate or advanced book because it is not inspiring. I showed the book to several of my peers both at work and at school, as well as a couple of instructors, and unianimously we agree that the author goes out of his way to be confusing. The book is poorly organized. The visual examples are lame. It lacks metaphors or any other effort to connect the reader with the subject matter. The only redeeming section of this book is pages 167-198 on complex backgrounds. If not for that, this book would not warrant space on my bookshelf and would be destined for the trash.
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Summary: Well Focused
Review: I was surprised when I first came across this book. Initially I assumed that that the subject would be too small to sustain a whole book but that's not the case.There is a wealth of information in here about Cascading Style Sheets. Whilst it's true that there may be nothing here that searching the web can't elicit, it's so much more useful to have the information to hand that I'd certainly recommend it as a worthwhile purchase. Since I always try to make the appearance of my web pages browser independent, I found the information on browser compatability particularly useful.
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Summary: Finally a great CSS reference!
Review: I have been using CSS for almost a year. After reading this book I finally feel like I know what I am doing. I read the book in 3 days and rewrote all of my Web pages to use CSS properly. What a difference! This book is clearly written and excellent both as a training manual and a reference book.
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Summary: Useful, but nothing new
Review: All the information in the book can be culled from the W3C, CSS specs, and other sources (including the browser inconsistencies), and unfortunately the book will be outdated whenever new browsers that more fully adhere to the standards of CSS2 are released. That said, I find it extremely useful to have the hardcopy of all this documentation all in one place, available for me to flip through quickly to find an answer.
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Summary: Lives up to its 'Definitive' Title
Review: While O'Reilly books are almost always good (though sometimes dry and lacking in examples), this book is off the scale in its usefulness and excellence. The most valuable parts of the book explain browser compatibility issues and offers tips, tricks and solutions for getting css stylesheets to work in a real-world environment. Any serious web developer should have this book on their shelf.
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Summary: Perfect Guide
Review: I have read up the most curent available sources for information on CSS. This is the definitive guide on CSS. I have searched high and low for a book of this quality and finally found it. This book give you more than just bulk information. It breaks everything down and basically builds it back up for you. I don't know how well this book might be for the beginer, but I found it extremly useful.
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Summary: Incredibly helpful!
Review: Before I stepped into Eric Meyer's world of CSS, I had no idea what I could do with style sheets or the extent to which I could manipulate web pages so easily and so universally. I am extremely impressed with the writing style and the clarity with which everything is explained. Great job!
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Summary: Cool Reference!
Review: As a WebMaster, I try to keep up with the latest trends in web design. When I first heard about style sheets, I cringed because I thought "Oh great..some new complicated thing to learn." However, once I started reading this book, I began to realize the power of style sheets and how they make designing elements on a web site much easier. While small sites like the ones I design may not need Cascading Style Sheets, I realized very quickly what a pain it could be to have to change the color or font for a H1 or P element on a site containing 50 to 100 pages or more! The book covers a number of different subjects, including browser compatability issues (after all, there doesn't seem to be any elements that all browsers support quite the same way), along with element units and values, fonts and text properties, colors, and visual formatting. I now realize the fascinating things you can do on a web site with the help of style sheets. As with other O'Reilly books, there's a wealth of resources in the Appendixes, including a Resources appendix and a sample Style Sheet, done in HTML 2.0 (It always helps to see what a "sample" sheet looks like in order to further understand what all the element attributes mean). An excellent reference guide to Cascading Style Sheets.
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Summary: This is the old edition. It was a 5-star book 4 years ago.
Review: Eric Meyer is the master. This edition is way out of date. Instead, buy Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition. It explains everything about CSS2 in detail. For examples and workflow, buy Eric Meyer on CSS and More Eric Meyer on CSS. Just don't buy this outdated version of The Definitive Guide.
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Summary: Whatever happened to O'Reilly?
Review: I love O'Reilly books but "definitively" not this one!!! What a dissapointment! The author should first learn HOW TO WRITE A BOOK AND THEN, NOT TALK TO HIMSELF OR ABOUT HIMSELF AND HOW POWERFUL CSS IS ON EVERY F'ING PAGE!
Did the O'Reilly editors take a vacation?
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