Rating: 
Summary: A fine book that uses a key feature missing nowadays
Review: Although I didn't like this book quite as much as the O'Reilly offering (I rarely do), I'm pleased that there's a quickref on the inside covers. If only all computer books would use these easily-accessible areas!
Rating: 
Summary: Until IE8 comes out, this book is useless for designers
Review: As Jakob Nielsen said, CSS2 won't be fully implemented in browsers until IE8 arrives. CSS2 holds a lot of promise, but for working day web site designers, it's pretty useless. Most of CSS2 is not implemented in the main browsers: IE and Netscape. The only browser that fully implements CSS2 is Opera. No wonder, the author of the book is the CTO for them. Unfortunately, Opera doesn't show up on any of my logs as a browser being used. I would love to use CSS2. Can't. That's the final word.
Rating: 
Summary: If you will have only one book on CSS get this one
Review: comprehensive, well written, well structured and with the 2nd edition also up to date. A side effect: great overview on typographic terminology as well.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reference Text
Review: I continue to find it amazing that reviewers mark down the quality of certain books because they aren't what _they_ expected (say 3 out of 5 starts, for instance). Although the "Designing for the Web" on the cover is somewhat misleading, the back of the text is not (and a quick look inside; if you're at a brick & mortar). This is *not* a book on how to "Design for the Web".This book is definitely a reference of CSS (levels 1 & 2) as accurate as could be represented at the time of printing. Hakon Lie and Bert Bos do an excellent job of explaining how each CSS element is expected to work (or, as the browser should render it). As well it should, since Hakon basically created CSS. [Whether or not this is what occurs in IE, Netscape or Opera remains to (always) be seen.] The book is laid out very nicely, the text is easy to read, the examples are very thorough and understandable. The two authors even attempt to let you know which browsers fully support, partially support or offer no support for each element. The only knock I have against the book is that the quick reference index on the inside of the front and back covers are inaccurate as to what page each element is listed on (this quick reference lists the element name, possible values, initial value, what each applies to, and the page number it can be found on). This page number is what is inaccurate in most cases. Even with that minor annoyance, I would highly recommend this book for those needing a reference for CSS. It's good stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reference Text
Review: I continue to find it amazing that reviewers mark down the quality of certain books because they aren't what _they_ expected (say 3 out of 5 starts, for instance). Although the "Designing for the Web" on the cover is somewhat misleading, the back of the text is not (and a quick look inside; if you're at a brick & mortar). This is *not* a book on how to "Design for the Web". This book is definitely a reference of CSS (levels 1 & 2) as accurate as could be represented at the time of printing. Hakon Lie and Bert Bos do an excellent job of explaining how each CSS element is expected to work (or, as the browser should render it). As well it should, since Hakon basically created CSS. [Whether or not this is what occurs in IE, Netscape or Opera remains to (always) be seen.] The book is laid out very nicely, the text is easy to read, the examples are very thorough and understandable. The two authors even attempt to let you know which browsers fully support, partially support or offer no support for each element. The only knock I have against the book is that the quick reference index on the inside of the front and back covers are inaccurate as to what page each element is listed on (this quick reference lists the element name, possible values, initial value, what each applies to, and the page number it can be found on). This page number is what is inaccurate in most cases. Even with that minor annoyance, I would highly recommend this book for those needing a reference for CSS. It's good stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reference Text
Review: I continue to find it amazing that reviewers mark down the quality of certain books because they aren't what _they_ expected (say 3 out of 5 starts, for instance). Although the "Designing for the Web" on the cover is somewhat misleading, the back of the text is not (and a quick look inside; if you're at a brick & mortar). This is *not* a book on how to "Design for the Web". This book is definitely a reference of CSS (levels 1 & 2) as accurate as could be represented at the time of printing. Hakon Lie and Bert Bos do an excellent job of explaining how each CSS element is expected to work (or, as the browser should render it). As well it should, since Hakon basically created CSS. [Whether or not this is what occurs in IE, Netscape or Opera remains to (always) be seen.] The book is laid out very nicely, the text is easy to read, the examples are very thorough and understandable. The two authors even attempt to let you know which browsers fully support, partially support or offer no support for each element. The only knock I have against the book is that the quick reference index on the inside of the front and back covers are inaccurate as to what page each element is listed on (this quick reference lists the element name, possible values, initial value, what each applies to, and the page number it can be found on). This page number is what is inaccurate in most cases. Even with that minor annoyance, I would highly recommend this book for those needing a reference for CSS. It's good stuff.
Rating:
Summary: The definite authority on CSS
Review: I wish I had known about this book before buying the other ones. Very well written, excellent style, it can be used as an introduction as well as a reference.
Rating:
Summary: A great book on one of the most important web topics
Review: If you can only afford one CSS book, this is the book. Lie developed CSS and works with the organization that controls it (W3C). This is one book I tell people attending my web design class they need to get. Lie gives clear examples od CSS and the layout of the CSS classes is very clear. I purchased the first edition a few years ago, and have now updated with this book. This will be one of those books in your library that will be dog-eared, smudged, and bent because you will refer to it frequently.
Rating:
Summary: A great book on one of the most important web topics
Review: If you can only afford one CSS book, this is the book. Lie developed CSS and works with the organization that controls it (W3C). This is one book I tell people attending my web design class they need to get. Lie gives clear examples od CSS and the layout of the CSS classes is very clear. I purchased the first edition a few years ago, and have now updated with this book. This will be one of those books in your library that will be dog-eared, smudged, and bent because you will refer to it frequently.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent CSS tutorial and valuable reference.
Review: Prior to purchasing this book, the only things I knew how to do were make links so that they weren't underlined and change the color of some text. The basic, commonplace implementations of Cascading Style Sheets. Well, after hearing more about this rising development in web deisgn, I took an interest in CSS and decided to buy this book. I was not disappointed. It covers every aspect of CSS in a simple yet thorough manner. The quick reference inside the covers is also extremely helpful when you need to find the right CSS tag. In regard to previous reviewers who say most of this will not be supported in the near future or ever, my response is that yes, it is true true that many of CSS' features will never be fully developed and implemented but if you browse through the actual body of the book, you will find that the bulk of the material covered is either already supported by the major browsers or will be in their next release. Therefore, I feel that it will not be long before the vast majority of this book becomes incredibly useful. I have borrowed the O'Reilly CSS book and it is also quite good but I feel that this book goes into better detail about each tag and parameter. I wish I could give it 4 1/2 stars but the reason I have given this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because the author is also the main developer of CSS. Him being so closely involved has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is obvious: this guy knows more about CSS than probably anyone in the world. But, due to the same fact, I would say he has a less neutral, more idealistic approach of CSS. That is why several features covered are a few browser versions ahead of their time, which has been the main argument of most people who didn't like this book. All in all, this book does a superb job at covering every nook and crannie of CSS, from the widely supported to the underdeveloped. One day, technology will catch up to this book and it will be indespensible but until then, it is still the most useful guide to Cascading Style Sheets.
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