CSS the Missing Manual

Web site design has grown up. Unlike the old days, when designers cobbled together chunky HTML, bandwidth-hogging graphics, and a prayer to make their sites look good, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) now lets your inner designer come out and play. But, CSS isn't just a tool to pretty up your site; it's a reliable method for handling all kinds of presentation - from fonts and colors to page layout. "CSS: The Missing Manual" clearly explains this powerful design language and how you can use it to build sparklingly new Web sites or refurbish old sites that are ready for an upgrade. Like their counterparts in print page-layout programs, style sheets allow designers to apply typographic styles, graphic enhancements, and precise layout instructions to elements on a Web page. Unfortunately, due to CSS's complexity and the many challenges of building pages that work in all Web browsers, most Web authors treat CSS as a kind of window-dressing to spruce up the appearance of their sites. Integrating CSS with a site's underlying HTML is hard work, and often frustratingly complicated. As a result many of the most powerful features of CSS are left untapped. With this book, beginners and Web-building veterans alike can learn how to navigate the ins-and-outs of CSS and take complete control over their Web pages' appearance. Author David McFarland (the bestselling author of "O'Reilly's Dreamweaver: The Missing Manual") combines crystal-clear explanations, real-world examples, a dash of humor, and dozens of step-by-step tutorials to show you ways to design sites with CSS that work consistently across browsers. You'll learn how to: create HTML that's simpler, uses less code, is search-engine friendly, and works well with CSS; style text by changing fonts, colors, font sizes, and adding borders; turn simple HTML links into complex and attractive navigation bars-complete with CSS-only rollover effects that add interactivity to your Web pages; style images to create effective photo galleries and special effects like CSS-based drop shadows; make HTML forms look great without a lot of messy HTML; overcome the most hair-pulling browser bugs so your Web pages work consistently from browser to browser; create complex layouts using CSS, including multi-column designs that don't require using old techniques like HTML tables; and, style Web pages for printing. Unlike competing books, this "Missing Manual" doesn't assume that everyone in the world only surfs the Web with Microsoft's Internet Explorer; our book provides support for all major Web browsers and is one of the first books to thoroughly document the newly expanded CSS support in IE7, currently in beta release. Want to learn how to turn humdrum Web sites into destinations that will capture viewers and keep them longer? Pick up "CSS: The Missing Manual" and learn the real magic of this tool.

Table of Contents:
The Missing Credits Introduction Part One: CSS Basics Chapter 1. Rethinking HTML for CSS HTML: Past and Present HTML Past: Whatever Looked Good HTML Present: Scaffolding for CSS Writing HTML for CSS Think Structure Two New HTML Tags to Learn HTML to Forget Tips to Guide Your Way The Importance of the Doctype Chapter 2. Creating Styles and Style Sheets Anatomy of a Style Understanding Style Sheets Internal or External-How to Choose Internal Style Sheets External Style Sheets Linking a Style Sheet Using HTML Linking a Style Sheet Using CSS Tutorial: Creating Your First Styles Creating an Inline Style Creating an Internal Style Sheet Creating an External Style Sheet Chapter 3. Selector Basics: Identifying What to Style Tag Selectors: Page-Wide Styling Class Selectors: Pinpoint Control ID Selectors: Specific Page Elements Styling Tags Within Tags The HTML Family Tree Building Descendent Selectors Styling Groups of Tags Constructing Group Selectors The Universal Selector (Asterisk) Pseudo-Classes and Pseudo-Elements Styles for Links More Pseudo-Classes and -Elements Advanced Selectors Child Selectors Adjacent Siblings Attribute Selectors Tutorial: Selector Sampler Creating a Group Selector Creating and Applying a Class Selector Creating and Applying an ID Selector Creating a Descendent Selector Chapter 4. Saving Time with Inheritance What Is Inheritance? How Inheritance Streamlines Style Sheets The Limits of Inheritance Tutorial: Inheritance A Basic Example: One Level of Inheritance Using Inheritance to Restyle an Entire Page Inheritance Inaction Chapter 5. Managing Multiple Styles: The Cascade How Styles Cascade Inherited Styles Accumulate Nearest Ancestor Wins The Directly Applied Style Wins One Tag, Many Styles Specificity: Which Style Wins The Tiebreaker: Last Style Wins Controlling the Cascade Changing the Specificity Selective Overriding Tutorial: The Cascade in Action Creating a Hybrid Style Combining Cascading and Inheritance Overcoming Conflicts Part Two: Applied CSS Chapter 6. Formatting Text Formatting Text Choosing a Font Adding Color to Text Changing Font Size Using Pixels Using Keywords, Percentages, and Ems Formatting Words and Letters Italicizing and Bolding Capitalizing Decorating Letter and Word Spacing Formatting Entire Paragraphs Adjusting the Space Between Lines Aligning Text Indenting the First Line and Removing Margins Formatting the First Letter or First Line of a Paragraph Styling Lists Types of Lists Positioning Bullets and Numbers Graphic Bullets Tutorial: Text Formatting in Action Setting Up the Page Formatting the Headings and Paragraphs Formatting Lists Adding the Finishing Touches Chapter 7. Margins, Padding, and Borders Understanding the Box Model Control Space with Margins and Padding Margin and Padding Shorthand Colliding Margins Removing Space with egative Margins Displaying Inline and Block-Level Boxes Adding Borders Border Property Shorthand Formatting Individual Borders Coloring the Background Determining Height and Width Calculating a Box's Actual Width and Height Controlling the Tap with the Overflow Property Fixing IE 5's Broken Box Model Wrap Content with Floating Elements Backgrounds, Borders, and Floats Stopping the Float Tutorial: Margins, Backgrounds, and Borders Controlling Page Margins Adjusting the Space Around Tags Emphasizing Text with Backgrounds and Borders Building a Sidebar Fixing the Browser Bugs Going Further Chapter 8. Adding Graphics to Web Pages CSS and the Tag Background Images Controlling Repetition Positioning a Background Image Keywords Precise Values Percentage Values Fixing an Image in Place Using Background Property Shorthand Tutorial: Creating a Photo Gallery Framing an Image Adding a Caption Building a Photo Gallery Adding Drop Shadows Tutorial: Using Background Images Adding an Image to the Page Background Replacing Borders with Graphics Using Graphics for Bulleted Lists Adding Rounded Corners to the Sidebar Creating an External Style Sheet Chapter 9. Sprucing Up Your Site's Navigation Selecting Which Links to Style Understanding Link States Targeting Particular Links Styling Links Underlining Links Creating a Button Using Graphics Building Navigation Bars Using Unordered Lists Vertical Navigation Bars Horizontal Navigation Bars Advanced Link Techniques Big Clickable Buttons CSS-Style Preloading Rollovers Sliding Doors Tutorial: Styling Links Basic Link Formatting Adding a Background Image to a Link Highlighting External Links Marking Visited Pages Creating a Vertical Navigation Bar Adding Rollovers and Creating "You Are Here" Links Fixing the IE Bugs From Vertical to Horizontal Chapter 10. Formatting Tables and Forms Using Tables the Right Way Styling Tables Adding Padding Adjusting Vertical and Horizontal Alignment Creating Borders Styling Rows and Columns Styling Forms HTML Form Elements Laying Out Forms Using CSS Tutorial: Styling a Table Tutorial: Styling a Form Part Three: CSS Page Layout Chapter 11. Building Float-Based Layouts How CSS Layout Works The Mighty Tag Types of Web Page Layouts Float Layout Basics Applying Floats to Your Layouts Floating All Columns Floats Within Floats Using Negative Margins to Position Elements Overcoming Float Problems Clearing and Containing Floats Creating Full-Height Columns Preventing Float Drops Handling Internet Explorer Bugs Double-Margin Bug 3-Pixel Gaps Other IE Problems Tutorial: Multiple Column Layouts Structuring the HTML Creating the Layout Styles Adding Another Column Adding a "Faux Column" Fixing the Width Tutorial: Negative Margin Layout Centering a Layout Floating the Columns Final Adjustments Chapter 12. Positioning Elements on a Web Page How Positioning Properties Work Setting Positioning Values When Absolute Positioning Is Relative When (and Where) to Use Relative Positioning Stacking Elements Hiding Parts of a Page Powerful Positioning Strategies Positioning Within an Element Breaking an Element Out of the Box Using CSS Positioning for Page Layout Creating CSS-Style Frames Using Fixed Positioning

About the Author :
David Sawyer McFarland is the president of Sawyer McFarland Media Inc., a web development and training company located in Portland, Oregon. In addition, he teaches JavaScript programming, Flash, and web design at the University of California, Berkeley, the Center for Electronic Art, the Academy of Art College, and Ex'Pressions Center for New Media. He was formerly the webmaster at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Berkeley Multimedia Research Center.

Review :
"Almost 500 pages of CSS help, with more than 100 pages of practical tutorials to guide you through the process of implementing and refining CSS to save you many a wasted hour. At GBP25, you'll be hard pressed to find a better guide to designing with CSS." .NET, February 2007