HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS

by Daniel Shafer and Kevin Yank

This book is for Web Developers who want to develop or migrate existing websites from using table-based layouts to using Cascading Style Sheets, which allows for faster page downloads, easier... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0957921829
• ISBN13: 9780957921825
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Sitepoint
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Perfect book for explaining CSS practically

To say that I love this book is an understatement. This was the first book that I'd read on CSS that clicked from the first page all the way through until the last. I have many other CSS books on my shelf, but this one is the one that gets reached for the most.

Excellent for all levels

There are many books on CSS out there, and I've investigated quite a few of them in order to gain some proficiency in it. However there were always pieces of the puzzle that never came together for me. CSS books seemed to lean towards either the technical or design aspects of CSS, without sufficiently showing their connection. For instance, technical books would discuss in varying detail the types of selectors without examining their practical significance, or what all the properties were without exploring their aesthetic ramifications; or, on the other hand, design oriented CSS books would discuss the wondrous ways to use CSS to create beautiful websites, but without exploring on a satisfactory technical level some of the reasons for their decisions. Mr. Shafer strikes the perfect balance, demonstrating with succinct examples the relationship between technical considerations and design aesthetics. He takes you by the hand from the beginning and leads you step by step so that the reader will develop solid, standardized habits based on theoretical considerations to produce clear, uniform, and aesthetically compelling stylesheets. He teaches you why you're doing things so that you come away with a greater understanding. This was a book written by an expert with a complete mastery of his topic on both a technical and design level who knows how to teach. Plus it has the added advantage of being written simply and clearly, with relevant examples demonstrating everything discussed. And it's refreshingly no-nonsense, without the painful condescension or groan-inducing style of all too many computer books. Don't let the title deter you. Though it's ostensibly written for old-style designers to definitively convince them to move from table-based designs to CSS and showing them how to do it (are there any left who remain so unconvinced?), this book would benefit anyone wishing to really gain a mastery of CSS, no matter what level of expertise. The book even includes an appendix containing a comprehensive property reference for CSS2. I cannot recommend this book highly enough for those seeking to understand the relationship between the technical and design aspects of CSS. Well done, Mr. Shafer -- you have written one of the best computer books I've yet encountered! I wish all computer books were written this well. (On a related note, this is the second book published by Sitepoint that I've purchased, and I applaud their editorial team for publishing such good books. Judging from these two books they seem to have a successful policy in place to write excellent technical books. Their books remove the chaff that turn so many computer books into useless tomes; and they treat their readers as possessing intelligence but who lack some specific knowledge which their books seek to fill from the ground up. I've grown weary of the condescending, patronizing, and sometimes even (seemingly deliberate) mystifying tone of most of the other computer book publishers

Learning CSS (Beginner or Advanced)

This book is very easy to read. The author takes a very simple building block approach. A chapter will talk about a group of CSS commands/options and at the end of the chapter, the author shows how these items can be used in a praticle web site. The book is simple enough for beginners to understand and yet it provides enough details that advanced CSS users could still learn something from this book.

Excellent springboard into CSS (For Beginers only)

I purchased this book after a 3-year hiatus from web design and without any CSS knowledge. This book provided an easy understanding to start using CSS. Other books I tried seemed to target people who already had a grasp on the basics and lost me from the beginning. This book also has one of the best reference selections I have seen. If you already know CSS and have a desk reference book then this book is NOT for you. But If you were like me and totally clueless as to where to begin then pick this book up. After reading this book you may need to buy another CSS book that targets a more advanced crowd.

Stellar!

Dan Shafer is truly a guru. From the first day I landed this book on my shelf, my already enlightened eyes were opened wider to CSS and standards-based web design. Within days, I reinvented my company site from a patchwork of standards and usability blemishes to an all CSS/content-and-presentation-separated site.Thank you Dan and thank you Sitepoint for another great release.