Professional CSS Cascading Style Sheets for Web Design

As the preferred technology for Web design, cascading style sheets (CSS) enable Web designers and developers to define consistent styles on multiple pages. Written by leading CSS authors who are also professional programmers and designers, this is the first book to showcase examples of high-profile, real-world Web sites created by world-famous designers using CSS.

Each chapter offers an exploratory look at each designer's process from start to finish and how he overcame each site's unique set of challenges. You'll learn what each designer would have done differently as well as various CSS tips and techniques that were used for each site. This is a resource to which you can turn regularly for more know-how and insights into designing large-scale, professional-level Web sites with CSS.

What you will learn from this book

• The preliminaries you need to iron out before you begin a site in order to avoid problems later
• How to tackle browser-compatibility issues
• Best practices for using XHTML with CSS
• How to successfully integrate Flash content into an XHTML and CSS site
• Using drop shadows, drop-down menus, bounding boxes, and rollovers
• Ways to develop a site that can reliably handle constant streams of up-to-date information

Who this book is for

This book is for designers who understand CSS at an intermediate to advanced level, but who are looking to learn how to effectively develop CSS-enabled designs at a professional level.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

* Written by leading CSS authors and a team of professional programmers and designers, this book details the techniques of top CSS designers and showcases the real-world Web sites that made them famous

* Each chapter focuses on one designer and a Web site that he or she worked on, documenting the process from start to finish, showing how each designer overcame the site's unique challenges, and explaining what they would have done differently

* After completing Beginning CSS (0-7645-7642-9), readers will turn to this book for more know-how and insights in designing large-scale, professional-level, standards-based CSS Web sites

Updated and revised to reflect changes to cascading style sheets (CSS) development procedures since the first edition was published, Professional CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for Web Design, 2nd Editionoffers a hands-on look at designing standards-based, large-scale, professional-level CSS web sites. Understand designers’ processes from start to finish and gain insight into how designers overcome a site’s unique set of challenges and obstacles. Become comfortable with solving common problems, learn the best practices for using XHMTL with CSS, orchestrate a new look for a blog, tackle browser-compatibility issues and develop functional navigational structures.

Christopher Schmittis the principal of Heatvision.com, Inc., a new media publishing and design firm based in Tallahassee, Florida. An award-winning Web designer who has been working with the Web since 1993, he interned for both David Siegel and Lynda Weinman in the mid-1990s while an undergraduate at Florida State University pursuing a Fine Arts degree with emphasis on graphic design. He is the author of The CSS Cookbook(O’Reilly, 2004) and Designing CSS Web Pages(New Riders Press, 2002). He is also the co-author (with Micah Laaker) of Photoshop CS in 10 Simple Steps or Less(Wiley, 2004) and contributed four chapters to XML, HTML, & XHTML Magicby Molly Holzschlag (New Riders Press, 2001). Christopher has also written for New Architectmagazine, A List Apart, Digital Web, and Web Reference. In 2000, he led a team to victory in the “Cool Site in a Day” competition, wherein he and five other talented developers built a fully functional, well-designed Web site for a non-profit organization in eight hours. Speaking at conferences such as The Other Dreamweaver Conference and SXSW, he has given talks demonstrating the use and benefits of practical CSS-enabled designs. Also helping to spread the word about Web design, he is the list mom for Babble (www.babblelist.com), a mailing list community devoted to advanced Web design and development topics. On his personal Web site, www.christopherschmitt.com, he shows his true colors and most recent activities. He is 6'7" tall and does not play professional basketball, but he wouldn’t mind a good game of chess.

Mark Trammellof Gainesville, Florida, directs the Web presence at the University of Florida.

Ethan Marcotteof Boston co-founded Vertua Studios (vertua.com), a Web design shop focused on creating beautiful, user-focused sites. A steering committee member of the Web Standards Project, he is a leading industry voice on standards-based Web design. Ethan is also the curator of sidesh0w.com, a popular Web log that is equal parts design, coding, and blather.

Dunstan Orchardof Dorset, UK, and San Francisco is Senior UI Engineer at Apple’s online store. He is a member of The Web Standards Project, a silent developer for the popular open source blogging platform Wordpress, and an occasional contributor to his own site at http://1976design.com/.

Todd Domineyof Atlanta founded Dominey Design (domineydesign.com), an interactive Web development and design studio that has produced original work for Budweiser, The Washington Post, Google, Winterfresh Gum, and others. He is also a Senior Interactive Designer at Turner Sports Interactive, designing and developing Web destinations for major PGA tournaments (including the PGA Championship and The Ryder Cup).

Foreword.

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

Chapter 1: The Planning and Development of Your Site.

Chapter 2: Best Practices for XHTML and CSS.

Chapter 3: Blogger: Rollovers and Design Improvements.

Chapter 4: The PGA Championship.

Chapter 5: The University of Florida.

Chapter 6: ESPN.com: Powerful Layout Changes.

Chapter 7: FastCompany.com: Building a Flexible Three-Column Layout.

Chapter 8: Stuff and Nonsense: Strategies for CSS Switching.

Chapter 9: Bringing It All Together.

Appendix A: HTML 4.01 Elements.

Appendix B: Rules for HTML-to-XHTML Conversion.

Appendix C: CSS 2.1 Properties.

Appendix D: Troubleshooting CSS Guide.

Index.