Synopses & Reviews
Ready to commit to using more CSS on your sites? If you are a hands-on
learner who has been toying with CSS and want to experiment with real-world
projects that will enable you to see how CSS can help resolve design issues,
this book is written just for you! CSS master Eric A. Meyer has picked up
where Eric Meyer on CSS: Mastering the Language of Web Design left off. He
has compiled 10 new, highly useful projects designed to encourage you to
incorporate CSS into your sites and take advantage of the design
flexibility, increased accessibility, decreased page weight, and cool visual
effects CSS offers.
Each project is laid out in an easy-to-follow, full color format complete
with notes, warnings, and sidebars to help you learn through example rather
than theory. Some of the concepts covered include:
• Converting an HTML-based design to a pure positioning layout
• Styling a photo gallery
• Using background images to achieve cross-browser translucency effects
• Using lists of links to create tabs and drop down menus without the use of
JavaScript
• Styling weblog entries, and placing them in a full-page design
• Creating a design for the CSS Zen Garden
Synopsis
In a followup to his popular
Eric Meyer on CSS, Eric A. Meyer, regarded by many as the most experienced CSS master working today, pairs his knowledge of CSS, HTML, and browser capabilities with a carefully developed hands-on-learning method to provide you with 10 full-color projects that help you learn through example rather than theory. Each of the projects is cross-browser compatible in modern browsers and provides you with numerous opportunities to experiment with the concepts presented:
- Understanding structure vs. presentation
- Transitioning from tables to style sheet layouts
- Blending techniques to create complex designs
- Using basic lists in sophisticated ways
- Styling for print and screen media
- And much more!
From converting HTML-based layouts to creating a CSS Zen Garden design, from dropdown menus to multicolumn layout, from padding to positioning, this book sets out to show readers how CSS is really used and really useful.
About the Author
<><>
Eric A. Meyer has been working with the Web since late 1993 and is an internationally recognized expert on the subjects of HTML, CSS, and Web standards. A widely read author, he is also the founder of Complex Spiral Consulting (http://www.complexspiral.com), which focuses on helping clients save money and increase efficiency through the use of standards-oriented Web design techniques and counts Macromedia and Wells Fargo Bank among its clients.
Beginning in early 1994, Eric was the visual designer and campus Web coordinator for Case Western Reserve University Web site, where he also authored a widely acclaimed series of three HTML tutorials and was project coordinator for the online version of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History combined with the Dictionary of Cleveland Biography (ech.cwru.edu), the first example of an encyclopedia of urban history being fully and freely published on the Web.
Author of Eric Meyer on CSS: Mastering the Language of Web Design (New Riders), Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly & Associates), and CSS2.0 Programmer's Reference (Osborne/McGraw-Hill), as well as numerous articles for the O'Reilly Network, Web Techniques, and Web Review, Eric also created the CSS Browser Compatibility Charts and coordinated the authoring and creation of the W3C's official CSS Test Suite. He has lectured to a wide variety of organizations, including Los Alamos National Laboratory, the New York Public Library, Cornell University, and the University of Northern Iowa. Eric has also delivered addresses and technical presentations at numerous conferences, among them the IW3C2 WWW series, Web Design World, CMP, SXSW, the User Interface conference series, and The Other Dreamweaver Conference.
In his personal time, Eric acts as List Chaperone of the highly active css-discuss mailing list (http://www.css-discuss.org), which he co-founded with John Allsopp of Western Civilisation and is now supported by evolt.org. Eric lives in Cleveland, Ohio, which is a much nicer city than you've been led to believe, and is the host of "Your Father's Oldsmobile," a Big Band-era radio show heard weekly on WRUW 91.1-FM in Cleveland (http://www.wruw.org). When not otherwise busy, he is usually bothering his wife Kat in some fashion.
Table of Contents
Foreword - by Douglas Bowman.
Introduction.
Project 1. Converting an Existing Page.
Project Goals. Preparation. Laying the Groundwork. Converting the Document. Rebuilding the Design. Assessing the Benefits. Branching Out.
Project 2. Styling a Photo Collection.
Project Goals. Preparation. Laying the Groundwork. Creating the Contact Sheet View. Creating the Gallery View. Creating the Catalog View. Branching Out.
Project 3. Styling a Financial Report.
Project Goals. Preparation. Styling for the Screen. Styling for Print. Branching Out.
Project 4. Positioning in the Background.
Project Goals. Preparation. Style at Dawn. Beached Styles. Branching Out.
Project 5. List-Based Menus.
Project Goals. Preparation. Laying the Groundwork. Open and Airy. Enclosing the Links. Branching Out.
Project 6. CSS-Driven Drop-Down Menus.
Project Goals. Preparation. Laying the Groundwork. Laying Out the Menus. Reorienting the Menus. For Your Consideration. Branching Out.
Project 7. Opening the Doors to Attractive Tabs.
Project Goals. Preparation. Laying the Groundwork. Styling the Links. Creating Actual Tabs. Branching Out.
Project 8. Styling a Weblog.
Project Goals. Preparation. Laying the Groundwork. Styling the Weblog. Branching Out.
Project 9. Designing a Home Page.
Project Goals. Preparation. Laying the Groundwork. Creating the Design. Branching Out.
Project 10. Designing in the Garden.
Project Goals. Preparation. Laying the Groundwork. Creating the Design. Adding a PNG. Reflections. Branching Out.
Index.