transcending CSS book review

transcending CSS by Andy Clarke

This book's purpose is NOT to teach you CSS. It has great CSS examples but it
assumes you know CSS.

What this book does teach you is how to design with CSS. It starts the process
with the concept of designing "content out". If you are a programmer who simply
replaced table elements with div elements and thought you were using CSS, think again.
A real CSS designer will look at the content first, then choose, in a logical fashion, the
most sensible html elements to display that content. Then the designer will style those
elements. I now look at content first when I used to look at layout first.

One of the goals of "transcending CSS" was to bridge the gap between designer and programmer. The
book achieves this goal. Programmers will now understand the design process better. By using the
process effectively, you'll end up with a flexible design that can be easily skinned.

One of the best things about the book is the comments in the margins. These comments may be
notes about usage of CSS, links to great resources on the web, or alternative designs that can be used. I learned as much from the margins as from the body of the book.

The last part of the book applies the book's concepts to some eye-catching designs. If you utilized any of these design techniques, you'd have a sharp looking web site.

The last chapter of the book talks about what is coming in CSS 3. You might think you can't use any of that stuff yet but the book shows you how you can get started today.

This book is excellent quality too. In fact it is the ONLY technical book I have ever bought that didn't have mistakes. The source code works. The links to web sites are
valid. The text is free of poor grammar and worse spelling. The author's style of writing is colloquial, smooth, and informative. The narrative is not dry and boring. The chapters
keep your attention all the way through. I read this book from page 1 to the very last page.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to understand the design process from a real designer/artist perspective.