Back to Simple CSS

by Ben Farrell

For web designers, large complex applications can mean large complex battles between CSS and the DOM (Document Object Model). By taking advantage of the Shadow DOM to encapsulate each component in its own “mini DOM,” you can virtually eliminate problems like colliding selectors and visual issues and get back to the fun of web programming with simple CSS!
Back to Simple CSS: With the Shadow DOM presents a refresher on CSS basics and an in-depth explanation of cascade, specificity, and inheritance in the Shadow DOM. These three chapters, deftly chosen by web programming expert Ben Farrell, explore the importance of user-friendly CSS layout before a deep-dive into the Shadow DOM with an emphasis on CSS encapsulation, rediscovering the ID attribute for web components, and how to use the new Shadow DOM CSS selectors.

109 pages, ebook

Published September 1, 2019

About the author

At some point, not too long ago, I realized that much of my morality comes from my father reading Tolkien to my sister and I as we went to bed each night. Before I get too far into this bio, you should know that if your village is being threatened by Orcs, you have my sword.

I'm a writer, dreamer, Dean and a Dad. Also I'm a geek, can't forget the important things, right? Writing, exploring and the unknown have been passions throughout my life. With my debut novel THE UNSEEN, I've finally found a way to connect my interests and nerdy sci-fi pursuits.

Growing up in a small town in Western Massachusetts, I always dreamed of traveling, exploring...of going and doing. I accomplished this through steadfastly burying my nose in all the books, pouring over maps and globes, and trying to find ways to get enough money together to buy a glorious full set of encyclopedias. I found refuge in the cool stacks of the town library, I perfected my Dewey decimal system abilities through searching out anything relating to the paranormal. By twelve I had a pretty firm grasp of all the potential nuances regarding the Philadelphia Experiment, Roswell, Shag Harbor, Mokele-mbembe, Nessie, Champy, the Yeti (and all the sub-varieties around the world) and thoroughly freaked myself out with the Hopkinsville encounter. I can say with a significant amount of certainty that I was the only three sport athlete organizing UFO hunts on a semi-regular basis in the greater Franklin County area from 1995-1997. Mix all that in with a steady diet of X-Files, Mystery Science Theater 3000, TNG and New England sports, and you should get a pretty good sense of who you're dealing with.

As I hit my mid twenties and found a job that would pay me to travel and study around the world, that sense of exploration fostered on hot summer days sitting on cool marble floors, exploded into something that has pushed, pulled and challenged me since. I've been lucky enough to meet wonderful people from all over the world who've shown me that when situations are the worst, humans are often at our best. Our common language of courage, laughter and hope for the future, connects us much more than it divides.

I've tried to echo that in THE UNSEEN. My characters have become my friends, confidants, more interesting versions of myself and, at times, guideposts. You know you've punched your writer's card when you stop and wonder how a twelve year old kid you dreamed up would respond to a real life situation you're actually going through. Was that weird? That might have been weird.

I currently live in California with my wicked amazing wife and our two hilarious kids.