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Eric Meyer on Css: Mastering the Language of Web Design

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There are several other books on the market that serve as in-depth technical guides or reference books for CSS. None, however, take a more hands-on approach and use practical examples to teach readers how to solve the problems they face in designing with CSS - until now. Eric Meyer provides a variety of carefully crafted projects that teach how to use CSS and why particular methods were chosen. The web site includes all of the files needed to complete the tutorials in the book. In addition, bonus information is be posted.

350 pages, Paperback

First published July 8, 2002

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About the author

Eric A. Meyer

59 books51 followers

Eric A. Meyer has been working with the Web since late 1993 and is an internationally recognized expert on the subjects of HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). He is the principal consultant for Complex Spiral Consulting and lives in Cleveland, Ohio, which is a much nicer city than you've been led to believe. A graduate of and former Webmaster for Case Western Reserve University and an alumnus of the same fraternity chapter to which Donald Knuth once belonged, Eric coordinated the authoring and creation of the W3C's CSS Test Suite and has recently been acting as List Chaperone of the highly active css-discuss mailing list. Author of "Eric Meyer on CSS" (New Riders), "Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide" (O'Reilly & Associates), "CSS2.0 Programmer's Reference" (Osborne/McGraw-Hill), and the fairly well-known CSS Browser Compatibility Charts, Eric speaks at a variety of conferences on the subject of standards, CSS use, and Web design. For nine years, he was the host of "Your Father's Oldsmobile," a weekly Big Band-era radio show heard on WRUW 91.1-FM in Cleveland. When not otherwise busy, Eric is usually bothering his wife Kat in some fashion.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Profile Image for Bernie4444.
1,328 reviews10 followers
December 12, 2022
Expand your universe

So far I am just dabbling with CSS. This book is great for taking you from ground zero to something svelte. The lesson format is like having a personal tutor. I will eventually get around to something practical. In the meantime, I am expanding my universe.

So far I find this to be midlevel coding. The real problem with top-level is that you have to know the idea want you are doing and a lot of superfluous overhead is added to the commands; it is good for a quickie but can later paint you into a corner. A low level will give you a tighter code and more control over results. Midlevel is a compromise but sometimes adds functionality that can not be reached at the lover level command line coding.

Every language has its strengths and purpose they just do not invent more complexity for the fun of it. I hope to have the mechanics down before I find out what it is.

CSS may come and go but it is necessary to be aware of it in case you need to correct someone else’s code. For me, this is the right book at the right time. What time is it for you?
11 reviews
December 26, 2022
Book divided in projects, which contains step by step instructions. Also it contains some hints.
Though book is quite old, but still can be useful if you start learning CSS. This books is practical book, so you would have to read documentation or find a theory book.
Profile Image for Artor the Destroyer.
3 reviews2 followers
August 2, 2007
A very hands-on trip through CSS from simple font and color changes to layout and positioning. This book stops short of more "interactive" styles because that sort of thing requires JavaScript, which is beyond the scope of the book.

The opening chapter deals with converting a site from table-based layout to style-based, a worthy endeavor for any developer. From that point forward, it's a step by step walk through total conversions of various pages, with explanations of the code along the way. Syntax is never explained explicitly, but CSS syntax is so simple that it can be easily picked up along the way.

Going from this book to building my own sites was a very easy and simple transition.

It must be highlighted, however, that this book does not explore any design theory. You will not learn how to choose appropriate colors or pick fonts or design good layouts from this book. But if you already have these things in mind, the book will teach you how to apply those designs to a web page.
Profile Image for Craig Cecil.
Author 7 books9 followers
September 6, 2016
This is an excellent book for progressing from using style sheets for specifying only fonts and colors to building entire sites driven by CSS layout rendering--it is not a reference book. The author (who, incidentally led the W3C effort to define the CSS2 Recommendation) presents thirteen different real-world types of projects to teach and explain the power of CSS, ranging from conversion of existing pages and creation of menuing systems, to multicolumn layout. A short book that will make big changes in the way you build web sites.
Profile Image for Steve.
125 reviews1 follower
March 21, 2013
I'm sure this is a fine book for some interests but it doesn't work for me where I am now. It's essentially a sort of "recipe book": each chapter starts with a premise like "Styles for Print" and "How to Skin a Menu" and goes step-by-step showing how Mr. Meyer would tackle the problem. Fine for learning how Mr. Meyer would tackle a problem but not so much for learning how CSS can tackle problems and then selecting which approach to adopt. Maybe I'll try it again a little later ....
Profile Image for joke.
30 reviews
June 9, 2016
Provides a variety of projects that teach you how to use CSS and why particular methods were chosen. This work also features a web site which includes all the files needed to complete the tutorials.
Profile Image for Nick.
8 reviews2 followers
September 3, 2007
He's such a wonderful web guru. No other technical writer writes this off-the-cuff about process and practice.
43 reviews
March 20, 2010
These are classics in the field, of course...

Now, I'm glancing through them again to refresh after two years off.
Profile Image for Paolo.
Author 4 books8 followers
December 15, 2011
Il maestro indiscusso dei fogli di stile. Per un primo approccio avanzato con i CSS, partite da Eric Meyer e da questo libro.
Profile Image for Joe Martin.
363 reviews9 followers
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April 17, 2010
Eric Meyer on CSS: Mastering the Language of Web Design (VOICES) by Eric Meyer (2002)
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews

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