Fully updated to the latest CSS modules, make the journey to CSS mastery as simple and painless as possible. This book dives into advanced aspects of CSS-based design, such as responsive design, modular CSS, and CSS typography. Through a series of easy-to-follow tutorials, you will learn practical CSS techniques you can immediately start using in your daily work.
CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions is your indispensable guide to cutting-edge CSS development this book demystifies the secrets of CSS. While CSS is a relatively simple technology to learn, it is a difficult one to master. When you first start developing sites using CSS, you will come across all kinds of infuriating browser bugs and inconsistencies. It sometimes feels like there are a million and one different techniques to master, spread across a bewildering array of websites. The range of possibilities seems endless and makes for a steep and daunting learning curve.
While most books concentrate on basic skills, this one is different, assuming that you already know the basics and why you should be using CSS in your work, and concentrating mainly on advanced techniques. This new edition covers all of the CSS fundamentals such as the importance of meaningful markup, how to structure and maintain your code, and how the CSS layout model really works.
This new edition contains:
New examples and updated browser support information Full coverage of modular CSS and responsive design Essential information on CSS typography and layout control What You'll Learn Discover the best practice concepts in CSS design Master the most important (and tricky) parts of CSS Identify and fix the most common CSS problems Deal with the most common bugs See the latest information on CSS features and support Who This Book Is For Intermediate and advanced web designers and developers. It offers a quick recap of the main points of CSS, while dispelling some common myths, but then moves forward to delve into the higher-level aspects of CSS. It contains fully up-to-date information throughout, and acts as a one-stop-shop for current CSS best practices.
It pains me to admit that despite the hundreds and hundreds of hours I've spent learning and applying CSS, I have never read a book on the subject. Until now.
This and CSS: The Definitive Guide by Eric Meyer seemed to be the best books available. A new edition of The Definitive Guide is being written as I type this. So I bought a used copy of an older edition of that an a new copy of the 3rd Edition of this book. I couldn't have been happier with my decision.
This book assumes no previous knowledge and covers CSS from the ground up. The more CSS you've already written, the more you'll get out of the book, but that's true of any subject.
I really enjoyed finally getting a thorough explanation of the following CSS building block concepts: the box model (with emphasis on the "border-box" type of box sizing), the line box (the anonymous horizontal box created by a line of text and/or inline boxes), margin collapsing, and the most exciting new one: flexbox.
The "flex" display type, AKA "flexbox" has truly changed the entire CSS equation by eliminating some of the most egregious layout inabilities of the languages. CSS Mastery has an excellent overview of flexbox. It's a big, evolving topic, so some online reading is also needed to get a complete grasp of the subject.
There are a great many examples in the book. It manages to be brief and still contain a ton of practical advice on topics such as typography, responsive design, and forms. I've already used it as both a learning guide and as a reference.
It's an excellent learning guide and an okay reference. (Online resources such as MDN (the Mozilla Developer Network) and Stack Overflow tend to be handier references anyway since they are searchable.)
I did find at least one silly mistake in the book: a screen capture clearly showed the wrong example - leaving the correct result up to one's imagination. I'm not sure how multiple sets of eyes managed to miss that! It's so obvious, I don't think it will confuse anyone an undue amount.
Overall, I heartily recommend the Third Edition of this book for anyone who wants to properly learn how to use CSS in the current landscape. You don't need anything more up-to-date than this.
> Typography has been a fundamental part of graphic design since the invention of the printing press, so you’d expect it to play a central role in the field of web design.
The graphic design was done by hand. It took some centuries till the lithography was discovered.
Let's take for example chapter 4. It talks about typography. And it opens with the above statement. So, it is going to tell you how to change the text color. Wow!
Overall, maybe you should look for another book on CSS.