Message from Dean - May 8th 2007
I am currently testing out a new version of the APF Bridge Component - If you notice any errors within this demo store please drop me a line.
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.72
EAN: 9780596005764
Edition: 1st
Format: Illustrated
ISBN: 0596005768
Label: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 270
Publication Date: 2004-08
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Studio: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Alternate Versions: Click to Display
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Editorial Review:
Product Description: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are a powerful way to enrich the presentation of HTML-based web pages, allowing web authors to give their pages a more sophisticated look and more structure. CSS's compact file size helps web pages load quickly, and by allowing changes made in one place to be applied across the entire document, CSS can save hours of tedious changing and updating. But to leverage the full power of CSS, web authors first have to sift through CSS theory to find practical solutions that resolve real-world problems. Web authors can waste hours and earn ulcers trying to find answers to those all-too-common dilemmas that crop up with each project. The CSS Cookbook cuts straight through the theory to provide hundreds of useful examples and CSS code recipes that web authors can use immediately to format their web pages. The time saved by a single one of these recipes will make its cover price money well-spent. But the CSS Cookbook provides more than quick code solutions to pressing problems. The explanation that accompanies each recipe enables readers to customize the formatting for their specific purposes, and shows why the solution works, so you can adapt these techniques to other situations. Recipes range from the basics that every web author needs to code concoctions that will take your web pages to new levels. Reflecting CSS2, the latest specification, and including topics that range from basic web typography and page layout to techniques for formatting lists, forms, and tables, it is easy to see why the CSS Cookbook is regarded as an excellent companion to Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide and a must-have resource for any web author who has even considered using CSS.
Average Rating: 
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Unfortunately, this book has too many errors, right from the very first chapter. It's unacceptable to have sample code that does not even match the description of the accompanying text, and output pictures that show something different than what the code actually does (ie: text is supposed to be displayed underlined in bold, and shows normal, when the point of the example is how to do that).
I'm returning it until they get a new corrected edition. It just pointless to spend time figuring out what the author really meant, I'd rather spend that time learning from another source.
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In the past I've had confidence in the quality of books published by O'Reilly, but this book was a huge disappointment. There are so many errors--both typos and grammatical errors--coupled with awkward writing, that I find it almost unreadable. Even the diagram for the box model on page 67 is messed up. How is it possible that this sloppiness could get published (again!) in a second edition? There may be some valuable information in the book, but with all the mistakes I don't trust it as a resource. Look for authors Eric Meyers, Jeffrey Zeldman, and Andy Clarke for better CSS books.
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In general, this is a helpful book if you need to research a particular design solution, but it should in no way be used exclusively to learn CSS. It's helpful to have CSS and javascript experience to fully take advantage of everything this book offers.
Unfortunately, the book contains some organizational flaws. The "General" chapter, which is meant to serve as an introduction to CSS, is a brief background to concepts and tools, but it doesn't always point out that certain selectors are not supported in every browser (child selectors and pseudo-elements are the most notable). I think it'd be helpful to state straight-up that many aspects of CSS are interpreted differently in various browsers, if supported at all, and then note which browsers support each feature as the feature is introduced to the reader. To their credit, they do include a "pitfalls/warnings" icon at the end of some sections, but it'd be helpful to know about them before you continue on to work through ... Read More
Rating: -
The CSS Cookbook is written for those starting out with CSS and advanced users. It is not written as a tutorial in order to learn CSS but anyone with a basic grip on CSS will find the book a valuable companion. The clear explanations of many of the pitfalls we come across when writing CSS are simply stated in an easy to look up format.
Even though you may not want to read the book front to cover I think its a great experience to just pick your chapters by what interests you most and to work through a complete chapter following along and rewriting the code as indicated in order to get a good feel of what problems are solved so that if along the way you run in to a problem you find it back without mach ado. You might learn things you never knew where that simple ore useful. For those who are transitioning from table based layouts to CSS it might not be to book to get familiar with CSS because it is a technical book, a little to dry for just getting into using CSS. Once you have gone ... Read More
Rating: -
There are just too many "bugs" (typos, coding errors, misplaced figures, etc.) in this book to recommend it. I could forgive the many grammatical errors (though there's really no excuse for them), but when you're supposed to be passing along coding solutions and there are this many errors in the very code you're recommending, it's just unacceptable. I spent way too much time trying to unravel the coding errors to make this book really useful.
I also agree with the reviewer who said he couldn't figure out who the book was for (e.g., beginner, advanced programmer, etc.). I think the problem lies largely in the way the book was organized (or rather, wasn't organized). They need to take this book back to the workshop, clean up the errors, re-arrange the content and then, perhaps, they will have something worthy of publishing.
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