download free ebook CSS: The Missing Manual

CSS: The Missing Manual

By David Sawyer McFarland
August 2006
Pages: 494
Series: The Missing Manuals
ISBN 10: 0-596-52687-3 | ISBN 13: 9780596526870



Description

Cascading Style Sheets are now a reliable method for handling all kinds of Web page presentations -- from fonts and colors to page layout. But due to CSS's complexity most designers treat it as a kind of window-dressing to spruce up the appearance of their sites without tapping into the real power of CSS. CSS: The Missing Manual clearly explains this powerful design tool and how you can use it to build sparklingly new Web sites, or refurbish old sites that are ready for an upgrade. ¸

Web site design has grown up. Unlike the old days, when designers cobbled together chunky HTML, bandwidth-hogging graphics, and a prayer to make their sites look good, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) now lets your inner designer come out and play. But CSS isn't just a tool to pretty up your site; it's a reliable method for handling all kinds of presentation--from fonts and colors to page layout. CSS: The Missing Manual clearly explains this powerful design language and how you can use it to build sparklingly new Web sites or refurbish old sites that are ready for an upgrade.

Like their counterparts in print page-layout programs, style sheets allow designers to apply typographic styles, graphic enhancements, and precise layout instructions to elements on a Web page. Unfortunately, due to CSS's complexity and the many challenges of building pages that work in all Web browsers, most Web authors treat CSS as a kind of window-dressing to spruce up the appearance of their sites. Integrating CSS with a site's underlying HTML is hard work, and often frustratingly complicated. As a result many of the most powerful features of CSS are left untapped. With this book, beginners and Web-building veterans alike can learn how to navigate the ins-and-outs of CSS and take complete control over their Web pages' appearance.

Author David McFarland (the bestselling author of O'Reilly's Dreamweaver: The Missing Manual) combines crystal-clear explanations, real-world examples, a dash of humor, and dozens of step-by-step tutorials to show you ways to design sites with CSS that work consistently across browsers. You'll learn how to:


* Create HTML that's simpler, uses less code, is search-engine friendly, and works well with CSS


* Style text by changing fonts, colors, font sizes, and adding borders


* Turn simple HTML links into complex and attractive navigation bars-complete with CSS-only rollover effects that add interactivity to your Web pages


* Style images to create effective photo galleries and special effects like CSS-based drop shadows


* Make HTML forms look great without a lot of messy HTML


* Overcome the most hair-pulling browser bugs so your Web pages work consistently from browser to browser


* Create complex layouts using CSS, including multi-column designs that don't require using old techniques like HTML tables


* Style Web pages for printing
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