O'Reilly
August 29, 2006

CSS: The Missing Manual--From Blah to Cool--The Shortest Route to Mastering Cascading Style Sheets

Sebastopol, CA--"You can't design a fantastic looking web site that works well and downloads quickly without understanding Cascading Style Sheets--the formatting language used to make boring HTML look fantastic." So says David Sawyer McFarland, the bestselling author of the latest release in O'Reilly's Missing Manuals series--CSS: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly, US $34.99). In the new book, McFarland, a master designer and power user, shows readers how to create stylishly enticing Web pages.

The new Missing Manual takes the frustration out of learning to navigate the ins-and-outs of CSS and gives designers precision control over their web pages' appearance. Created for serious hobbyists, aspiring designers, and pros, it features dozens of clearly presented, hands-on tutorials and real-world exercises. McFarland (author of Dreamweaver 8: The Missing Manual) shows readers how to format text and images, style web forms, build navigation bars, precisely control the layout of Web pages, overcome browser bugs, and, most important, create fast loading and easily maintained web sites.

Anything that can do all that must be pretty complicated, right? "Au contraire," writes McFarland. "The purpose of CSS is to streamline the process of styling Web pages." In fact, after a brief overview of CSS basics, readers start creating their first Web page right away. Best of all, the user-friendly companion tutorial web site--www.sawmac.com/css--with over 100 pages of online, step-by-step tutorials makes learning CSS even easier.

With humor and an engaging style, McFarland shows readers 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 to add interactivity to your web pages
  • Style images to create effective photo galleries and special effects like CSS-based drop shadows
  • Overcome most 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
  • You can count on McFarland to demystify the details and design concepts unique to CSS as well as provide the invaluable tips and tricks needed to make Web pages work in today's Web browsers. Savvy web designers are sure to keep this book within arm's reach and refer to it again and again.

    Additional Resources:

    CSS: The Missing Manual
    David Sawyer McFarland
    ISBN: 0-596-52687-3, 494 pages, US $34.99
    order@oreilly.com
    1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000

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