The Very Basics
To use this book, and indeed to use a computer, you need to know a few basics. You should be familiar with these terms and concepts:
Clicking. This book gives you three kinds of instructions that require you to use your computer's mouse or trackpad. To click means to point the arrow cursor at something on the screen and then—without moving the cursor at all—to press and release the clicker button on the mouse (or laptop trackpad). To double-click, of course, means to click twice in rapid succession, again without moving the cursor at all. And to drag means to move the cursor while pressing the button.
When you're told to ⌘-click something on the Mac, or Ctrl-click something on a PC, you click while pressing the ⌘ or Ctrl key (both of which are near the Space bar).
Menus. The menus are the words at the top of your screen or window: File, Edit, and so on. Click one to make a list of commands appear, as though they're written on a window shade you've just pulled down.
Operating-system basics. This book assumes that you know how to open a program, surf the Web, and download files. You should know how to use the Start menu (Windows) and the Dock or
menu (Macintosh), as well as the Control Panel (Windows), or
System Preferences (Mac OS X).
If you've mastered this much information, you have all the technical background you need to enjoy CSS: The Missing Manual.