The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks by Rachel Andrews
Book: The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks, Practical Solutions to Common Problems
Author: Rachel Andrews
ISBN: 0-9579218-8-8
Publisher: SitePoint
Pages: 391
Cover Price: US $39.95, CA $57.95, Amazon $27.95
There are some books which simply don't want to get reviewed. 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hack was one of them. First, my review copy got lost somewhere between the PR flack and the warehouse. Then, it went to the bottom of my in box when it arrived. After I actually picked it up, 101 Essential Tips made the crucial error of being fabulous which meant I had to actually read every word between the covers including the adverts at the back. I made the always fatal mistake of taking the book in the car with me and the car ate it. Yes, ate it, you're never seen my car, people.
Regardless, did I mention that 101 Tips, Tricks & Hacks is fabulous?
I learned CSS a long time back—1999 or so—at W3 Schools. I didn't actually bother to try to implement anything complex—not anything, anything complex—with CSS until last year when I redid Private Ice, my personal site. Half way through, I gave in and bought a copy of O'Reilly's salmon book. I knew that it was reference rather than reading, but I also knew that at least it would be complete.
Frankly, none of the other books on that market at that time were anything close to complete. Worse, none of them told me what I needed to know. In fact, those books told me everything BUT what I was interested in. Needless to say, trying to do a complex layout with only a salmon by my side, I'm surprised I have any hair left at all. The number one thing that I like about 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks is that it tells me—the person who knows CSS and wants to actually design with it—what I want to know, that messy, intermediate stuff beyond the syntax and basic techniques.
Anyway, last year, when I was first looking for a book, it took me a bit to figure out that there was nothing for me. Most of the books were structured in lessons rather than in question/answer/discussion format. In wading through the basic syntax and box model models, I couldn't find what I wanted. In 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks, I actually can find what I want without paging back and forth from the index. I like that. If I wanted to search for stuff, I'd save the $40 and Google for what I wanted and then wade through all sorts of nonsense before I found it. When I buy a book, I want to have it all spelled out.
A few other things I like: 101 Essential Tips, Trick & Hacks is light reading. Yes, there are a lot of code samples, but the style isn't dry and I laughed like hyenas about "red hot (standards compliant) pokers." I also liked how well Andrews explained the techie talk. She'd give the official description of some arcane aspect of CSS and then drop back and say "In English that means..." I'm an old hand at translating techie, but CSS documentation has kicked my ass more than once. Finally, now I actually understand some of the weirder stuff.
Depending on how much you already know about CSS—and I'd advise learning the syntax and basics first—you can skip some early chapters. Read Chapter 7: Browser and Device Support and Chapter 9: Experimentation, Browser Specific CSS and Future Techniques right through. Chapter 8: CSS Positioning and Layout made the whole book worthwhile for me. The gears are already turning in my head at how I can use some of these tricks.
Things I didn't like? Though there are places where I'd like to have seen the code explained better. There were syntactical constructs that I'd never seen with no reference to what they were, why they worked, or where to look for more information. I'm cool with the assumption of some CSS knowledge coming in, but when teaching obscure techniques, a little syntax refresher would be such a big help. Also missing was any mention of the vast number of graphical CSS solutions out there. An overview of what's available for major OS's would have been nice. There are some nifty tools out there for people who don't want to roll their own code all the time.
Over all, 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks lives up to it's name. It's a definite keeper and it'll go in my close-to-hand shelf right next to the salmon book. This is not, however, a book for rank beginners. taking the W3Schools CSS class, or buying similar type book would be a good idea for newbies. Experts who do fancy stuff in CSS on a daily basis probably know all this stuff, but this isn't a bad FFF (Frequently Forgotten Facts). Where 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks really makes its mark is in that vast middle ground between newbie and guru. If you already know basic CSS and want to become an expert, 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks is a great book for you.
Author: Rachel Andrews
ISBN: 0-9579218-8-8
Publisher: SitePoint
Pages: 391
Cover Price: US $39.95, CA $57.95, Amazon $27.95
There are some books which simply don't want to get reviewed. 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hack was one of them. First, my review copy got lost somewhere between the PR flack and the warehouse. Then, it went to the bottom of my in box when it arrived. After I actually picked it up, 101 Essential Tips made the crucial error of being fabulous which meant I had to actually read every word between the covers including the adverts at the back. I made the always fatal mistake of taking the book in the car with me and the car ate it. Yes, ate it, you're never seen my car, people.
Regardless, did I mention that 101 Tips, Tricks & Hacks is fabulous?
I learned CSS a long time back—1999 or so—at W3 Schools. I didn't actually bother to try to implement anything complex—not anything, anything complex—with CSS until last year when I redid Private Ice, my personal site. Half way through, I gave in and bought a copy of O'Reilly's salmon book. I knew that it was reference rather than reading, but I also knew that at least it would be complete.
Frankly, none of the other books on that market at that time were anything close to complete. Worse, none of them told me what I needed to know. In fact, those books told me everything BUT what I was interested in. Needless to say, trying to do a complex layout with only a salmon by my side, I'm surprised I have any hair left at all. The number one thing that I like about 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks is that it tells me—the person who knows CSS and wants to actually design with it—what I want to know, that messy, intermediate stuff beyond the syntax and basic techniques.
Anyway, last year, when I was first looking for a book, it took me a bit to figure out that there was nothing for me. Most of the books were structured in lessons rather than in question/answer/discussion format. In wading through the basic syntax and box model models, I couldn't find what I wanted. In 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks, I actually can find what I want without paging back and forth from the index. I like that. If I wanted to search for stuff, I'd save the $40 and Google for what I wanted and then wade through all sorts of nonsense before I found it. When I buy a book, I want to have it all spelled out.
A few other things I like: 101 Essential Tips, Trick & Hacks is light reading. Yes, there are a lot of code samples, but the style isn't dry and I laughed like hyenas about "red hot (standards compliant) pokers." I also liked how well Andrews explained the techie talk. She'd give the official description of some arcane aspect of CSS and then drop back and say "In English that means..." I'm an old hand at translating techie, but CSS documentation has kicked my ass more than once. Finally, now I actually understand some of the weirder stuff.
Depending on how much you already know about CSS—and I'd advise learning the syntax and basics first—you can skip some early chapters. Read Chapter 7: Browser and Device Support and Chapter 9: Experimentation, Browser Specific CSS and Future Techniques right through. Chapter 8: CSS Positioning and Layout made the whole book worthwhile for me. The gears are already turning in my head at how I can use some of these tricks.
Things I didn't like? Though there are places where I'd like to have seen the code explained better. There were syntactical constructs that I'd never seen with no reference to what they were, why they worked, or where to look for more information. I'm cool with the assumption of some CSS knowledge coming in, but when teaching obscure techniques, a little syntax refresher would be such a big help. Also missing was any mention of the vast number of graphical CSS solutions out there. An overview of what's available for major OS's would have been nice. There are some nifty tools out there for people who don't want to roll their own code all the time.
Over all, 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks lives up to it's name. It's a definite keeper and it'll go in my close-to-hand shelf right next to the salmon book. This is not, however, a book for rank beginners. taking the W3Schools CSS class, or buying similar type book would be a good idea for newbies. Experts who do fancy stuff in CSS on a daily basis probably know all this stuff, but this isn't a bad FFF (Frequently Forgotten Facts). Where 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks really makes its mark is in that vast middle ground between newbie and guru. If you already know basic CSS and want to become an expert, 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks is a great book for you.