Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

Perhaps the problem is that I'm working with the latest versions of the Mozilla and Opera browsers, both of which support CSS2. Unfortunately, this book explains only CSS1, and provides one short chapter in the back on the differences between CSS1 and CSS2. Because CSS2 browsers are becoming popular, CSS2 is what should be described through the book, and differences in CSS1 should be explained as they come up, not in a chapter in the back.

On the positive side, the book does seem to provide enough information that if you memorize the important parts, dig hard, and experiment a lot, you can eventually figure out how to get CSS to do what you want. I hope the second edition makes this memorization, digging, and experimentation a lot easier.

In short: If you are a serious developer who needs information and not editorials, a dictionary reference for the entirety of what CSS is (and is capable of), don't waste your money on this item.

My bible for core web development technologies is "Dynamic HTML" (Danny Goodman is excellent, bar-none). That book mentions a "scrollbar" CSS element (which I noticed in a web page while surfing), but did not have a definition entry. Fair enough, it's DHTML, not CSS, right? So, I stuck with O'Reilly publishing, expecting the superior format of my DHTML bible to be carried over to this other publication.

To my despair, CSS (the book) is nothing but a light (and I mean LIGHT) overview of CSS (the technology). It would be *ludicrous* to call this book a reference, but rather a tutorial of how CSS works. Not to mention a lot about how CSS is supposed to work (aka, CSS 1 & 2 in a perfect world). Who cares, when today's browsers aren't doing it the right way anyhow? Hence, very little real world information here. How it *should* and *does* work are too different things... Which would you rather be competent in??

This book is a joke. In short, my DHTML bible is the best reference I now have for CSS. I only bought the book based on the comments others left, the title, and the publisher. This time, I'll be visiting my local bookstore for a page flipping session or two.

As a WebMaster, I try to keep up with the latest trends in web design. When I first heard about style sheets, I cringed because I thought "Oh great..some new complicated thing to learn." However, once I started reading this book, I began to realize the power of style sheets and how they make designing elements on a web site much easier. While small sites like the ones I design may not need Cascading Style Sheets, I realized very quickly what a pain it could be to have to change the color or font for a H1 or P element on a site containing 50 to 100 pages or more!

The book covers a number of different subjects, including browser compatability issues (after all, there doesn't seem to be any elements that all browsers support quite the same way), along with element units and values, fonts and text properties, colors, and visual formatting. I now realize the fascinating things you can do on a web site with the help of style sheets.

As with other O'Reilly books, there's a wealth of resources in the Appendixes, including a Resources appendix and a sample Style Sheet, done in HTML 2.0 (It always helps to see what a "sample" sheet looks like in order to further understand what all the element attributes mean).

An excellent reference guide to Cascading Style Sheets.

While O'Reilly books are almost always good (though sometimes dry and lacking in examples), this book is off the scale in its usefulness and excellence. The most valuable parts of the book explain browser compatibility issues and offers tips, tricks and solutions for getting css stylesheets to work in a real-world environment. Any serious web developer should have this book on their shelf.

I love O'Reilly books but "definitively" not this one!!! What a dissapointment! The author should first learn HOW TO WRITE A BOOK AND THEN, NOT TALK TO HIMSELF OR ABOUT HIMSELF AND HOW POWERFUL CSS IS ON EVERY F'ING PAGE!

Did the O'Reilly editors take a vacation?

I have read up the most curent available sources for information on CSS. This is the definitive guide on CSS. I have searched high and low for a book of this quality and finally found it.

This book give you more than just bulk information. It breaks everything down and basically builds it back up for you. I don't know how well this book might be for the beginer, but I found it extremly useful.

These days, with applications such as "Flash" and "Frontpage" being used to put all the bells and whistles on applications, most wouldn't give a second thought to this book. This is unfortunate. This book is without a doubt the most important book anyone who has a background in HTML can pick up. It deals in great depth with the W3C CSS 1.0 standard, which allows the web designer to customize and standardize their pages to the minutest detail. I was surprised at how comprehensive this book was since it showed me how to do everything from creating lists bulleted with custom images to layering text/images on top of one another. The use of external cascading style sheets allowed me to create elaborate "standard" pages that could be updated by merely changing the stylesheet file. This concept is carried further in eXtensible Style Sheet language (XSL) and therefore is probably the best introduction to XML, before actually beginning to read up on XML! One thing in particular (among many!) about this book that I liked was the extensive use of screenshots to illustrate the effects of various scripts, something often missing from O'Reilly books. After reading this excellent tutorial/reference, read "JavaScript, the Definitive Guide", and "Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference" to learn how to create powerful client-side web pages (pop-up images, pop-down menus, etc.). Throw out FrontPage and really begin developing!

Before I stepped into Eric Meyer's world of CSS, I had no idea what I could do with style sheets or the extent to which I could manipulate web pages so easily and so universally. I am extremely impressed with the writing style and the clarity with which everything is explained. Great job!

I bought this book because I was interested in expanding my knowledge of web design and I was very pleased. Anyone who knows basic HTML will have no problem understanding the book. I recommend this for anyone who wants to learn more about Cascading Style Sheets and how they can easily be implemented into any webpage to add to the aesthetic qualities of the page and cut down on HTML markup tags in the code. CSS is easy, concise, and simple.

de·fin·i·tive
adj.
1. Precisely defined or explicit.
2. Authoritative and complete

Can this be said to be a definitive guide?

No doubt Mr. Meyer knows his trade and is a respected individual on the subject of CSS. Anyone who has cut their teeth on CSS knows that what is written in theory, is sometimes fallacy in implementation. This goes true in the various browser interpretations of the CSS language and the different behaiviors each presents.

This is where CSS: The Definitive Guide should have stepped in to fill that void. There should be browser compatability charts showing quirks mode, standards mode, and all the different behaiviors of IE 4/5/6, Opera, Netscape, Firefox, etc.

Authoritative? Yes unless someone else can explain it better.
Explicitly defined to be understood? Somewhat.
Complete? Not really.

Still, this is a good book to have on your shelf just in case you get bored reading dry technical specifications.

I'm sorry to say that after getting halfway through this book, I got disgusted with it and am now shopping for another. What bothered me is that the author manages to make CSS look horribly complicated, when the fact is, the authors of CSS never intended it to be so. A book of this sort should start by trying to show how to use CSS in a practical, simple way, to gain the reader's trust that this technology is not off the deep end. Instead, Eric seems to spend most of his effort and time explaining "what can go wrong", which demonstrates his own knowledge of CSS but does little to transfer that knowledge to us.

If you're looking for a book that will teach you how to actually use CSS, you'll be disappointed by this book. If you're looking for a book that goes into great detail about what CSS can do in theory, you'll love this book. But be warned, before you read a section, you should scan ahead to make sure there's no warning that says, "Internet Explorer for Windows through IE6, the most recent version as of this writing, does not support [whatever...]" The book wastes a huge amount of time describing things that are not supported. And these warnings are at the end of sections.

While all this information can be found online (which could be said about almost any web development language), the amount of attention paid to the subject is exceptional.

As with most O'Reilly books I own, I have never felt they were a waste of time or money. Finally, someone has done justice to a subject that should be at the forefront of every developers arsenal of web development tools.

I give lectures on web development and this is a subject that I stress to people over most others. The book is concise with very little fluff. It reads like a textbook.

Buy this book!

"Love yields in one moment," wrote Goethe, "what years of efforts can hardly attain." Farseeing as he was, I don't think that Goethe -- the poet, the dramatist, the statesman, the scientist -- had Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in mind when he waxed poetic about Love. But I fell in love with Style Sheets at first sight. Why? Because I realized that in mere moments CSS gave me gorgeous design effects that even the most cleverly worked-around HTML could never come near. Yet every love requires the lover to make sacrifices. CSS is more complex than HTML, and far more fickle: CSS is not fully supported by even the latest versions of the major Web browsers. Which means that in the real world -- oh, dear! - - some browsers will not be able to view your web pages made with Style Sheets, and other browsers will see things much differently than you had planned. In technology, as in life, Love is blind. Fortunately, there is help for both the weak-browsered and the broken-hearted. Two new books about Style Sheets, both lucid and superbly written, explain how style sheets work and how to get them to work despite the problem of browser ineptness. One of these books, XHTML 1.0 LANGUAGE AND DESIGN SOURCEBOOK by Ian Graham, which covers CSS in relation to XHTML, has been reviewed in BookLovers Review # 18. The other must-own work is Eric Meyer's Cascading Style Sheets, The Definitive Guide. To work with this book you do need a basic understanding of HTML 4.0, but you don't need any prior knowledge of CSS . What we really want in a computer book is an expert in the field taking us step-by-step through the basics, clearly and gradually, to higher and higher levels of proficiency. Eric Meyer is an acknowledged expert in the realm of Cascading Style Sheets. Meyer writes with a natural style, easy to follow, lively, and often reassuring. Here's one example of what I mean: after explaining the potential pitfalls about how your style sheets will look different in different browsers, Meyer writes: "Above all, though, regardless of how bleak things may seem, keep going! Your perseverance will be rewarded." How right he is to understand that computing beginners -- and even computing experts -- need not only information, but also encouragement! The book covers everything important about CSS1 in chapters titled: Selectors and Structure, Units and Values, Text Properties, Fonts, Colors and Backgrounds, Boxes and Borders, Visual Formatting, and Positioning. There's a penultimate chapter about CSS2 which lets us glimpse a supercharged version of Style Sheets: a web designer's Utopia with even more control and even more splendid effects. Meyer's final chapter, CSS in Action, explains three projects, all about how to convert to CSS from ordinary HTML and a magazine article in a printed page. There are some stunning effects illustrated here. In future editions of this book it would be valuable to expand this hands-on chapter. Expect to spend lots of time perusing this book's appendixes. One explains all the CSS1 properties; another contains a CSS Support Chart, showing which CSS properties are and are not supported by which browsers. What it all adds up to is everything I look for in a great non-fiction book: an expert teacher making a difficult subject interesting and clear. This is the heart of it all, and yet a few words need to be said about this book's design: it is gorgeous. Not flashy, but the typefaces are attractive, and the book has been designed with just the right amount of white space so that it's pleasant to look at and easy to read. Needless to say, there's a companion website to the book. The website offers Eric Meyer's Top Ten CSS Tips; the book's Contents and Chapter 1; and an insightful interview with Meyer. Web browsers are getting better, and the better they get, the more important CSS1 will be. Style Sheets are an evolutionary leap beyond HTML. Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, will teach you everything worth knowing in this domain. Meyer explains why you should be using Style Sheets, guides you from beginnerdom to Style Sheet mastery, and takes you and your website into the designing future that promises the best of both worlds: more structure and more style.

Michael Pastore Reviewer

Make sure you get the latest version (ISBN#: 0-596-00525-3) which was released in March of 2004.

Some other reviews discuss the fact that this book is out of date. It WAS, but not any more.

Definitely look into this book as your reference for the latest in Cascading Style Sheets by THE guru of CSS.

Anyone wanting to incorporate Cascading Style Sheets into their web pages should definitely read this book. It offers a very comprehensive study of all of CSS/1 and CSS positioning, as well as a fascinating look at some CSS/2 features (which of course no browers support yet). Browser compatibility problems are clearly identified for all properties. The explanations are detailed and easy to follow. This book would serve both a CSS novice as an introductory text, or an experienced professional as a reference book. I would recommend this book as one of those "must-haves" that every web designer should have in his or her collection.

I just spent the day reading this book and it's about 10 hours I wish I had back. The book may indeed be a good reference, but it isn't much of a teaching model. With the vast majority of the world using IE, all too often you'll spend time reading a section and trying to understand it only to find at the end of the section a blurb "This feature is not supported in any version of IE". The first time it was aggravating, by the fourth or fifth time I began to wonder why the book wasn't structured so that readers could be made aware in advance of theoretical features not yet supported. For the most part I'd have skipped past and saved time.

There are simply not enough examples in the book and many of the ones that exist are confusing. I can't quite explain it, I just found the book aggravating. I'm sure I'll use it as a reference, but my impression of it is the author created a reference first, and then wrote a book around it.

Eric Meyer is the master. This edition is way out of date. Instead, buy Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition. It explains everything about CSS2 in detail. For examples and workflow, buy Eric Meyer on CSS and More Eric Meyer on CSS. Just don't buy this outdated version of The Definitive Guide.

Most people who have happened to work on web pages know something about stylesheets--yet very few actually know how to properly take full advantage of their features even at the "level 1" standard fairly well supported by most web browsers today.

If you've struggled to make a web page look like you want it, resorting to multipe FONT tags, tables, and formatting tags, then you need this book. If you've written a stylesheet or two but find yourself creating and applying styles to the point it seems more trouble than it's worth, this book is for you. From what I learned, I cut both the size of stylesheets and web pages for a number of both personal and company web pages--at times by more than a half--simply through a better understanding of the workings of stylesheets.

Beginning with the basics of what stylesheets actually are and building upon that basis with concepts like cascading, selectors, elements and pseudo-elements, the book will give readers an understanding of CSS difficult to appreciate merely through reading over other people's web pages or through trial and error. An exhaustive treatment of each sort of style--from fonts to inline elements to boxes--follows and covers nearly everything one could want to know about CSS1.

That said, the book could use an update as since 2000 the browser wars have evolved as has the application of CSS2, which is only touched upon by the book. However, unless you are already a pro at styles, you'll likely find this an invaluable reference, much as any title in the O'Reilly series.

The author seems more interested in displaying his extremely limited "sense of humor" than discussing the topics. Also, just a quick glance through the book shows me that the fellow knows next to nothing about typography, which I consider to be a drawback when dealing with a technology that, in part, deals with typography.

Mostly, I was annoyed by Meyer's "this is the way things should be" attitude. I work with programmers and technical people everyday; they all seem to have the same techno-fascist attitude, and I find it infuriating.

Overall, this book is a bad addition to the otherwise generally good O'Reilly family of references.

I read a lot of good things about Eric Meyers and people say he's practically like the king of CSS teachers or something. I read reviews from amazon about this book and decided it was time I read this book.
At first, it seemed like a good book, explaining core concepts of CSS to me. I've been using it for years, but never really had a book teach me everything, I picked it up as I went along.
However, as I reached further into the book, the topics became more complicated and his explanations became weaker and weaker. There are no practical examples. I was hoping to get some insight in the way certain code could be used but instead, this was more like a help/reference manual which made me wonder why I even needed this book in that case when there are great help/reference manuals all over the Internet.

I thought reading this book would make me like Mr. Meyer's apprentice, to learn from the master. It was like going to an experienced carpenter and being told "This is a hammer, u hit nails with it." and then leaving. I was looking for more like "this is a hammer, notice how if I hit it hard it causes a dent in the wood, but a soft touch allows you to keep an even wood surface, use least amount of energy and still get the job done."

I learnt more about CSS from other books that were nothing more than basic introductions.

Working my way through this book, I found that on almost every page I would be scribbling remarks about sloppy, useless, incomplete, redundant, sometimes even conflicting pieces of text.

Admitted, there is a lot of information in this book, but there is a great deal missing as well. When describing some CSS feature, usually first a brief (incomplete) definition is given, and then the feature is further explained by giving examples. Working your way through the examples, and combining remarks spread out over several pages, you usually find that not all aspects of the feature are covered. You'll still need to consult the specification at www.w3.org . And that spec comes with better examples, as well.

Save your money, buy some other book.

I learned CSS from this book. It's probably not the best book for an introduction to CSS, but it worked quite well for me. As part of O'Reilly's Definitive Guide series, the book has a format which is awkward for a beginning text. These books are meant to be encyclopedic in coverage, so every topic gets discussed down to the last arcane detail before you move on to the next one. That's probably not the approach I would take if I were teaching a course on the subject. But that was probably not the intent of the book.

The odd thing was, the writing was so good that the book worked quite will as an introduction. Eric Meyer is one of the world's top experts on CSS, and he is also a marvelous writer. That is an unusual combination, and one that readers should take note of. Over time, I will probably acquire all of Meyer's books. He is that good.

Don't expect this to be the only book you need on the subject. The web is a fast changing medium, and books tend to lag behind the material that is accumulating on the web itself. There is excellent materail on sites like zeldman.com, meyerweb.com, alistapart.com, webmonkey.com and elsewhere. There are also other books which take different approaches, which will fill in some of the gaps. That is to be expected; no one book can do it all.

Unfortunately, the book is getting a little outdated. Many modern browsers are supporting CSS2 by now, and proposals for CSS3 are already circulating. Meyer is already at work on the second edition. We all have something to look forward to.

In 4 words, This Book Is Great! It contains a very complete explanation of most CSS properties that you will need for your upcoming web sites. Positioning, Fonts & Colors, Boxes, Formatting; it's all there.

For those of you who have to transition real print document (mostly suitable for PDF), well you will find a way to have your print document pretty similar to your current print document. In fact, one of the small case-studies is with this issue but if you go through the sections of boxes & positioning, you will find most of your answers there.

Great reference and I would suggest to anybody that wants alternative to 'Table positioning' and other formatting issues.

I have been using CSS for almost a year. After reading this book I finally feel like I know what I am doing. I read the book in 3 days and rewrote all of my Web pages to use CSS properly. What a difference! This book is clearly written and excellent both as a training manual and a reference book.

I've never bothered to write a book review before but I want to warn off this particular book and perhaps give Mr. Meyer some needed feedback.

First, the presentation is disorganized. The endless picayune rules occur as almost stream of consciousness. But worst of all is that after wading through a morass of syntax the author points out that Internet Explorer doesn't accept the rule. Of course, anyone who ignores IE misses 95% of his audience.

After becoming familiar with this trick of pulling the rug out from under the reader after the fact I started looking ahead for the IE disclaimer. Meyer then thwarts this practice by hiding the final disclosure in text.

Second, the book provides painfully few examples of practical CSS-just a bushel basket of useless rules that not even IE 7 will use.

In addition, CSS3 is never presented, though it is the current standard.

If this geek `s intention was to relegate CSS to the Geekhood--those who adore overly complex rules as proof of their mental superiority--then he has succeeded.

If, on the other hand, Meyer is attempting to aid in the raging compatibility issue that plagues working web designers, and that CSS was intended to fix, he has failed miserably.

I realize that this book was originally published in 2000, and that CSS2 has been released, but it usually takes a while for the industry to catch up to new technologies. It's time to start using Cascading Style Sheets. If you've been skeptical, so have I. I've tested most of the examples in this book in Netscape 4.76, and IE 5.5, and most of them worked in the older Netscape Browser! All examples that I tested worked in IE 5.5. I always keep myself a few revs back on the Netscape side, and use it as a floor for testing. If it runs there, I feel that it's safe to use. (I really only test with Netscape and IE, I gave up on AOL long ago...)

Mr. Meyer does an awesome job presenting the material in this book, and all of the examples are extremely useful. The book is well thought out and organized, and lacks nothing. I read it sitting in front of my computer so that I could implement the examples as I went along. I was really excited about being able to finally use CSS confidently in new Web sites, and this book shows the way.

I'm not sure if the Browsers are ready for CSS2 yet, but I can say that I've already bought Mr. Meyer's new book on the subject, having been thoroughly impressed with his first.

Anybody wanting to learn CSS should buy this book. All that is needed is an understanding of HTML - - no previous CSS experience is necessary.

The book starts out by explaining what CSS is, the need for it and why & how you should use it. You'll be taught different ways of linking style sheets to your HTML documents, and which of those ways is supported by which browsers [versions].

The meat of the book gives descriptions on each CSS element, practical examples, a heads-up on browser support issues, and even tips and tricks to work around those problems.

This book is by far *the book* for learning, or even just brushing up on CSS.

The only thing more I could have asked for with this book was coverage of CSS Level 2. CSS Level 1 was covered superiorly in this book, however Level 2 was barely touched on. Guess I'll have to wait for the next edition.

-Jennifer

I have a great deal of HTML experience, but wanted a quick course in style sheets. This books was fabulous for not only giving clear instruction on how to use them, but also in pointing out common headaches in browser support. This is the first computer book I've read that represented a good midrange level tutorial...not a primer for beginning programmers, and not a technobabble encyclopedia of code. It's a must for any busy professional who just wants the straight story and doesn't have time to waste figuring out where the common pitfalls are. We all have jobs we need to do, not time to read tons of books! Kudos to O'Reilly for the first book I've liked from their presses!

I was surprised when I first came across this book. Initially I assumed that that the subject would be too small to sustain a whole book but that's not the case.

There is a wealth of information in here about Cascading Style Sheets. Whilst it's true that there may be nothing here that searching the web can't elicit, it's so much more useful to have the information to hand that I'd certainly recommend it as a worthwhile purchase.

Since I always try to make the appearance of my web pages browser independent, I found the information on browser compatability particularly useful.

Meyer's book is addressed to web site designers who want a more thorough understanding of the principles underlying CSS. It presupposes some practical familiarity with (X)HTML and prior exposure to CSS. This should probably not be a first book on CSS. And look elsewhere if you're interested in a cookbook approach to design.

Meyer understands the complexities of CSS and has considerable experience with it, which makes this among the more useful books on the subject. Read this book if you want element by element, tag by tag discussion of CSS. Among other things, you will come away with a better understanding of the cascade, the box model, margins and padding, lists, and the differences between block and inline elements. Your coding is also likely to be cleaner. But if what you want is specific design tips for something like a three column layout with masthead and footer, you need a different book.

Things move so quickly in web design that by the time a book reaches the shelf, it almost invariably has a slightly dated feel to it. That's the case here, accentuated perhaps by the less than thorough content and organizational editing this book apparently received from O'Reilly Media. Its organization is too loose, and at times it is not readily apparent why some topics are placed where they are. Meyer also has a tendency to use certain phrases or style devices repetitively, which is at times only annoying but also sometimes frustrating.

That said, however, Meyer's book can help make the difference between really understanding CSS and just being able to use it. I learned a number of things that I was able to apply immediately and expect I will find more in Meyer's book as I return to it as a reference, which may be the best way to use it.

Target Audience
Web developers who need a comprehensive guide on the use of CSS1 and CSS2 technology.

Contents
This book is an extensive guide on cascading style sheet technology, specifically the CSS1 and CSS2 specifications.

The book is divided into the following chapters:

CSS and Documents; Selectors; Structure and the Cascade; Values and Units; Fonts; Text Properties; Basic Visual Formatting; Padding, Borders, and Margins; Colors and Backgrounds; Floating and Positioning; Table Layout; Lists and Generated Content; User Interface Styles; Non-Screen Media; Property Reference; Selector, Pseudo-Class, and Pseudo-Element Reference; Sample HTML 4 Style Sheet; Index

Review
Most of my development work is not concentrated on the user interface. To date, I've been able to live with just a minimal amount of HTML and JavaScript knowledge. But more and more I'm being drawn into web design work, and CSS is playing a significant part in that. In order to have the information I need to do my job, I got a copy of this book and I'm glad I did.

Meyer does a nice job in balancing the material between code examples, reference to cover all the parameters, and example output to show what the code will do. I think the last part is very important, as it allows you to visualize the type of effects a certain command will have, and from there you can start to apply it to your own web site. I am undecided as to whether this would make a good first tutorial for someone just learning CSS. For me, it's a better reference guide once you have some basic CSS understanding.

There is one formatting decision that the author made in the second edition that some might find irritating. He decided that to keep the book from growing too large, the information about which browsers support which features would be dropped from the print version. You can get that information from the online web site, so it's not like you're left in the cold. But if that information is important to you and you want one-stop reading, this book might not be what you want.

Conclusion
A solid reference manual on CSS that you will use for coding examples, parameter reference, and visual examples of the effects you can obtain.

As almost all O'Reilly books, this is a great technical book. Great info, great index, and great organization. The author is a CSS guru. Unfortunatelly the contents aren't up to date with the current browser technology. The 2000 edition doesn't even know about the newst Mozilla versions (a.k.a. Netscape 6). Wait for a newer edition, or buy another one.

This book was another great O Reilly book. The wealth of information packed into very easy to understand language. As long as you are familiar with HTML then you will learn what really appealing things you can do for a web site with the help of style sheets.

The book covers all the information you need about the browser compatibility issues, fonts and text properties, even element units and values. It has a great overview in the back of each of the attributes that can be used in CSS. How they are to be applied and whether or not they are inherited.

This was a very informative book and a great reference book!

Yes, this book is a good reference for CSS, AND it has some good charts and references in the back. The index is weak.

However, if you have a problem with spacing, or font size, or inheritance in your stylesheets, this book is difficult to use -- because it is organized by the formalisms of CSS, rather than by what one might what to do with CSS, like change the appearance of headings in certain contexts, or adjust spacing in complex documents.

We use a lot of classes in our html, and the section on classes was fairly shallow. There isn't enough room given to examples on how to use classes with div and span, and elements inside classes (especially h levels).

The author's sense of humor also becomes a bit tiresome, especially if you're trying to use the book to solve a difficult problem quickly. I doubt that many readers are as captivated with the author's humor as he was when writing the book.

The book is now rather out of date -- the pre-CSS browser warnings seem a bit irrelevant, and there is of course the growing use of XML, which needs to be accommodated.

Page by page, feature by feature, Eric Meyer's 'Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide' puts a new face on the new face of the Web. I found this book to be useful at virtually every page: I was using CSS on my own homepage within minutes, and plan to expand that to the various websites I maintain, then to influence my officemates to join me in the quest for cascading styles. The only detracting point would be the constant use of Latin in the example text.

All the information in the book can be culled from the W3C, CSS specs, and other sources (including the browser inconsistencies), and unfortunately the book will be outdated whenever new browsers that more fully adhere to the standards of CSS2 are released. That said, I find it extremely useful to have the hardcopy of all this documentation all in one place, available for me to flip through quickly to find an answer.

If you are not using Cascading Style Sheets in your own HTML documents, you should consider them. They will save you hours of tedious formatting time. CSS allows you to control every aspect of the formatting and display of your website, without having to "touch" each page individually.

This book is great for someone who has never worked with CSS before. It is very easy to read, and leads you through some very good examples that show how to use CSS for what it does best.

As some reviewers have pointed out, this is not a reference book. It is not well suited to some who is already well versed in CSS, as it will take you awhile to find the exact item of information you are looking for. However, for learning CSS, in the first place, this book does a good job.

1. CSS and Documents
2. Selectors
3. Structure and the Cascade
4. Values and Units
5. Fonts
6. Text Properties
7. Basic Visual Formatting
8. Padding, Borders and Margins
9. Colors and Backgrounds
10. Floating and Positioning
11. Table Layout
12. Lists and Generated Content
13. User Interface Styles
14. Non-Screen Media

If you're interested in throwing away tables and progressing into using XHTML and CSS for web design, this is an essential reference. It can be read cover to cover and in typical Meyer style, is easy to read and very simple to understand. I'd recommend pairing this with 'Eric Meyer on CSS' and 'More Eric Meyer on CSS'. This will act as a reference for the actual code whilst Meyer's other books walk you through actually using CSS in a variety of different ways. I keep this book on hand constantly while I'm working.

If you have some experience creating web pages and have a reasonably good grasp of HTML and are really serious about getting deep into CSS, this would be a really good book to do that with.

On the other hand, if you're looking for a CSS cook book or for a basic CSS tutorial for beginners, this is not the book for you.

While not a CSS expert, I've been using CSS to develop websites for a number of years. I've found this book most valuable in deepening my understanding of CSS.

If you want more detail, you could take a look at my somewhat longer review on the Oakland Perl Mongers site.

George Woolley of Camelot.pm and Oakland.pm

There are times when a comprehensive list of properities simply isn't enough. At times like these, when my problem is CSS related, I reach for this book. This is one of those books you will need to get a more in-depth knowledge of CSS. It goes through the very basics of style sheets, to make sure that you not only know how to use them, but also that you know how they work!

This is a great book for those that learn by example, as there are plenty to go around. There is something about this book that makes it's approach to learning by example that little bit different, as it provides the basis to allow you to test out what you've learnt from early on. Another nice feature is the case study that converts a HTML only page into one that uses CSS.

For those of you who are struggling to get a browser to behave with a particular style sheet, then this book has some real gems to help make your pages more consistent amongst browsers. The problem is finding them! They are scattered throughout the book and I sometimes get the feeling they were added merely as necessary afterthoughts. Perhaps the next edition would benefit from a section devoted to gathering these tips into a chapter devoted to browser inconsistencies... that is, if they are still a problem at the time the next edition is printed.

As with all reference books, they tend to age. Cascading Style Sheets covers very little of the new CSS2 selectors and properties, which I'm sure will be covered in much better detail in subsquent versions of the book. While it may not be as complete as it could be, it is the book I recommend to those wanting to learn more about the basics of CSS.

I had to buy this book for an Intro to Web Design class and many of my classmates and I agreed that this is not an easy book to follow. It dives into details without laying out the most basics first. In general, the lack of structure and more complicated than necessary language was confusing and maybe one with previous CSS knowledge would know what he's talking about but for a beginner it was quite unhelpful.

I have the supposedly "out of date" first edition of this book, which is now on its second edition (which is the edition that Amazon is selling right now, even though it's not that clear from the title--dont' worry, Amazon won't sell you an outdated book).

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for nearly a year and I finally got around to reading it carefully, and I must say that it's extremely worthwhile reading.

First of all, let me point out that even the first edition of the book is not outdated. It was ahead of its time when it was written. Back then, not all of the browsers supported CSS1. At the moment, not much of CSS2 is supported, so learning CSS2 is a waste.

If you've tried to design web pages usings DIVs, you will probably get extremely frustrated with your DIVs not positioning the way you think they should. This book has the most thorough description I've ever read about how DIVs and other block elements are positioned. Confused about padding vs margin, or floating and clearing? This book explains it all in detail.

The only out of date part of the 1st edition is when the text contains specific mention of obsolete browers. No one cares that IE3 or Netscape4 doesn't support a particular feature, so hopefully the new second edition takes that stuff out of there.

What this books lacks is examples and advice on how to DESIGN web pages. What it does contain is a detailed tutorial on HOW CSS works. But while there are plenty of books about designing web pages, complete with lots of pretty color pictures, the world also needs a book about the HOW.

This is a clear informative outline and instructive text of the CSS1 standard, with some short notes on CSS2 at the end of the book. At the time of writing this we are already approaching CSS3, which is in preparation at the W3C, so that this book is somewhat dated; unfortunately that happens very rapidly in this field. Let us hope that the Eric Meyer comes out with a new edition soon. The book is not optimally set out to be used as a reference text, as some of the other books in the O'Reilly series are. A new addition would be enhanced with some tables of CSS heading tags. Properties, on the other hand, are set out rather comprehensively in an appendix, although references (virtual links, so to speak) to the relevant sections in the chapters would have been useful.

Of the hundred or so computer technology/web related books that I have read over the past decade, this is clearly the worst one. After successfully taking a college level CSS class, I wanted to update my practical knowledge to the new W3C guidelines so I bought this book. I expected at least one chapter of CSS review, if for no other reason to establish common vocabulary with the reader - which it did not. This is certainly not a beginner's book because it doesn't explain the basics at all. It isn't an intermediate or advanced book because it is not inspiring. I showed the book to several of my peers both at work and at school, as well as a couple of instructors, and unianimously we agree that the author goes out of his way to be confusing. The book is poorly organized. The visual examples are lame. It lacks metaphors or any other effort to connect the reader with the subject matter. The only redeeming section of this book is pages 167-198 on complex backgrounds. If not for that, this book would not warrant space on my bookshelf and would be destined for the trash.

CSS is the science and engineering behind the art of display. Meyer's book is a great resource for understanding that science. It is one of the few books allotted a place on my desk.

Written much like a programming book, it explains in logical steps exactly how the rules of CSS work. It is not a picture book: it does little to help someone design a website as that is not the intent. What the book does superbly is give the reader a detailed understanding of how to correctly construct a well designed (or not so well designed) website.

Because it examines the theory and logic underlying CSS, many portions of the book require thought and concentration to read. Some paragraphs seem quite difficult to follow at first glance, but the reason for this is that the ideas being conveyed are subtle and oftentimes complex. I found the book to be slow reading, much along the lines of a physics text, because a great deal of information is being conveyed in a small space.

My CSS code is much cleaner, and my coding and debugging time greatly reduced, as a result of *studying* this book.

Not really a reference, but more than a simple tutorial. This is the best book I've seen about Cascading Style Sheets, and went a long way to convincing me that CSS had finally arrived in Prime Time.

But even though they've long since "arrived," they're still very much on the move. Meyer's terrific website offers an elegant glimpse into state-of-the-art CSS. He's done marvelous things with the technology, things that simply never would have occured to me as lending themselves to a CSS solution (eg, pure CSS popups--no javascript involved).

This book is a worthy investment for any serious web developer.

Perfect CSS1 reference. Eric Meyer is the high priest of CSS, and this belongs on the desk of any web designer who wants to learn how to work with stylesheets from the ground up, and have a reference you'll use again and again.

I also bought Meyer's fabulous "Eric Meyer on CSS: Mastering the Language of Web Design." These two books compliment each other very well.

"CSS The Definitive Reference" is accessible to someone who is a rank beginner at stylesheets, yet would benefit intermediate users as well.

If you already have a CSS reference book and want to go to the finer points, you may want to go straight to "Eric Meyer on CSS: Mastering the Language of Web Design," however; it's more of project-oriented book, and a bit more involved and advanced.

Also, one caveat; because of the publication date of this book, CSS2 is not really covered. If this is an important consideration for you, maybe wait until a new edition comes out.

This book is a great overview of the wonderful things that can be done with CSS in web development. Using CSS is a great way to make websites more accessible to the disabled while not losing the look of a well designed web page. This book is set up nicely and makes note of features that are not properly supported by the various browsers that are out there. It has a great overview in the back of each of the attributes that can be used in CSS and how they are to be applied and whether they are inherited etc. It's a great resource for those implementing the powers of CSS to clean up their html code.

This book is a perfect guide for those who want to write effective, maintainable and well structured HTML. CSS does have some nifty features, which you must read a book like this one to discover. The only downside is that it does not cover CSS2, it only provides an overview. CSS2 is very useful for styling XML documents, which I think he should have covered considering the recent publishing date of the book.

Probably a bit out of date at this point. For me, this book wasn't that useful, since I generally refer to the W3C site for information about CSS. But it's a nice desk reference, and a standard tool for almost all CSS developers. There's probably a new version out by now to address all the developments that have happened in the past couple of years, I would look for that (or wait until one comes out, it won't be long).

I bought this book for one reason, to get a basic understanding of CSS. Getting an overall view of CSS and some examples gets done in this book. In depth of CSS, don't know. I can get a deeper understanding by searching the web. I was looking for some basic discription and examples and I got that. I read some of the other views, agreed "The Definitive Guide" is a bit much. I would think that the book would be a lot thicker wiht that title. I would probably buy it again under the same circumstance.

It's the last O'Reilly book I get!
This "guide" does not mention what elements are supported by what browsers. Doesn't even mention what is part of the CSS1 or CSS2 standards! (it only mentions these items sometimes within the text, but nowhere else, not even in the pourly formatted reference at the end of the book).
It does a good job detailing how to use the elements but that's about it.
I think that Thomas Powell's "HTML & XHTML, The Complete Reference" does a excellent job explaining CSS and certainly has a better CSS reference in the 2 chapters dedicated to CSS (it's an XHTML book after all, so don't get it if all you need is CSS).

I have not checked other books written by Meyer but this 2nd edition is not a "Definite Guide"!
Check your bookstore and do a good comparison before spending money on this book!

i work as a programmer and occasionally have to get my hands into the design aspect of things, usually cleaning up templates designers have made in some crap gui tool. i understand the basics of css already, i just needed something to outline the syntax and concepts in css2 and then just function as a reference. this book did neither, and i've found it to be a complete waste.

If you ever wanted to learn about css this is the place to start. Eric not only covers all of css1 and an intro into css2, he warns you of all the caveats regarding browser combatibility.
After you read this book and follow it up with his book on web design, you'll have all you need . Not only can you throw out alot of your html code, but css can give you a workaround where html doesn't seem to have the answer.
Eric also gives alot of good online sources where you can find tricks for applying css, as well.
And finally, he writes in a style that is more like reading a novel then a text book.

The first few chapters are a bit much to swallow all at once, (for a CSS newbie) and you can't skip over them and go on, because you'll be completely lost. Once you get through that initial brain-meltdown, though, Meyer uses example after example to walk you through the actual uses of CSS.

It's an excellent book, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to understand Cascading Style Sheets. O'Reilly need to contact Eric Meyer and have him update it. I'd go out and buy it again.

This book is an excellent resource for understanding Cascading Style Sheets. The writing style is amazingly readable, which is a stark contrast to the usual dull specifications found in online CSS references.

The author shares his detailed understanding of all the quirks of CSS1, and does a good job looking ahead to CSS2. Even if the reader doesn't follow every particular of every item, it's nice to have a feel for the programmers intention. I feel as if I have an even better grasp of whole concept of "cascading."

Even though it's a CSS version behind, this book is outstandingly usable for the HTML-familiar web designer who wants to streamline and update to cutting edge code. Personal web page owners would benefit greatly.

The only significant drawback to this book is that the book is printed entirely in black and white, which means that all examples are shown in grayscale, not in color. And this lack of color tends to undermine the in-color code examples. You have to use your imagination (or your own computer) to try out the CSS code to see what it really does on your color monitor.

With the exception of this limitation, I strongly recommend this book as a CSS learning tool and reference.

The subtitle claims this volume is the definitive guide, I believe it. This book provides comprehensive coverage of the current cascading style sheets specification and how it is being of being implemented (or not). The focus is on the CSS2 and CSS2.1 specs. My first impression of the book was that it would be a valuable reference manual, but as I began to read it, I soon realized it would serve as a great instructional source also. The writing style is as if a good friend sat down to explain style sheets. I found the pacing of the material to appropriate and the detail of the explanations to be exhaustive.

The chapter on selectors (chapter 2) was extremely valuable for me. It helped me to understand why some things did not work as I thought they should. Throughout the book, differences between the specification and the implementation in certain products are explained. Additionally, the differences between various levels of CSS are highlighted. The book has numerous examples for the CSS elements and variations.

This is a great book on CSS, but I wish that electronic versions of the examples were available. This is the only shortcoming of the book that I see. This book is a great tutorial and a valuable reference. Regular practice of the techniques contained within this volume can assist the reader in voiding the abuse of the table and fonts tags.

Though I had a basic knowledge of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), I did not know the full power of them. CSS has the ability to do many things, but basically the strength of it over plain HTML is that you are able to define a "style" to be applied to your whole website. To change the look and feel, you simply change a few lines in your style sheet and your whole site is updated. CSS can be used even if you have a site that consists of just one page.

Eric Meyer's book will put you on your way to using CSS. A basic knowledge of HTML is helpful to understand the first part of the book. He jumps into the book as if this was a sequel to a book he just finished on HTML. He takes for granted that you understand how pages are built.

Typical of many technical books, the information is often repeated so that you can jump into any chapter and get the basic information of how to make it work. That said, I only found one place in the book where he actually tells you how to link to a style sheet. Therefore, you need to read much of the introductory material.

If you have an understanding of CSS and this is going to be a reference work, you will not be disappointed.

Cascade Style Sheets give you full control over Web page attributes, such as, font color, style, spacing, and size. CSS are simple reusable mechanism to define Web page attributes. Most browsers support CSS and this book provides a good foundation for learning how to implement CSS embedded or inlined. You'll learn about grouping, inheritance, class as a selector, id as a selector, the cascading order, formating, block level elements, vertical formatting, horizontal formating, font (families, weight, style, size, color), background (color, image, position, repeat), text(word-spacing,letter-spacing), box (margin-(top, right,bottom,left), padding border (top width,right width,bottom width, and left width), and much more.

I worked through the first edition four years ago, and found the book to be very easily followed. I realize the specification has changed, and that the syntax (selectors, mostly) has become somewhat more complicated. AND that the issues revolving around using markup for layout (tables vs. div tags, mostly) have yet to be resolved (and, perhaps, have become MORE complicated rather than less so, due to XML), BUT... the second edition could have been improved with perhaps ONE more rewrite and some proofreading. I realize Mr. Meyer is a busy man, but he could have taken a bit more time updating this franchise.

I purchased this book for a CSS class that I was taking. The book is good, it does cover a lot of information. I found that it was not the only book that I was using. I had an old HTML book that I used for reference more often then not. It is one that I liked for things like Color codes. The CSS book does not reference these, and if it does, it is not that easy to find.

Agian it is a very good book, but not the only one that you should have for reference.

This book really needs to warn the reader that they are about to read great detail about something they will never use. I would like to make the decision to read a section or not, based on it's usefulness to me. Diagrams ought to support the text around it. I spent a lot of time reading along and referring to diagrams that had nothing to do with the surrounding text.

I bow to this master. This same information, organized differently, would make for a great book. Maybe the 3rd edition?

Eric Meyer's the man when it comes to CSS. This book is very well laid out, very comprehensive and a pleasure to read. It provides an excellent base and would be easily understood, even by someone who's not used CSS before. It really covers all the basics, then proceeds to quite detailed. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who's going to do any sort of web design. CSS makes things much easier & this book makes CSS a breeze.

This book helped me learn CSS. I think it is well written and well organized. If you go through it in a single day and try out what you've learned, the theory and methods come together very well.

This book seems to get the reader in and out quickly enough to make learning CSS more approchable, yet it is well-written and detailed enough to be useful for those already having some experience with HTML or web development.

As a prerequisite, you should probably have an understanding of HTML and be able to create and view HTML and CSS documents.

First off, if we widen our horizons and try a few different browsers, CSS becomes far more useful -- and for any web programmer it should be like finally getting to the fun part. CSS takes a bit of learning. Experiment with it, play with it, discover the power of it. It will free you from so many pains in the you-know-what, you'll want to have a kegger to celebrate your new found control and freedom.

This guide is not a CSS "cookbook." It is indeed very much like a dictionary and it is exceedingly useful. It is a reference text and it can be used as a learning tool. Figure out how it is organized, mark it up, use index tabs to quickly find the sections you need once you have found them the first time. Whatever it takes to make the information more accessible to you.

There are other books that will illuminate the creative aspects of CSS. Buy them, too, if you like, but this one is the foundation. And Eric Meyer is a sure fire expert with this stuff, if anyone is.

And finally, once you get CSS under your belt, so to speak, you can be creative yourself. Playing with CSS can't hurt you. It won't even get your hands dirty. So, explore, create, do amazingly cool things -- and take this book with you!

Prior to owning this book, I was involved in web design of different types for about five years. I picked up various aspects of CSS from visual editors like GoLive and Dreamweaver, just by visually creating elements and tweaking the code. However, if you really want to understand the way CSS is structured and what the best methods for achieving certain types of looks are, this is a good place to start.

This book is neither pure code reference (you should get that at w3c.org), nor a tips and tricks book (though it does have some good code samples for how to achieve certain things in CSS). Rather it will teach you how to create your own "tricks", by explaining how to: structure CSS code, understand the differences in syntax, and understanding the differences between seemingly similar properties and property values (padding and margins for example).

One qualm I have is that the first book I received had a really poor glue-binding (pages were falling out, and the backing was detached from the binding). The replacement book (Amazon was very quick about it) also had a detached backing, but the binding itself was OK so I kept it. Also, I will say the book is a little dry / difficult to read more than a chapter at a time, but it's just as well because it's hard to retain things from technical books when you read straight through them (usually).

While this won't be the only CSS book you'll ever need by any stretch of the imagination, it's definitely a nice one to have around. I find that after my initial reading, the way I most often use this book is as a sort of "CSS Dictionary".

Once you're ready to start learning how to implement CSS in earnest, I recommend "Cascading Style Sheets: Separating Content from Presentation" by Owen Briggs. Similar in size and depth, this book is more accessible and more of a hands-on tool, while maintaining the important code references.

If you need to know what Cascading Style Sheets is and you know nothing - this is your book. If you need a handy reference for CSS statements - this is your book.

It is a true O'Reilly book. Very high quality.

IMO, Mr. Meyer has done a good job explaining and showing CSS parameters. He has lots of examples with pictures depicting the results of the code. The book also indicates which styles are applicable to NS and/or IE and how well they work in each browser. There is a comprehensive appendix in the back listing the different styles and their attributes, as well as a good index. As a semi-experienced CSS user, I found it very helpful and informative. I think there are enough tips and tricks for the experienced CSS'er as well as enough explanation and example for the beginning CSS user.

The book sits within easy reach on my bookshelf, and I refer to it frequently. (I think I need to get another copy for work so I can take this copy back home!)

Great book, well written and very easy to learn from. I purchased this book knowing nothing about CSS, and now I feel very confident and cleaned up my entire web site using this new and exciting technology!! I highly recommend Meyer's book and feel that it would be impossible not to get a lot of out it by just sitting down and reading it.

**** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I had done some work with style sheets, but was confused bythe terms and had no idea what they can do. This book completely changed what I can do when I design web sites. It'sa real eye-opener and a great reference.

This is a clearly presented, logically organized and easy to read guide to a complex and complicated subject. It will be useful to every HTML coding level - from expert to novice.

I'd certainly recommend this book to any web designer, from beginner to advanced. It contains plenty of examples to help you through the tricky parts, but is also great as a reference book. My wife originally bought this book for herself, but I opened the parcel and read it for her. I just consider myself very considerate.

This book was an easy introduction to CSS1 with a smattering of CSS2. The author used plenty of example code and pictorial representations.

Note that there are at least 3 editions of this book. Check for the latest edition if you want the latest.

This book is not an explanation or tutorial of how to make beautiful pages with CSS. I think the people who give it below 3 stars may have been looking for that, and instead they should try CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions. This book IS, however, a complete reference to all CSS properties and values, and also contains some valuable tips on browser behavior and bugs. If I'm coding along and forget what all the possible values are for list-style-type, this is the book I reach for.

This is the 'go-to' reference for me. The truly ultimate guide to CSS from one of the construct's primary innovators and authors. Mr. Meyer is the most knowledgeable person in the field of CSS, browser compatibility and all around HTML design.

Cascading Style Sheets
Eric A. Meyer
ISBN: 0-596-00525-3

This book is packed full of information about CSS. There are chapters devoted to each general category of CSS such as fonts, text, blocks, borders, etc.

One item that could be improved is the chapter headings. Most O'Reilly books put the chapter at the top of each page, so at any time you can glance up to the top of the page you are reading and orient yourself. This book only lists the chapter title on the first page of the chapter and in the TOC. In a fiction tome, this probably would not be a big deal, but I rarely read reference books in an orderly fashion preferring to skim to the subject I need assistance on at the moment. Not having the chapter headings on each page makes this much more difficult.

The book does have a generous amount of info on CSS and nice appendices. Appendix A on properties is particularly useful.

I won't try to waste too much time here. Other reviewers have groused over this book quite enough. Please take the time to go to an actual bookstore, pick up the actual book, and actually skim through it before purchasing. Look at the table of contents. Crack your walnut reading a few paragraphs...

That said, let's look at this book. The only thing missing from its title is "startup". If you're new to the CSS2 standard, this is a great place to start. I will agree with others about the book's page layout- figures should be located closer to the text tied to that illustration. Having to flip forward and back to get a concept is annoying.

Content-wise, I think Meyer points out the relevant shortcomings of IE (and he never even mentions the gaping security holes) and its inability to properly render your CSS2 layout. So download Mozilla. Put a "Mozilla Only" disclaimer on your site and go about your business!

I bought this book to familiarize myself with the box model and at least some of the available properties and values thereof. This book did a great job of introducing me to the box model, positioning, and such. Yes, this is a book for noobs, but if you've got to start somewhere, this is a great source. Also, check out Eric's site, which has some really great tips and tricks on it. And cssplay.co.uk has some really neat things you can try once you master that box model. And no, I'm not related to Eric. No, I do not hold any stock in O'Reilly Press. I just think this book is a great starting point.

I was really expecting to enjoy this book, but I am now having trouble finishing it. The author seems to enjoy telling us how much he knows about CSS and not how we can apply the subject to our own web designs. I also think the book needed some kind of editor or proofreader. Take the following snippet:

"The left (or right) outer edge of a floated element must be to the right (or left) of the right (left) outer edge of a left-floating (or right-floating) element that occurs earlier in the document's source, unless the top of the later element is below the bottom of the former."

I wanted to tear my eyes out reading that....

I've been working with and around computers since 1980. I have a broad technical background. I like technical books and get most of my information from them. I was prepared to like this book. So why don't I?

The short answer is unacceptably poor technical editing.

First and foremost this book suffers from the disease that afflicts virtually all O'Reilly Definitive Guides: An apparent phobia about providing cross-references to the page or pages contain cited information. It thus becomes your job to wade through the T.O.C. and/or index and find the information referred to.

Second, this book assumes that you're keenly interested (to cite but one example) to know what as-yet-unavailable CSS3 might someday do with regard to "Glyph versus content area." As for me, I found the book's abundance of this too-clever-by-half ("Look at how much *I* know!") esoteric detritus infuriating. Again, one can't blame the book's author for wanting to show off a bit, but one can fully blame the book's editor for allowing him to.

Then there's the book's laughably over-complicated section on Tables. Pages of windy bloviation about how XML doesn't understand tables but but precious little on how to use CSS -- the title of the book, remember? -- to get a table setup the way you might want it to be. Did an editor even look at this section?

In the end this book contains lots of excrutiatingly abstruse background minutiae about XML standards and the like that you might possibly enjoy reading about once you've independently acquired your own understanding of it. In the meantime don't think for a second you're going to be able to use this book to come up with a reasonably straighforward explanation of to how to use CSS to display some content the way you want to -- your time will instead be spent trying to swim your way out of yet another of the book's overly detailed technobabble digressions...

I really enjoyed readig this book! It's written in a simple and undestandable language that even CSS beginer can unterstand everythig, well almost everything, the sky is the only limit... But i really recomend this book for those who is seeking something to start from with CSS. Its NOT a waste of your money, believe me!

No doubt about it, Eric Meyer knows CSS inside and out! This book should be a fantastic reference for people who really want to explore the power of CSS.

Unfortunately the editing is so poor in many areas that you have to work through examples on your computer to see the effects being described. Screen shots are used to illustrate coding examples, but details which would help the reader interpret the picture are often left out. For example, when looking at an explanation of overlapping elements, you may be left to figure out whether a space between two lines of text is 20 pixels or 30 pixels wide when there is no reference of scale in the picture. You have to guess or try it out yourself.

When a series of examples are used to illustrate a concept, there is a lack of consistency in the example code. Instead of only changing the one element or parameter being discussed, a similar, but different, example is used so you can't simply look at two successive illustrations to see the effect of the change. In a few cases, whole lines of example code are missing. Probably lost in the shuffle while moving Figures and blocks of text to get the page layout right.

That said, there is a wealth of information here if you are willing to work a little to get it. I would still highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to seriously dive into CSS -- but if all you are looking for is an introduction or a basic reference, there are probably less frustrating sources out there.

This is the only book you need on Cascading Style Sheets. It is absolutely complete, and will allow you to get started right away designing simple style sheets. On the other hand, if you are willing to take the time to browse other designer's code while simultaneously using this book, you will find yourself designing complex style sheets right away!

Before picking up this book, I was familiar with style sheets in the most basic sense. Within a week, I was designing moderately complex stylesheets more or less on my own, only occasionally using the book for reference. I can now easily write CSS on my own and no longer "need" the book, but I do still often find myself referring to it while using some of the trickier positioning elements. It has been an invaluable reference.

I give this book five stars and, based on my description above, I think it is clear that recommend it to anyone who wants to use CSS; HOWEVER, there is one caveat - this book does not cover the CSS2 specification in depth. When it was written, CSS2 was on the horizon, but not yet a reality. The book therefore has a chapter that talks theoretically about CSS2, but it cannot give hard and fast rules or make definitive statements about the specification. Now that CSS2 is a reality, however, the book is slightly dated. If you are interested in making an investment in this book, you may wish to visit the O'Reilly Web site and see if a new edition is soon forthcoming. If so, I would recommend waiting for the 2nd. Ed.

This is a terrific book. It assumes only a basic understanding of HTML, and explains every aspect of Cascading Style Sheets. If you are looking to learn CSS, this is the book to get. No stone is left unturned. Meyer gives tons and tons of simple, illustrative examples, and takes you through every single element of CSS, step by step. He also gives you all the information about what elements do and don't work in the various browsers in us. I strongly recommend this book.

I wanted to learn CSS so I bought a book that I thought would be good. Instead I could not make heads or tails out of it. Then I decided to come back to O'Reilly publishing and I am glad that I did. This book has everything in it and it is easy to understand. Now I use internal and external style sheets with no problem. I wish I would of bought this book first. This book is GREAT!

This book is critical to anyone serious about learning and using CSS. It's an excellent start for a beginner, and its value as a reference for the experienced developer will give it a permanent position on your desk.

Eric Meyer is not only one of the world's leading experts in CSS, but a gifted author. No one serious about CSS should be without this Guide.

I found this book to be clear and concise, both while starting to learn to write CSS and now when I'm more experienced.