Rating:  Summary: Makes CSS make sense Review: Unlike most of the CSS books floating around out there currently, "Eric Meyer on CSS" gives you practical projects to work through, and apply CSS to, talking you through the whys and wherefores all the way. It takes you all the way from transforming an existing HTML table-based layout into a more streamlined structure using CSS, all the way up to bleeding edge design concepts that will be more and more feasible as the browsers catch up to web standards.I would not recommend this book to someone who has absolutely no experience or knowledge of CSS (maybe check out the tutorials in your HTML editor, or look at some of the online tutorials at Webmonkey.com before diving into this book). And, for intermediate users (you've been using stylesheets for awhile, maybe just to handle typography), I'd recommend also getting Eric Meyer's "Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide" for a more in-depth study of the CSS specs, though you can make it through most of the concepts presented here with just the information given with a little extra mental effort and perseverance. The writing style is conversational and entertaining, and there are clear reasons given for everything. Meyers is definitely trying to teach you to fish rather than hand you a mackeral and send you on your way. I really enjoyed that the book was in full color, and had a lot of visual aids -- New Riders is great for this. If you're interested in the possibilities of web design using CSS, this book is well worth the price of admission.
Rating:  Summary: Beautifully Done Review: I've read one of Eric Meyer's other books about CSS (Cascading Style Sheets - The Definitive Guide) and loved it for its informative style and still use it occasionally as a reference. His latest book takes a different approach, not a reference book but more one that takes information about CSS and applies it here to real life examples, which makes it much easier for the average CSS author to learn and see how the CSS styles shown relate to what is being done on the site it affects. The book consists of 13 chapters or "projects," ranging from converting an existing page to CSS, to styling a press release or events calendar, to even creating your own online greeting card. There's a companion web site, which lets you download the files to be used with each project. The book is wonderfully laid-out with lots of gorgeous color drawings and figures, which aid the reader in understanding each change. The step by step instructions are easy to follow and with each CSS code change or addition shown in red, also easy to understand and follow along with. I was amazed at the wide range of effects that can be done using CSS, as shown with each project. This book is an excellent "tutorial" for those wishing to learn more about CSS.
Rating:  Summary: A OK book for experienced people Review: Being in the IT industry, mostly web based, I thought I would give this book a try to see what new material I could learn and apply in my job. Anyway, it was a disappointment. The book doesn't really explain anything but walks you through on changing from a non CSS site to one. It's not that good for what CSS is capable of doing either and the options associated with it. Overall, this book really isn't any good for someone that has experience. To me, it's more of a beginner to intermediate level for those who have only scratched the surface of CSS. If your experienced, don't bother.
Rating:  Summary: Makes CSS make sense Review: Unlike most of the CSS books floating around out there currently, "Eric Meyer on CSS" gives you practical projects to work through, and apply CSS to, talking you through the whys and wherefores all the way. It takes you all the way from transforming an existing HTML table-based layout into a more streamlined structure using CSS, all the way up to bleeding edge design concepts that will be more and more feasible as the browsers catch up to web standards. I would not recommend this book to someone who has absolutely no experience or knowledge of CSS (maybe check out the tutorials in your HTML editor, or look at some of the online tutorials at Webmonkey.com before diving into this book). And, for intermediate users (you've been using stylesheets for awhile, maybe just to handle typography), I'd recommend also getting Eric Meyer's "Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide" for a more in-depth study of the CSS specs, though you can make it through most of the concepts presented here with just the information given with a little extra mental effort and perseverance. The writing style is conversational and entertaining, and there are clear reasons given for everything. Meyers is definitely trying to teach you to fish rather than hand you a mackeral and send you on your way. I really enjoyed that the book was in full color, and had a lot of visual aids -- New Riders is great for this. If you're interested in the possibilities of web design using CSS, this book is well worth the price of admission.
Rating:  Summary: Is this book for you? Review: This is a good book, but before buying it, check that you are in the target audience. It is not a reference book. It is not for complete newbies. It is not for gurus, either. It is more like a hands-on CSS training course for somebody who has used HTML a lot, knows a little bit about CSS, and who wants to make fuller use of CSS. If this is what you are looking for, this is an excellent book. It is well-produced, with appropriate and intelligent use of color screenshots, too. You will need to use some kind of reference in addition to this book when you actually write CSS for your own sites.
Rating:  Summary: Code in a boat Review: I found this book to be extremly useful. A step by step manual of CSS and how it works with over 20 great examples to learn by. For someone looking to learn more about CSS and it's abilities, this is a great beginers book.
Rating:  Summary: Good writing but not enough book Review: Eric's writing is great, however, for a thin book with limited content, my opinion is that New Riders Publishing got greedy with the pricing of the book. $45 retail in the stores?! For the price I expected a book with more meat, more content as opposed to a few tips and tricks. For the price, New Riders could have at least included a disk with all the samples that you are required to download online if you wish to work along as the book is intended. In the book, what Eric has done is to show a few CSS tips and cool tricks, his writing style is very good and his tips are great, however, there isn't enough of it in this book. Don't buy it new, or at least not in the retail stores, it isn't worth the price. If this is a must have book for you, buy it at Amazon's online price, used, or somewhere such as nerdbooks.com and avoid the FULL $45 retail price such as charged by places like Books-a-Million!!
Rating:  Summary: A Cookbook For Writing HTML with Style Review: I bought the book hoping to learn how to create pop-up menus. I was disappointed in that respect. I did find it to be a nice guide for using style sheets for specific situations. Readers who do the homework and visit the companion website can pick up tips on getting things done. I would caution against doing everything shown. Many of the tricks require setting specific positions or heights or widths. Such tricks create pages that are not highly maintainable.
Rating:  Summary: Design for the 10 % Review: Over 90% of the browsers surfing the internet are using IE, but this book's examples seem to only work best on Netscape browsers. Although the author suggested many hacks for both IE and Netscape, i.e. the voice-family in page 241 for the right margin hacks on Windows IE. It still doesn't work on Windows XP Pro IE6 sp1. The design concept is great though.
Rating:  Summary: Great book -- but read intro Review: Wonderful book, but when the author says you need to know some CSS going in, he means it. This is not a beginners book, to get the most out of it you should know some CSS before opening it. I started with Steve Callihan's CSS By Example and then 'graduated' to this book. Boy was I glad. Learned a lot more by doing this. I also was able to concentrate on the design elements and tips Meyers offered instead of feeling like I was lost in learning the code.
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