Rating: 
Summary: Eric: Bravo once again!
Review: Eric Meyer has shown once again that he can provide exactly what the industry needs at the time that it is needed. Now that CSS is working similarly for the most part in the top 3 browsers, this book comes with perfect timing. Meyer's previous books, such as "Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide", were great. I still have several photocopied pages of that book taped up around my monitor (like the complete box model from chapter 8). I raved about "CSS 2.0 Programmer's Reference" when it came out; it was exactly what was needed for a DHTML programmer. This new book, however, truly brings CSS to the masses. I really like the slick, color pages used by the publisher, New Riders. I think this is finally the book that will make CSS so accessible that it will become what it was intended to be: the norm. "Eric Meyer on CSS" does an excellent job of drawing parallels between CSS syntax and HTML. The book presents realistic situations in a project-oriented approach. The code is broken down into step-by-step bites that really remind me of the Sams "Teach Yourself in 24 Hours" books. But make no mistake: this book is useful for advanced users, too. One can never have access to too many tips & tricks! My first experience with Cascading Style Sheets came as a challenge from a 17 year old who in 1997 said "get on the bandwagon, gramps" and start writing CSS. So I opened up Notepad and started writing CSS, afterwards looking at it in Internet Explorer 3.0. That was the summer of 1997, and I was 29 years-old. My previous experience writing RTF-based Help told me this was exactly what HTML needed. But extensive use of CSS seemed slow to catch fire. In 1997-1999 I was using CSS in an ideal setting: on a company intranet where all users were using at least IE 4.01. But as I moved on to other web sites during the "dot-com" craze, I found that my use of CSS would be limited due to varied browser usage throughout the World Wide Web. We're now at a point with IE6/NN6 (and Opera, too) where widespread use of CSS--and advanced CSS at that--is possible. "Eric Meyer on CSS" is going to be an important tool in making that happen. Do yourself a favor and learn all of the CSS syntax you can from this book instead of relying only on a point-and-click GUI. There are excellent tools available, such as TopStyle, but these tools are no replacement for "mastering the language of web design", as noted on this book's cover.
Rating:
Summary: Practical and Clear
Review: As someone who understands a great deal about web design, I am usually very critical of books I read. In general, they either lack the detailed examples or the plain language that I prefer to find when I read them. However, Eric Meyer has done an excellent job in providing both. The book is broken down into projects where you are taught how to apply CSS to everything from skinning a menu to creating an online greeting card. I have always had a rather basic knowledge of CSS and let my WYSIWYG editor do most of the work, but now I have a powerful tool to do some advanced, custom work. I recommend this book to the beginner as well as the advanced designer.
Rating:
Summary: Implementing CSS that really works
Review: I'd been noodling around with writing and implementing CSS and run into my fair share of brick walls. But I see the future and it is CSS, this is the book that inspired me to take up the cause again in earnest. The book contains a series of real-life scenarios so you can jump in right away and start using CSS to do what you already do with HTML, just better and faster, and some things you can't do with HTML alone. The projects get increasing more advanced as the book progresses, which makes delving in deeper much less painful than it needs to be because you have an expert guide providing reliable tips and warnings the whole way. For those who have tinkered with CSS cross browser compatibly know that advice alone is worth the cost of the book. There's also a companion site where you can download files to follow along step-by-step with each chapter or double check your own work as you go along. Like all masters, Meyer makes CSS look easy and this book is put to best use as a companion to an expansive reference guide. After finishing the first chapter I was inspired to download the w3c standards for CSS2. Anything that can get me to read ultra-geeky dry-as-toast info from the consortium and make sense of it is really on to something. Use Meyer's insights and choices in this book as a guide for your own projects as a way to navigate the endless decisions you'll need to make when implementing CSS on your own. If you're looking for a book that will show you how to intelligently approach implementing reliable CSS and spark your creative side this is an excellent choice.
Rating:
Summary: MaKo on "Eric Meyer on CSS"
Review: As an avid reader of Eric Meyer's other books I was a bit hesitant at first: I usually work with references, and as a 'code warrior' I'd rather read the W3C specifications than a nice little article about how cool it is to colour a heading. I was in for a surprise: The projects make it actually easier to see the connections between the theory and code on one side, and the results/web page on the other side. Now I have a book that entices me with neat ideas - and the images that show me how it could look. Every project leads me step by step through the process of changing a bland pure HTML page into a CSS page, and how I could change and tweak it even further. Make no mistake: this book is still full with code and theory, but Eric Meyer combines this with his typical writing style: concise, clear, to the point and with a certain lightness and wit that is in all of his writings. This is not a book for beginners, but if you know about HTML and CSS and want to do more, learn new things and prepare for the future: that book was worth the wait.
Rating:
Summary: The Brawny Mechanic of Web Design
Review: In the interest of full disclosure, I submit my bias up front: everything I've read by Eric, whether book, article, or newsgroup post dashed off to aid a complete stranger, has been clarity nonpareil. In addition, I cheerfully choose to ignore his gracious yet wholly unexpected and aberrant judgment in mentioning my name in the acknowledgements. If you are a person who frequents Internet newsgroups, listservs, and online forums related to Web work, you cannot have missed the word of mouth that is going around about this book. The praise is from all ranges of Web design experience and it is well-deserved. I don't need to outline the book's contents. The editorial reviews and the information on the book's web site do that in detail. Eric has also made the code available to people who do not buy the book. But if you just work the code, you will be missing the book's motivation, warnings, tips, advice, colorful layout, and wit that make the code pop. Eric, right from the outset, shows you how to combine both elementary and advanced style techniques. He leads you to do this in such a natural, seamless way that at different stages in each project you realize with a start that you just worked a bit of magic! A long time ago, working in a huge factory in Pittsburgh, I tagged along as a helper to a mechanic who was massive and muscular. I fully expected prodigious feats of brute strength from the man. None were to be seen. His favorite saying was "If you have to use force, you must be doing something wrong." Eric calmly cuts through the clutter and makes it all look easy with just that spirit. I want to make an appeal to those Web workers, such as myself, who code exclusively for the Internet Explorer browser: from time to time Eric will invite you to follow along in another advanced browser, such as Mozilla or Netscape 6, to see effects not yet supported by IE. You will richly profit from the opportunity. By the time future versions of the Microsoft browser support the standards that Eric is showing, you will be way ahead of the game. "Eric Meyer on CSS" is destined to be on the must-have list of *everyone* who wants to stay ahead in this ever-changing Web game.
Rating:
Summary: Pain-free CSS
Review: Eric Meyer is the acknowledged master of CSS, the new styling mechanism for the Web. His newest book, which completes a CSS book trilogy, reflects this vast experience. On the surface this book is a collection of 13 redesign projects, each illustrating different aspects of CSS layout techniques and HTML. Underneath is a philosophy, a way of thinking, and a collection of ideas. The book makes CSS look relatively easy, when in fact it's not. The projects illustrate (in full color) how to rework existing designs in CSS, from the simple to the sublime. As you're reading the book, you get the feeling Meyer isn't fighting the medium, he's working with it in almost a Zen-like way. Tables can stay and be styled or go, it doesn't seem to matter to him. Meyer works within browser bugs and limitations and shows a hack-free path through CSS layout and font styling techniques. Only in the last chapter, where he nearly recreates the layout of the book in CSS, does he resort to voice family hacks to work around browser bugs. Each of the thirteen projects has the same basic framework. He strips example designs down to pure structural HTML and builds them back up, CSS layer by CSS layer until the design technique is recreated. Everything from hyperlink styles and menu skinning, print style sheets, forms, multicolumn layouts, fixing backgrounds, and recreating the book's own layout in CSS is covered, not an easy task. Meyer's prose is also easy to take, peppered with pithy quotes and humorous headlines. The net effect feels like you are looking over his shoulder, watching and listening to him redesign web sites that will be "forward compatible" and made to last. Meyer makes learning CSS seem easy. As Jeffrey Zeldman wrote in the foreword, I don't know how he does it.
Rating:
Summary: Absoloutely Outstanding
Review: Had the book about a week now, as a novice I was worried when I read the intro. and who the book was intended for. All I can say is that the book is suitable for relative beginners, it provokes excitement, wonder and amazement. I found the book mentioned in the Project Seven Newsgroup so a big thanks to everybody who mentioned it, and last but not least, to Eric for a great read.
Rating:
Summary: A great way to learn real-world CSS!
Review: "Eric Meyer on CSS" is one of the first and only books on CSS to take a real world and hands-on-teaching approach to CSS. You will learn CSS and how to apply it to real world situations, which helps to re-enforce what you are learning. This book will guide you through a series of well thought out projects that show you how CSS and can be used to solve problems. The book is in full-color, which makes it fun to read. Eric's writing style is very approachable and conversational, which makes you feel comfortable. His tips on browser bugs and gotchas are worth the price of the book alone! You should have a solid understand of basic HTML and web design principles before you read this book. But once you are ready to learn CSS - make sure this is a book you don't pass up! In a market flooded with technical regurgitations and theoretical pontifications, it is so refreshing to see this kind of approach taken with a subject like CSS. There is just no better way to teach CSS! As a fellow author and Web developer, reading this book was not only informative but very engaging and entertaining! This book should be part of every Web designer/developers curriculum. Do I have any complaints? Nope, I just wish there was MORE of it!
Rating:
Summary: a definite plus
Review: Excellent Book! This book is a definite plus for all people who have dabbled in table-free design but weren't quite ready to dive head first. If you are not familiar with basic CSS mark up, this book is not for you. If you wish to learn CSS from the ground up- see Christopher Schmitt's book "Designing CSS Web Pages" published by New Riders as well. Anyone who uses heavy javascript in their design will also find many streamlined CSS alternatives to that clunky code. "More Eric Meyer on CSS" starts off with a lesson on how to convert an existing table layout to cascading style sheets. I like the way Eric leads through the examples, every step in the code reveals possible browser conflicts. Lucky for us, he is able to supply the right workaround to make the pages compliant. Readers will also walk though styling a photo gallery, styling a financial report, 'transparency layout', and many more. My favorite lessons were CSS-Driven Drop-Down Menus, Opening the Doors to Attractive Tabs, and Designing in the Garden. I have been a fan of the csszengarden site, and I had fun reaching the Zen Garden!
Overall, this was a useful and comprehensive book. Eric Meyer has a simple way of presenting the lessons. None of the ten lessons he covers should take longer than one hour. He is obviously extremely knowledgeable in this field. His praise is well deserved. I personally plan on implementing these lessons on my personal site and those of future clients. The only flaw I found with this book was chapter 10's missing lesson file from the books website, this was alright, as a similar html file was supplied. It was definitely not enough to lower my perfect rating though.
Rating: 
Summary: Expected more
Review: After all that I've read about Eric Meyer, I must admit I was left wanting after reading this book. The experience reminded me of certain teachers I had in college: very bright, knew what they were doing, but did not know how to effectively convey their knowledge to others. For instance, his erratic use of varying units of measure within the same CSS rule - usually without explanation - goes against most all professional design convention, making the resulting code both difficult to learn AND difficult to maintain (VERY confusing for subsequent Web technicians needing to modify the work). Buy the book - but buy it USED.
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