Rating: 
Summary: This is a good book, but not for everyone.
Review: In terms of quality, I'd rate this book as high as anything from Glasshaus, most prominently "Cascading Style Sheets: Separating Content from Presentation". This book covers a lot of the same ground as the Glasshaus title but I found it particularly useful due to its slightly more graphic design bent. The code samples in the book are not merely basic utility layouts (2 columns, 3 columns, vertical centering etc), but more aesthetically 'designed' examples of using CSS -- a feature clearly missing in a lot of books aimed at the 'web developer' community. I'd venture to say I am not one of those to get so enamoured with the technology itself that they fail to see it as a handy means to an end. I really value Schmitt's efforts in this sense. Again we get the 'separating content from design' jazz, fair enough, but then the author takes a slightly different direction choosing to show how CSS can be linked to other technologies such as JavaScript and the not-so-common PNG and SVG graphics file formats. PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is partly supported by most modern browsers and offers many advantages over the GIF format. SVG (Scaleable Vector Graphics) is similar to Flash, but can be scripted directly from JavaScript on the page. This may or may not be useful to some of you. There are many CSS techniques in the W3C specifications that are poorly, inconsistently, or not supported at all, in even the latest browsers. As a practising designer, and not just an academic, Christopher is only too happy to point out the limitations of browsers and explains some of the many pitfalls that await the unwary if you try to push the envelope too far. The projects, again downloadable from the publisher's Web site, focus on publishing - in business, personal and 'underground' styles. The typography is a lot fancier than any other book I've seen and the attention to detail, even for 'web' typography, is highly commendable. An earlier review on this website said this book is not well technically edited. I am not sure why that was said, but I work with Opera 6 (and 7 beta), Mozilla 0.9 and above, netscape 6 and above and IE 4 and above. All samples I have tried have impressed me. In sum, if you want to separate your content from design and give your 'styles' some, er, style, AND if you are fairly familiar with the basic CSS lingo (i.e., you dont need to know box models or glish but should understand what a link rel is), then this is probably a very useful book for you. If you are looking for a very basic introduction to CSS, I'd strongly recommend the Glasshaus book. If you are serious about your work, get both.
Rating: 
Summary: Disjointed, Fragmentary, Incomplete....
Review: It is apparent that Schmitt has a lot to say and to offer however he does not address the topics completely before he has turned his attention to something else; and unfortunately it is, at times, to a none related subject. The book reads like the story of a person who can't wait to get to the next part of the story so he abandons the part he is telling for the next, and does it repeatedly.
I read this book twice and I'm still wondering 'just what did I get out of it'. I felt the second time as I did the first, like I missed something. Yet I know I didn't. It's just that the content of this book is not well presented. The topics are not addressed completely, that if you did not already have some understanding of CSS you would not get a good one here. If fact I think you would be confused.
In chapter five the author spends almost half the chapter presenting java script apparently without regard as to whether the reader is even familiar with this programing language. The chapter is a waste if you don't know javascript (I don't).
Chapter seven focuses on topics (Utilizing PNG and SVG with CSS) both of which has next to no support is CSS. Couldn't this wait for a later book at a time when the technology is supported? It is a lame rational to ask anyone to remember this technology (most likely for years) till the time it becomes usable.
Part IV (chapters 8-10) while giving examples of what is possible in web design for business, independent publishing and 'underground styles' (what ever that is) the presentations makes no sense - 1. If your intentions are to learn CSS and 2. When neither design example is the law, the rule, standard or effectively makes a point. They're examples with little relevance.
This book at best is a 'survey of CSS' in regards to what it is and what is possible. If the books title and or promo information suggested such it would be easier to be with this book.
It does have a few tidbits to glean from. However it is diapointing on the whole.
This shold have been a larger book with topics completely addressed. It comes through that the author knows the subject, it's just not well addressed here.
I would like to see another book with better and fuller presentation from Schmitt on the subject of 'usable' (i.e. supported) CSS, and properly titled. In short, take this one back and complete it. It would be worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Very helpful
Review: Just finished reading this and already I am designing my first big project using an all CSS layout. It's nice to be making something that will actually validate with W3C after 8 years of designing with tables.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: Like psychiatry to be successful you are going to have to work at it. It's not a book to browse through, pick up a few good ideas and move on from. Nor is it a guide to CSS.
But if you are willing to read carefully and put some work into it, this book will show you how to create beautiful pages that show and print well across a wide range of display!
Rating:
Summary: started off good but then failed to bring in the home run.
Review: Part one of the book starts off good, giving good advice on how to develop an all CSS page/site. Part two is a good introduction where he walks you through writing bits of CSS, and applying the css bit by bit to see the page take form. Part three through five was a big disappointment. From out of no where, the author delves into somewhat advanced javascipt and starts throwing up css w/out any additional walk throughs or explanations - he just refers you to buying some other book by another author. Very frustrating! I unfortunately don't fee I completely got my money's worth on this one :-(
Rating: 
Summary: Poorly conceived and written book
Review: Poorly conceived and written book
I purchased several CSS books in a flurry of book buying when I first started to learn CSS two months ago. "Designing CSS Web Pages" by Christopher Schmitt was, by far, the worst of them.
Perhaps the worst feature of the book was is uneconomical use of space. As other reviewers point out, there are several places where entire HTML scripts are reproduced, in standard-sized fonts, using a single-column layout. Couldn't the author have reproduced only the relevant snippets of code, or at least used a smaller font or 3-colum layout? Much of this code provided is irrelevant to the example, and the blank space around the code, in sum, probably adds 10 pages to the books length. This waste of space frustrated me and makes the book difficult to navigate.
Further, Schmitt wastes space by including several printed interviews with members of the CSS community. These interviews don't bear directly on the examples, and give the book a rather magazine-like feel. Why include interviews at all? Would you learn to prepare food by reading the biographies of famous chefs, or would you learn by simply learning to dice an onion properly?
Poor writing greatly detracts from Schmitt's exposition of the material. Other reviewers here have provided examples of his murky syntax. Let me tell you, there are far more examples of poor writing lurking in this book than these reviews might lead you to believe. Having to re-read sentences 3-4 times only to find out the author himself is as confused as me just added to my frustration, and convinced me I was wasting my time with this book.
Readers who are not as snarky about syntax as I will, I'm sure, be able to derive beneficial odd and ends from this book. But, in my humble opinion, you'll be better off purchasing a book like "Eric Meyer on CSS" or "More Eric Meyer on CSS". You will become a better CSS writer by learning to emulate a Master. The examples are well written, and, in addition to achieving the specific goals listed in the beginning of each chapter, you will learn an array of other styling tricks from each chapter. Don't be put off by the books expense. $45 is quite a bit to pay for a book, but the colored fonts and the full color examples contribute to the books effectiveness very nicely. Only the relevant code is included, the updated code is in blue, and when Meyer imports entire pages into his examples, he does so in reduced size, so as not to waste space. This is the book you want to buy to master CSS.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book But Not For Beginners
Review: This book is a great resource to move your knowledge of CSS "to the next level," but I would not recommend it for someone who has never worked with CSS before. As suggested by the title of the book, it fairly quickly dives into using CSS to layout and design pages without much background on the how's and why's of CSS elements. Overall, a terrific book. I knew how to do very basic CSS (font manipulation) and this book helped me get into more advanced techniques (element positioning, page layout without using tables!)
Rating:
Summary: Difficult to Read
Review: This book is the worst-edited technical book I have read in a very long time. It was painful to read. Here are a few of the issues:
- Using new terms / jargon before explaining them (if they get explained at all)
- Awkward sentences & paragraphs; difficult to follow
- Misspellings (not many, but enough to notice)
- Poor organization; the haphazard flow confused me multiple times.
I read a large quantity of technical literature each month. I have come to expect a certain level of professionalism from major publishers. New Riders should be ashamed of itself for letting such shoddy editing out their door. I don't particularly blame the author; he seems to be an expert on the subject, not an accomplished writer. It is the publisher's responsibility to handle the issues that make this book nearly unreadable. This book did acquaint me with CSS, and the author does a good job of advocacy. I am converted to the CSS doctrine. Unfortunately, now I have to go buy another book (from a more established publisher) in order to use CSS.
Rating:
Summary: Good CSS Learning Resource
Review: This book is well-written and easy to read. Partly because I do a good bit of work in JavaScript, I tend to disagree with the author on the balance of standards compliance vs. backward compatibility (I still prefer to use HTML tables for most page layouts, for instance), however I did learn some new tricks, and that's primarily why I buy computer books. I especially liked the formatting exercises in the back - works great as a tutorial on how to achieve a certain task in CSS quickly without having to do too much background reading.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good intro to CSS
Review: This book provides numerous examples of what CSS can do, and the code to do it. What's most helpful is that it shows you what it will look like, so if a certain layout or effect is what you're looking for, you'll know up front. Also, there's a helpful section in the back with 50 sample paragraph formats that's helpful to show you what can be done. This is an excellent start to learning CSS, and that's what I needed.
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