More Eric Meyer on Css

Rating:
Summary: Branching Out With Cascading Style Sheets
Review:
I hope the book, More Eric Meyers on CSS, took a long time to write because it'd take me 8 years to appreciate everything he's packed into it. His designs are clever and they work. He pays attention to details. He knows browser behaviors. Saying this book is good just doesn't do it somehow. I admire his idealism and commitment to Web standards.


I depend on browsers supporting tables well. Eliminating tables from page design never occurred to me until I started reading Eric Meyer's CSS books. I use tricks like pixel shims but what the blank? I find design-arounds. Unfortunately, tables are rigid, even when tools like Adobe's ImageReady's slices disguise them well. Now that I understand table-less pages better I'll be reading more on CSS.

I've read Eric's, Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide. It's great! Be sure to keep it handy. You'll use it while reading his other books. Too bad the rules don't translate themselves into Web pages. The rules seem clear enough but using them is another matter. Eric's examples, in the first 31 pages of this book, take a table dependent page apart step by step, then reassemble it, piece by piece, using CSS's selectors and declaration blocks. By following his examples I learned how cascading style sheet rules coordinate. I'm reminded of the small programs that linux depends on. Translating CSS theory into practice is what this book is all about.

I'm branching out with CSS.


Rating:
Summary: Superb book on CSS conversion
Review: Eric Meyer has done it again. His self-titled sequel More Eric Meyer on CSS is a collection of ten conversion projects that teaches CSS by example. A practical alternative to his other new book, Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, 2d ed., More is more inspired how-to than dry reference. Meyer says that the ultimate goal is to "lure you into using more CSS" with tempting visual effects, improved accessibility, design flexibility, and reduced page weight. I asked Eric Meyer why he wrote this book:

"There was such positive response to 'Eric Meyer on CSS' that New Riders and I decided it would be fun to create a sequel. Both books share the same project-oriented, practical philosophy, which is what people really seemed to like - that and the full color printing! The hope is that the book will help more designers get to know and love CSS, and inspire them to take the concepts presented and do something really awesome."

Eric Meyer and Jeffrey Zeldman actually make standards sexy. Yes, by converting to CSS-based techniques you make your designs more flexible, accessible, and gracefully degrade, but you also lose wait, and gain pizzazz. Chapter 6 "CSS-Driven Drop-Down Menus," where Meyer shows how to create JavaScript-free nested pull-down menus, is worth the price of the book alone.

As you progress from project 1 through 10 Meyer takes you through more difficult CSS conversions. The first two chapters show you how to use CSS layout to convert conventional table-based designs into CSS-based layouts. Tables still have their uses however, and Meyer is not above styling table-based financial reports with CSS in project 3. Chapter 4 shows how to create translucency with positioned backgrounds. While the technique does a nice job of simulating the problematic semi-opaque PNG, Meyer points out the additional graphic overhead required for this technique.

Chapters 5 through 7 are the heart of the book, styling lists to create rollover, drop-down, and tab-based menus. Some of these techniques you may have seen before, documented by foreword writer Douglas Bowman and the aforementioned Zeldman. Meyer is the first to gather them all into one place and update them for CSS 2.1 and modern browsers (most version 5+ browsers). He takes you step by step through transforming simple unordered lists into line-straddling rollover menus, lightweight CSS-only drop-down menus, and variants of Bowman's "sliding doors" technique to create rounded tabs.

Chapters 8 through 10 take it up a notch, styling a weblog, a home page with weblog, and the CSS Zen Garden site. The Zen Garden project actually uses a PNG file that works with a full alpha channel in IE6/Win as well as IE5/Mac, Mozilla, Safari, and Opera. Chapter 10 in particular will be of interest to graphic artists who convert graphics comps into XHTML and CSS.

Starting with purely structural XHTML, Meyer shows you how to gradually build up your style sheets, adding effects with each iteration. Full color screenshots, notes, warnings, and websites annotate each tutorial with alternative methods, browser workarounds, and further reading. The net effect is like having a CSS master look over your shoulder as you convert existing web sites. You can take many of these techniques directly from the book and companion site (more.ericmeyeroncss.com) and put them directly into your sites, with some minor caveats.

Eric Meyer has arguably done more than anyone to help promote the use of CSS, and for that we applaud him. CSS is not just for styling text anymore.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely awesome
Review: Eric Meyer is arguably the most well known expert on CSS, and this book demonstrates perfectly how he earned that. Easy to read, good relevant examples, and in-depth explanations of the topics at hand, this book is a wealth of important information for designers and developers looking to take their skills to the next level. Several of the book's 10 projects are those you would expect to do professionally if you work in the field. As was stated in another review, Chapters 5 - 7 are the heart of the book, although I would add the first chapter as well, since it talks about converting existing pages.

Written for someone with at least basic CSS knowledge, the book does a very credible job in bringing the reader along into the more advanced CSS ideas and principles. There is a lot more explanation than code, and I liked how the changes were provided in a controlled manner so I could see the effect each change had on the page. The exercises at the end of each chapter are a plus also, as it challenged my understanding of the material and helped me internalize what I read. This won't be the only book I need on the subject, but it will be an indispensible one.

Rating:
Summary: Great Learning Tool!
Review: I have 5 books on this subject and none of them explain how and why elements are applied as well as this book does. Besides the many useful hacks and references this book showed me why styles are applied to achieve desiered results. Each example is decribed in detail. I have been able to apply the examples to my pages with ease. If you want to learn when to use DIV and why use CLASS, em vrs px, what makes float float then get this book.

Rating:
Summary: Highly valuable resource in my opinion!
Review: I must admit that until I purchased a copy of "More Eric Meyer on CSS" I had never read anything (articles, text) by nor had I heard much of this Eric Meyer. I've been a "web designer" for several years now, but must admit most of the work I've produced is heavily steeped in tablemania. If you're new to or somewhat familiar with CSS then I advise picking up a copy of this big red book! Working through the 10 projects/chapters ("looking over" Eric's shoulders) definitely helped to explain and reinforce many of the most important CSS concepts needed to produce solid standard's-based design.

There aren't many good books on standards out there, but this one's a keeper. May the standards be with you!

Rating:
Summary: Great for learning practical applications of CSS
Review: If you're interested in seeing how CSS can be applied to solve practical - although, in this book, not necessarily "everyday" - problems, this is the perfect book. If you're relatively new to CSS, you'll definitely need a reference/introductory text as well. But once you progress beyond the syntax and basic logic of CSS, and begin using it to style and layout real sites, More E.M. on CSS deserves a read and a spot on your bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant author, less than brilliant teacher
Review: This book falls way short of actually teaching you anything concrete. Sure the projects are great, and if you are good at memorizing than you'll really benefit from this book (or if you are lucky enough to actually have a project similiar to one of the 10 he puts in the book). But from how he writes the material I am having real trouble applying the material in the book to real life situations. I met all the requirements of the book (basic knowledge of css) and understand all the styles he is using, but I don't understand the concept and reasoning behind some of his actions.

For example, in the second project he floats the actual anchor tags for a set of images instead of the actual images themselves. This resulted in a diagnol lineup on the screen. Perplexed, I read on hoping for an explanation as to why he floated the anchor tags instead of the image tags and why they were in a diagnol lineup. He didn't provide an explanation for this at all.

I'm not claiming I didn't learn anything from the book. Far from it.. I enjoyed a few of the projects and tip my cap to the author for his grasp of css but you can't just throw code into a book and not explain how it works. I know it says that he isn't going to talk about theory in his books, but if you want to apply it to other scenarios you must at least provide a basic understanding of WHY the elements behave that way. Most of the cases I played around with the elements and figured it out on my own, but I didn't spend 30 bucks to figure it out on my own.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect for experienced coders
Review: This book far surpasses any CSS book that I've used so far. Eric provides fun, easy projects that teach important concepts applicable to REAL WORLD development.

I am an advanced HTML hand-coder, but I hadn't mastered CSS fully because existing references were not intuitive and did not illustrate how to use CSS in any practical sense.

I give this book my highest recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: 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: Excellent Book!
Review: 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.