e-Book HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS (Build Your Own) download

Remember in the movie "Beetlejuice" how Charles, the father, criticized the "Handbook for the Living and the Dead?" He says, "This thing reads like stereo instructions." Well, so does HTML Utopia, blah, blah, blah.

Now, I am a technical writer. I finally decided to get with the 21st century and learn XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL. This is my third instructional book on CSS. The others I've read so far, published by sitepoint, are great. They are clear, to the point, and sound like a good friend is seated beside you, showing you how to build your site.

Know what? Rachel and Dan may know how to write CSS, but they sure as heck don't know how to write technical texts that are clear and concise. In the first three chapters, clarity appears the farthest thing from their minds.

In tech writing, we follow a few unwritten rules. Use simple words. Use sentences of less than 15 words. Use paragraphs no longer than five sentences.

If you don't follow these rules, the text gets too solid, to "grey." It looks intimidating to read. More times than not, I find when texts are filled with grey chunks, like this book is, the writing will confuse the reader.

Here is another unwritten rule. This one is mine, and I evaluate every text I create with it.

Imagine you are in a mine shaft. Something is wrong. You have to read and apply the steps in an instruction manual to survive. Write like lives depend on it.

So, what kind of sentences do you want to read, buried deep in that mine, with oxygen quickly dwindling?

Option 1: It is highly inadvisable to depress your left index finger into the main operation panel crimson engager device to alleviate the concomitantly allocated extremity position engaging bodily unit allocation.

Or...

Option 2: DON'T touch the red button on the Control Panel! It would be bad.

This book reads like option 1.

Other comments were made that the screenshots are in B&W. This is normal in sitepoint texts. Usually, though, sitepoint offers a supporting Web page for each book. The supporting pages are filled with code files and color screenshots. For some reason, they did not to that for this book.

I will plug on. Wish me luck.

In a sea of books on CSS, this one stands out because of its title, which promises to reveal CSS's great layout powers. Unfortunately, that's as much marketing as truth.

The first third of the book is a very elementary primer on CSS which can be found in all other books and all over the web. The last third of the book is comprised entirely of appendixes, primarily dedicated to describing every CSS property available, and again is widely-available information.

The middle 150 pages does focus on layout, but again its information is fairly elementary and widely available. An experienced developer looking for the secrets of making very complex cross-browser layouts in CSS won't find a lot here. And like too many books, all of the information provided is bound up in a single end-to-end layout project, the creation of a fairly simple three-column layout. If looking for information on a certain feature or technique, the reader can't easily just read a few pages for the information. S/he must stumble around trying to understand the current state of development of this single project before s/he can glean much on the topic.

So, why am I giving it a 4-star rating? I've read at least a half-dozen books on CSS and this one is by a long shot the best introductory text I've seen. The writing is very clear and focused, the examples are well written and illustrated, the appendixes provide a thorough reference, and the book occasionally nods towards the complexities that cross-browser application of CSS can bring.

It just isn't the advanced Holy Grail of complex layouts that I was hoping it would be.

Its a great book, but doesn't push very far for creativity. Some books smash the information through to you in such a way like its picture book... extreme use of examples. I'm more of the "just give me the methods and information clearly, and lemme fiddle around with my own creativity." The entire book I was thinking to myself "how can I take these examples and convert them into actual web page designs I want to make?"

Despite that, there is still a lot of information crammed into it. It has a beefy index, but then again, I wish it had more CSS "tricks." Like methods and ideas for pushing css possibilities to the extreme, despite minimal browser compatibility. It didn't shoot for the sky..

I can't believe I've been so mired in the -stone ages- of Table-based web site design for so long. Rachel made me realize just how easy it can be, with a little care and forethought, to put together an excellent foundation for a site's layout.

The information on styling tables (which DO still have a purpose) was also good to see. Finally, I have to say that if this book is any indication, I'd say that Rachel Andrew does, indeed, take a "common sense, real world approach".

I purchase this book because I found it in the library. I have gone through four other books on css and xhtml before I found this one. I consider it more than a beginning book and it answered many of my questions. Unfortunately the book was missing a discussion on forms. Yet, otherwise it was a very good explanation of setting up all aspects of a page.

This is a great book as far as getting started in CSS and learning about all of the technical intricicies and browser issues so its nice to have. However if you're a learn by example kind of person,as I am, dont buy this assuming its going to walk you through creating an entire site or even an entire page using CSS. It really shows you how to create the elements of ... as pieces but doesnt really explain how to put them all together. That's something to figure out on your own I guess. If Mr. Shafer had just walked me through how to piece it all together I would have been much more pleased. I should note that although they don't really "Hold your hand" through it the source code is provided and is useful.