Styling Web Pages with CSS: Visual QuickProject Guide [Paperback]

I like the brevity of this book because it could be a good way to get started learning CSS. However, I wish the authors would post the HTML and CSS code that is used in the book's tutorial. After starting the tutorial, I got stuck and have not been able to complete the tutorial. I've tried over and over to figure out what I'm leaving out, and I have even written the authors for help. If readers of this book could simply download and compare their work with the original code for the tutorial, it might really help. Also, I would suggest if you don't have much background with CSS that you skip reading the first 22 pages and just start with the tutorial on page 23. As you work through the tutorial, then go back and read the theoretical parts. It will make more sense to you.

Also, this is just a tiny criticism: only one or two images are used in the tutorial web page, and I think the authors could have provided a download of the image they use in the book to make the tutorial more consistent. I know it's easy enough to create your own image, but sense the authors have the image, they should just make it available on companion website page for the book.

I generally like Visual QuickProject books, but this one fell short of my expectations.

UPDATE: I originally gave this book 3 stars, but I am downgrading my review to a luke warm 3 stars. The reason is that in Chapter 8, there are several errors and omissions that basically doesn't let the user actually create the page that is shown. For instance, they leave out an integral selector "navbar ul" from the book. Without it, the page navbar looks like it is broken. Going to the source files (see below) showed me what I was missing, but for all the people that aren't aware that the source files exist, they might be lost. It appears that the book wasn't carefully proof read prior to publication. Actually it doesn't appear that the authors didn't have someone go thru the book as if they were learning CSS for the first time. If they did, this would have stood out as something that needed some fixing.

Another nit pick, in the same chapter, the reader is presented with the "old CSS" #navbar, but it actually should have been #sidebar.

>>>>>>>>>>>

I share many of the same thoughts as the other reviewers. I found it very frustrating that the source wasn't included as a download. If you go to the Peach Pit site, you can download the images, but not source files, wtf?

So I wound up googling Alpaca Repo and there is actually a site devoted to the fictional site in the book. Delving deeper, I see that the site is registered to none other than Dori Smith, the author.

For all who buy the book, you can visit the site at [...]. Replace DOT with an actual "."

UPDATE : Looks like Amazon stripped the URL from my review. If you have the book, go to page 15 and the URL is found in the screenshot of the web browser.

You would think the authors and or the publisher would read these comments and give an update.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Carlos F.
Holly Springs, NC

Styling Web Pages with CSS: Visual QuickProject Guide, by Tom Negrino and Dori Smith, helps the beginning web designer learn how to use CSS in a simple, easy-to-follow format. This being my first exposure to one of the Visual QuickProject Guides by Peachpit Press, I was both pleased and disappointed when I received this slim volume. I was pleased in the presentation and clear descriptions given to each aspect of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). I was disappointed in the brevity of the text, and the lack of downloadable materials to use to follow the examples in the book.

All of the major concepts of CSS are presented so that a beginner can easily understand them. While some ways of utilizing CSS properly can be the subject of debate, the authors have chosen a rational approach that serves the basic web designer well. The result is a set of web pages that follow a simply understood design, yet ensures that the layout and format is isolated to the CSS style document, rather than the HTML.

Overall, Styling Web Pages with CSS: Visual QuickProject Guide is a nice introduction to the potentially confusing topic of the proper use of CSS. Many of the fancier techniques are avoided for the more common and useful ones. The short length of the book allows the beginner to avoid the feeling of intimidation that can accompany reading a 1,000 page text that covers everything you never wanted to know. Even so, I felt less than satisfied after I finished. I wanted a little bit more than I was given. Even if the book doubled in size, it would still be accessible yet it could then leave the reader with a feeling of contentment. As this is the first QuickProject book I've read, that may simply be the target they were shooting for.

One final wish for Peachpit: please include downloadable files that the reader can access to duplicate the Alpaca Repo website. I was continually frustrated when I wanted to replicate what I had just read about, yet was missing JPEG files or extensive text that I could use. Consequently, I never felt as though I had actually gotten the hang of CSS.