Midwest Book Review said
Change your patterns of using CSS in a different approach to using Cascading Style Sheets without the workarounds required. From learning new techniques that work with older browsers to considering how to streamline CSS processes to avoid its cumbersome reputation, Everything You Know About CSS is Wrong is a pick for any programming library interested in best practices titles.
R. Sobkoviak said
This is really an outstanding book, though the title doesn't really reveal the content. The book could really be called "An Instruction Manual to Start Using CSS For What It Was Intended For Instead of Using Those Old HTML Tables Which Are Really For Structured Content and Not Really For Layout", but I suppose that would take up most of the cover.
Seriously, this is a book whose time is long due...mostly because it tells us how to use CSS in browsers whose time is long due. It's great to see the new browsers catching up to the formatting instructions that have been in place for them for years.
I've been writing CSS by hand for 12 years, and I've done my share of learning the hard way and tearing my hair out when my positioning doesn't work right, degrades non-gracefully or has to be rewritten and retooled to work in different browsers. It would have been great to have a book like this years ago when we were working with something called CSS-P and trying to do the right thing by not using tables. This book would be a great text to use in an HTML class today so that positioning is taught correctly.
I have a dream that someday educators will stop teaching layout in HTML tables and will teach layout as shown in this book. HTML tables will be used simply to markup table content. This book is a huge step in that direction.
John R. Vacca said
Are you a web designer and/or developer who needs to work with CSS layouts? If you are, then this book is for you! Authors Rachel Andrew and Kevin Yank, have done an outstanding job of writing a book that takes stock of the current best practices methods that are being considered for CSS layout.
Andrew and Yank, begin by exploring the current problems with CSS layout techniques, as well as the mismatch between what designers want and what CSS provides. Next, the authors explain the current techniques that use absolute positioning and floated elements, and the complexity involved in getting them to work reliably. Then, they test the limits of what CSS tables can do, explore the edge cases, and deliver concrete solutions. They continue by showing you how that CSS table-based layouts are ready for prime time by providing practical solutions for supporting IE6 and 7. Finally, the authors take a look at three CSS3 modules for layout control: the multi-column layout module, the grid-positioning module, and the template layout module.
This most excellent book takes a good look at what's just around the corner with Internet Explorer 8. More importantly, this book has been written to inspire debate and experimentation in a time of change and development.
A. Hay said
I felt that this book had some great lessons to offer in the way of moving from a table-based workflow to CSS. The topics were covered well, and explained in enough detail for most to follow. The main problem I have with the book is the title. I feel it leads the reader to believe that there is some new revelation in the book about how CSS code should be written, thus targeting avid users of the technology. After reading the book, I felt it was more a guide designed for those users who are NOT yet familiar with the ways of CSS. I would recommend this publication for those looking to get into the game of CSS coding as opposed to a completely table-based workflow.
Andrew Kear said
The premise of this book is that CSS does have some layout limitations that can be rectified by using table commands within CSS. The question is now does using CSS tables make things any easier. Most CSS proponents seem to think that tables are no longer necessary since the advent of CSS as a major web development tool. This book takes issue with this assumption. The argument is that using tables in either CSS or HTML is more intune with the designing process than using nested floats. Sometimes floats are not the most elegant way to layout a webpage, and as the book points out many people resort to using traditional HTML tables for this very reason. The book in trying to probably be funny says this approach is "evil", but understands the layout advantages of using tables. The main premise here is to use tables only in CSS. However, as the book points out using tables in CSS opens up a new can of worms. For one thing CSS tables have no ability at row or column spanning. However, row and column spanning can be emulated by using nested CSS tables.
It should also be mentioned that CSS tables appear differently in various browsers, and in some older browsers you may have to produce an alternate webpage with different CSS syntax. The book also takes issue with Microsoft for not making earlier versions of Explorer compatible with CSS standards. It should be mentioned that Explorer 8 is compliant with all modern CSS standards.
The authors makes good arguments for the use of CSS tables, but how many CSS gurus and HTML hacks will it convert.
I find it ironic that I found this book at Borders on the same shelf as another CSS book entitled "Designing Without Tables Using CSS".
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