HTML Pocket Reference (2nd Edition)

Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

HTML and XHTML Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly))

Html General

CSS Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly))

Format: Paperback
Author: Eric A Meyer
ReleaseDate: 27 July, 2004
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Rating:

Works like expected.
It's a great way to refresh your memory when you can't seem to remember a property and/or its value. I've used this pocket reference for a long time now and I love it.

Although I must say that I refer to it much less now than I did when I first got it. Mostly because I know most of the properties and values by heart at this point and so I can use IDEs "IntelliSense" features.

Consequently, I must add that this is not a teaching aid. You will not learn how to style with CSS from this book! There are much better books on the topic! (For example: "Eric Meyer on CSS: Mastering the Language of Web Design")
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Fits in your pocket - 2nd Edition
It is not a book about learning CSS. This small, handy book is packed with CSS references perfect for grabbing and flipping through when looking for that one piece of code to add to your site. This reference book is a alphabetical listing of CSS selectors and properties. As I was learning CSS I found this book very helpful in locating quickly the code I was looking for. .

CSS Pocket Reference 2nd Ed. Does the job very well for me
It helps immensely that I have syntax and samples in front of me for each of the items I expect to be able to use in today's modern browser. As a Perl and PHP programmer who does a lot of web-based pages, I use this pocket reference very often when designing page styles. As the title indicates, it is a pocket reference and is not designed to teach people how to get started using CSS. There are plenty of good books out there to help users do that. My favorite is Elizabeth Castro's HTML For The World Wide Web (5th Ed. ). Once users have a basic understanding of the rules for creating CSS, this book is an invaluable tool to jog the memory and sits next to my desk anytime I'm doing HTML or XML page layout. Because nearly all the properties covered in this book are supported by Internet Explorer, Mozilla and Firefox, I chose not to ding the book for failing to cover what features were not supported by the major browsers.

Target audience: Web site developers, HTML, XHTML, XML authors with a basic understanding of CSS

Hits: Excellent property reference, good examples, explanations. Well organized.
Misses: Could have done a better job explaining which items are supported in which (of the most popular) browsers.