CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions (Solutions)

DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model

The Zen of CSS Design : Visual Enlightenment for the Web (Voices That Matter)

Web Programming

Bulletproof Web Design : Improving flexibility and protecting against worst-case scenarios with XHTML and CSS

Format: Paperback
Author: Dan Cederholm
ReleaseDate: 28 July, 2005
Publisher: New Riders Press
Rating:

Good book but suffers from a MAJOR problem


The entire crux of the book centers around using keyword sizes for text. This is quite a good book with a tremendous amount of good advice for those creating web sites, but the book suffers from one major problem. The author claims that visually impaired people must be able to increase font size in the browser and your web design must be built around this one need. It's a good thought but I wonder how many people do this.

People who are visually impaired will usually choose an audible screen reader or a screen magnifier - rendering keyword sizing unimportant. Users can use their own stylesheets to control font sizes.

In order to accomplish a reasonable design using keyword-sized text, the author relies upon one of two CSS browser hacks. The problem with this is that it is neither bulletproof, nor standards complient and very likely to break with the next round of browsers released.

The reality is that many sites use pixel based font sizing not just to control the look and feel of the site, but to make sure information is displayed correctly. I am all for separating presentation from semantics, but there is an overlp between font size, color, and placement and semantics. NO matter what some of the standards Nazis will have you believe - deign carries meaning.

That being said, the book is not without it's merits. Web developers should be moving towards more accessible, semantically marked up html and correct CSS. The real problem with web standards is that they aren't standard. As a developer I choose to stay away from hacks.

You can learn a lot from this book, and probably implement it for smaller, less data-intense web sites.

One of the Best Webdev Books Available!
This book was the first investment to enlighten myself in the ways of XHTML, CSS, and Web standards, and I was definitely not disappointed. After Googling my way to SimpleBits, I discovered that I had not only found a great blog, but a great resource for all things Web design.

Just cracking the book open is inspiring; initially leafing through it, the book seemed more like a catalog than an instructional book on Web page development and design. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be buying stuff in this thing or learning from it. After digging in, I found that Dan breaks things down in a nice structured format; the screen shots and images really help out with the flow of the material he presents.

Every chapter provides a run-through of an example page/site that is not bulletproof, why this is so, and then proceeds to slice and dice: carving and sculpting like Edward Scissorhands on a fat Thanksgiving Day turkey, Cederholm reintroduces it, serving up a nice platter o' standards-based, lean and mean XHTML and CSS code. As if that wasn't enough, now he's even got some wine to help wash it all down.

I knew nothing of Web standards - nor the inroads and advantages of CSS and XHTML - before embarking upon the updated PodShop. com adventure. This book is like having a master there to help you every step of the way, from the beginning chapter talking about flexible text, straight through to the end where everything is put together in a sample site trafficking pretzels.

This book is a must have.

Bible of design
As stated in other reviews, this is one of the few books I turn to regularly - especially since I'm more on the functional/internal workings/content side of things and struggle with design at times. As long as I've been working with the web, I haven't found a book with such a long shelf life as this one. To say this book is useful is an understatement. I just wish I had the only copy, so I'd be one step ahead of the rest. .