I only read the CSS part of the book, which takes up the first nine chapters.

The contents are logically presented in a concise manner. The format of the content is rather boring, and the presentation of the code samples and screen shots is not great. I found myself struggling to make headway. Compare this to the stunning presentation of Castro: "HTML for the WWW" (which also covers CSS), and Meyer: "On CSS".

Other comments:

1. The running example, ("Alice in Wonderland"), throughout the book is hardly a real-world project.
2. Book binding - pages are individually glued to the binding and fall out too easily with frequent use - this alone would be reason not to buy the book.
3. Difficult to gel the points just covered, since there are no exercises at end of each chapter.
4. No section heading numbers within chapters; so it is difficult to get feel for book structure, also difficult to navigate the book's on-line companion site to find the code samples corresponding to each sub-section.
5. The book uses forward referencing - in the code samples, tags/keywords are introduced which are only explained later in the book.
6. The book's on-line samples differ to the code in the book.

I recently purchased this book and a few of the examples were not working. I spent hours trying to figure out what I was doing wrong and then I decided to download the codes from the website. I then realized it wasn't my mistake at all, there were typos everywhere. on page 62, the print example, is one of those I could not get to work. When I compared the book example to the online code example I noticed they were very different. For a nooby like me, this was very frustrating because I spent hours on this one small example. And from reading the other reviews, it seems like it gets worse when he talks about DHTML.

Teague knows his CSS well. This book provides one of the best introductions to CSS on the market. And Teague's coverage of the DOM is easy to grasp, too.

But in the second half of the book, devoted to JavaScript, Teague's head starts to revolve ever so slightly. Based on what I read in the book, Teague doesn't know JavaScript well enough to write clean, modern scripts, and he has trouble explaining what little he does seem to know.

I'm not sure why the publisher felt it necessary to bloat this book by including JavaScript in it. One of their other QuickStart Guides is devoted entirely to JavaScript, and it's a great book, written by an author (Tom Negrino) who knows his stuff. This book should have stuck to CSS, period. Then the publisher would have had an invaluable trilogy of Web books, starting with Castro's XHTML, followed by Teague's CSS and Negrino's JavaScript.

Not a comprehensive book, but really easy to read. The information is organized and presented clearly from both the architectural and visual standpoints. Good reference, and good learning tool. It could be improved by adding some summary table "cheatsheets" on browser rendering differences, bugs, etc., and a few more examples, but I recommend it for begining and intermediate designers.

I inherited lots of old "browser-sniffing" code with hard-coded style stuff, so this book was timely.
I agree with the other reviewer that some of the code could be more succint. Tables would make more useful examples than Alice in Wonderland.

There wasn't enough on Javascript to really justify the DHTML in the title. Though the book is a reasonable introduction to HTML and CSS. On the positive side I thought the organization was good, the text was easy to read, the use of red to hilight important code fragments, and the reference section were all very good. On the downside I thought the Quick Start format made the book a little hard to read. And the Alice in Wonderland examples weren't always the most appropriate way to illustrate each point. I would have rather had examples that were closer to what we would see in the real world.

Well done as usual. Peachpit's Visual Quickstart series always seems to deliver exactly what I need.

The books conversational style helped me follow the writers concepts much more easily than the overtly verbose yet impersonal books that used to clutter my desk and bookshelves. I think anyone with prior knkowledge of HTML and Javascript who really wants a QuickStart {pun unintended} to DHTML and CSS should snap up this book. It not only shows you what to do but actually takes the time to illustrate what not to do! I have found that really tie breaking and refer to it's companion website http://www.webbedenvironments.com/dhtml for it samples, updates and new tips. The site also has tips on other topics that i've found very interestiing.

The editing and proofreading processes in publishing this book seem to have been bypassed altogether. This book is ripe with errors and typos that will confuse the unfortunate CSS neophyte. It appears to be another example of a web-development book that was rushed to press well before it was ready. I plan on returning the book for a refund.

This book is required reading for anyone who wants the title of web design guru.

It is required that you have a working knowledge of HTML and Javascript prior to reading this book, as it is designed around the much more advanced topic of CSS/DHTML. People with little knowledge of Javascript should get a Javascript tutorial (I recommend SAM's teach yourself...) first.

Mr. Cranford-Teague has taken the trouble to explain both the documented use and the real-world implementation of CSS. He has taken away much of the testing that is often required when designing against the CSS2 specification. (He makes mistakes so you don't have to!) His quick reference appendix of what-style-elements-work-where should be the most heavily thumbed pages of any book in your HTML design library.

The book is a quick, delightful read with clear, textbook-class examples of every aspect of every CSS specification out there, along with a perfect cross-browser Javascript model that should be the industry standard.

The book is small, and cheap enough to keep up with the latest browser platforms. I own all three versions, and so do all my associate developers!

Teague is thorough in his coverage of CSS, but there's nothing here that Castro's HTML book doesn't cover better, and the CSS appendix doesn't reference the relevant pages so it's harder to use. Teague appears to favor a hard-coded positioning approach over a more semantic style to achieve the same layout, so it's already behind the prevailing trend in design.

The DHTML section is short on foundations and uses object-oriented code without explaining how or why that aspect works. It embodies the worst of the Visual Quickstart Guide format: cursory descriptions (at best) for the first appearance of a bit of code, then it glosses over every subsequent use with not even a reminder. Thus it's not a good choice for someone new to Javascript or programming, and those who are familiar with Javascript and web design would probably choose another method over the bloated, API-style programming in this book.

If you're mostly interested in using Javascript's styles object in concert with CSS, this is a poor choice. Peachpit's Javascript book is easier to use and more in tune with web standards.

I think the previous reviews all refer to the 2nd edition. The third edition out in 2004 has a great deal more focus on DHTML navigation and Mozilla-only code.

The navigation scripts he provides shows his complete grasp of both CSS and javascript. Unlike the examples in sites like javascriptkit.com and dynamicdrive.com which are written by javascript gurus, JCT's scripts are hybrid models of both advanced CSS and javascript. The code and mark-up combination are so tightly written, it is absolutely necessary that every web developer gets this book. You won't find code like this anywhere else on the web!

Also, JCT provides excellent examples of code that shows the new directions taken by the Mozilla development team. He reveals a way of making rounded corners using only a few lines of CSS, and no graphics.

My one caveat is that the editors of JCT's 3rd edition did a piss-poor job of copy-checking. On the second chapter, one of the paragraphs in the tips section is duplicated word-for-word. And on page 105, the example is missing a period, thereby making it completely useless unless you spot the mistake. These are only the ones I spotted as I flipped through the book -- I am certain there are many more errors. Buyer beware!

I always buy more than two books for each subject I want to learn. If I can't dig something out of one book, I can try the other(s). Well, it was finally time for me to really learn CSS, so I went to the bookstore and picked up a couple of books on the subject.

The next night I went to a different bookstore to find some ASP manuals. While there, I noticed another book on CSS so I added it to my ASP pile.

When I got home and started reading DHTML and CSS by Mr. Teague, I found it was not only easy to understand, it was delightful to read. It was better than having a friendly person sitting next to me in a hands-on session. This is the first computer manual that I can say this about, and I have a small library.

As it turns out, by accident I bought two copies of the book - I was rushing the second time because the store was closing. I've decided to keep one copy downstairs handy in my computer room and the other upstairs by my bed to browse before sleep.

If you have a chance, pick the book up and look inside. It's so easy to use it's actually fun. You need to know HTML and be familiar with JavaScript, which the author alerts you about. I'm looking forward to getting this book grubby.

I have a background in HTML but I know nothing of Javascripting or DHTML. In CSS, I really enjoyed the author's insights into the W3C standards, Microsoft, Netscape, and it was well rounded. There were good tips in the extra blocks and the CSS examples were understandable, and easy to follow. The syntax was somewhat off, which should never be acceptable for a programming book, but it wasn't very difficult to get past in CSS because the syntax rules are stable for the most part. Also, the author boasts of how much money they've saved us by not including a CD and instead including a support website, and a contact address by which he can answer our questions. I submitted a question 2 weeks ago and I have yet to receive a response.

Once I got past the CSS section of this book, the author's definitions and explanations became cryptic and the tips consist of heavy criticism of Netscape and Microsoft. The website is a good start to supporting a book with syntax errors that doesn't indicate when it is referring to literals or when there is a space in something, or not. Personally, I would have preferred the CD.

This book is very good for CSS. However, it is not worth the price if more than half the book is not easily understandable to the person reading it with no previous experience in the language and its a waste of valuable time trying to understand it.

This book is a pretty easy to follow guide on learning more about web design. I've used other books from this series before and have found them all to be excellent reference guides. It doesn't really get too advanced but it provides you with most of what your looking for (a little more then just the basics). I'm sure all the information found in this book can be easily found online but it's nice to have all the info you need in one place right when you need it.

This is a great reference book, it gets into how to actually do things you're going to want to do. Each CSS facility is described, an example is provided, and has a quick-reading chart showing which browsers it is, or not, compatible with.
Then the author goes on with a wonderful introduction to DHTML, again in his understandable, informative way.
An excellent book with great information you will keep as reference!

I'm the type of person who can read page after page of history, theory, and reasoning and in the end get absolutely nothing out of it. However, give me just one concrete example and I can recreate that a hundred times as well as modify that to my specific needs.

That's where this book succeeds - the examples are precise and to the point. I get more knowledge out of this book that I would in say a "for dummies" book that's triple the size; that's how effective it is for beginners, as well as a very handy reference for those more experienced programmers.

How much you like this book depends on what you want out of it. When I buy a book that touts "teach yourself DHTML and CSS the quick and easy way" on the cover, I expect something that's readable and has a series of lessons. What I got was more like a reference manual than a book. If that's what you're looking for, this certainly has a lot of details on how CSS works. But if you want an engaging series of lessons that are easy to read, compelling, and keep your attention -- that's what I wanted -- this fell short for me. Too many lists of commands surrounded by lifeless prose; too few sections that were actually interesting to read.

I returned this book when I got to Chapter 11. Past this chapter, the coding examples are overly complex for compatibility. The book does not say so, but I am pretty sure this is to cope with Netscape Navigator 4. That's the "flaw." Otherwise the book is clear and complete.

Jason Teague does a nice job of introducing CSS and its use with Java to create DHTML pages. Teague is stronger on design than programming, however, and that's where the book falls short.

JavaScript is the engine that makes DHTML work, but there is very little coverage of JavaScript basics in this book. Teague apparently assumes the reader knows basic JavaScript. So, he focuses his efforts on explaining the Document Object Model (DOM) that allows JavaScript to interact with web pages, and how to use the DOM to accomplish various tasks.

One shortcoming of the book is that it devotes inordinate attention to legacy web browser issues. At one time, there were three different DOMs (Microsoft, Netscape, and W3C, a standards organization). The current generation of browswers have fallen in line behind the W3C, and its DOM has emerged as the dominant model for DHTML pages. Teague spends many pages explaining how to address these legagy DOMs, which makes the discussion longer and more complicated than it really needs to be.

Be aware that Teague misuses the term 'DOM'. He talks of 'creating a DOM' every time one gets a reference to an object on an HTML page. The DOM is actually created by the browser when it loads the page. We access the DOM to get an object reference. I personally found Teague's use of the term very confusing, and that steepened the DHTML learning curve for me.

Teague's JavaScript code is very difficult to decipher, which is surprising in a book that is apparently targeted to web designers. One would expect simple, clear code that non-programmers could follow. Instead, the code violates a number of good programming practices--variable names are generally not descptive, and program logic is often knotted up in a tangle of nested 'if' statements. The drop-down menu code in Chapter 24 provides a good example of these problems.

But the biggest problem stems from a simple lack of formatting of the code. Teague prefers the older style of packing as many statements as possible on a single line--the code reads like a 'C' program from twenty years ago. In order to decipher the code, one must first unpack the lines to spread out the code, then apply proper indentation to figure out which 'else' statements are nested within which 'if' statements. That's a tedious, time-consuming, and very avoidable exercise.

I'd recommend this book for its exposition of CSS, and I'd give it a 'pretty good' rating for its handling of the DOM. But if you are diving into DHTML, use this book to get your feet wet. Then find a good JavaScript book to learn the ins and outs of manipulating the DOM and adding client-side interaction to your web pages.

This is definitively the best presentation I've seen for beginners and intermediate users. Besides a great reference, it goes beyond the usual "what it is" and gets into how to actually do things you're going to want to do. Each CSS facility is described, an example is provided, and has a quick-reading chart showing which browsers it is (or is not) compatible with.

Excellent.

But that's only half the book - the author then goes on with a great introduction to Dynamic HTML, again in his clear, concise style.

By the end of the book, you should easily be up on the next plateau with your CSS and DHTML skills.

I didn't mind the low price, either.

Good book, but nothing you can't find on the net. Really, that sums it all up. The author goes into a lot of detail about things which a lot of people already know if they're diving into DHTML and CSS. Go to some tutorial webpages and you'll be able to find the exact same information - and more.

I'm a tyro in the subject matter of this book. I purchased it to grab snippets from it for immediate use in re-vamping my web site. It seemed ideal for this sort of thing. Unfortunately, the very first item that I tried to use; controlling white space, would do nothing at all in my browser. After beating my brains on the examples for a while, I sent an e-mail to the author. To his credit he answered promptly, asking which browser I was using...(IE 6.0). He then came up with what I considered a ridiculous answer...IE 6.0 must have a problem, as it worked in earlier browsers. I then researched his usage of "PRE" and discovered that it was "deprecated", especially in CSS, and that it "might not work in all browsers". I have not examined other sections of the book closely, as I have lost a little faith in the capability of the author.

The book has helped me, but I'd rather have one in which I can trust. I don't want to run into any more problems which cause me a lot of research to help me decide whose problem I'm dealing with.

I was pleasantly surprised that this book could be so useful. I bought it because a former course mate recommended it. I didn't use this book for weeks after I got it. When I eventually did, I found it very helpful. The complete examples given by the author were just what I was looking for.
In my opinion, this book has saved me far more than what it cost.
For those who want in-depth coverage of DHTML, I suggest a bigger book. For those of us with little time however, we'll have to make do with this book. I wanted a whirlwind coverage of the essentials of DHTML, and this book delivered--at a ridiculously small price.

Truly a great release. I wish it were more general on the DHTML instead of giving specific examples, but it still is great.

Looking for cool ways to build a website without having to spend too much time learning? Then this is the book for you! I was impressed with the example website, "Sandman Film", for ways to use DHTML. Very easy to understand and implement. Thank you, Jason!

...It's not that there isn't any good information, it's just that it's all so shallow and disjointed that it really doesn't serve as much of a reference. The sections are VERY brief, give you hardly any idea of what's good, bad and ugly about various elements, and the "code" available on-line is nothing more than poorly (read that as "NOT") documented snippets. It seems like the author had a check list of properties and styles to show off, so he raced through, hacking at HTML until he could say, "yeah, there's an example of that."

This book is a great example of great intent gone very, very wrong. It's just too rough around the edges to serve as a decent reference, and unless you just like reading a book cover-to-cover for the thrill of turning pages and not actually getting any knowledge whatsoever, you'll probably want to pass on this one.

The saddest thing is that I haven't found a decent CSS reference out there (not that I've searched that thoroughly) that really walks through topics like cross-browser issues, best-practices and design considerations in a readable format. Just goes to show that even a mediocre book w/ a really good index can still be usable. Unfortunately "DHTML and CSS" can't even claim that honor.

I just can't believe I bought this book.

Although the work seems thorough at first, the author appears to make it a point to ignore Internet Explorer's extensive editing features, vaguely covers IE 5.5 and doesn't cover IE 6.0 at all.
No mention of Opera, early or current version. Nothing, except a quick word in an appendix about how Opera browsers stick to most of W3C edicts.
Even more disappointing because I was looking for a something like a newer version of Danny Goodman's 'DHTML Definitive Reference' published by O'Reilly. He is currently working on a 2nd edition which would encompass the drastic web development since first edition in mid-98, but I needed something as complete as possible in the meantime.
`DHTML and CSS for the World Wide Web' seems to aspire to be both a tutorial and a reference book, but fails in both, in my view. It probably is too confusing a tutorial for the beginner, much too superficial for intermediate to advanced web programmers, and the organization and indexing make it really irksome as a reference book.
Furthermore, the coverage of JavaScript is a joke.
If you can, save your dollars and wait for Danny Goodman's second edition; in such a fast pace moving domain as IT technologies, knowing that your book will be outdated within the year, the least you can expect is a complete and unbiased coverage of the current technologies. I regret this purchase, and would have returned the book, had I not left my mark and spilled coffee on it. Regardless, Goodman's first edition and online documentation will do it for now.

I like this book. It is a bit repetive at times but if you happen to forget the previous sections it tells you where to find the info for refreshing your memory. Anybody with a basic understanding of HTML will appreciate & understand CSS & probably apply it to their website. CSS makes global changes to your site easy. You can also over-ride an external stylesheet with local styles when certain defined elements are not appropriate for a certain page. This book will teach you how to do it...
Steve

Having read a Visual Quick Start Guide previously, I expected an easy, basic and short introduction to both DHTML and CSS. What I received was much better. Yes, the topics were explained in an easy to understand and logical sequence, but there is some good intermediate information here as well. Cascading Style Sheets is the subject of the first sections of the book. I found this information to be invaluable. There is no reason that every web page is not constructed using CSS, due to its flexibility and time reducing factors for setting styles. The majority of the chapters are on DHTML. DHTML allows you to add dynamic content to your web site such as, Drop-down Menus, Pop-up text, and Sliding Frames. The author steps you through the code for designing these and several more projects. I found that much of what was mentioned in the text led to many of my own ideas based on the foundation I learned with the book. For this price I recommend that all beginning and intermediate Web Designers buy this book today. You won't regret it.

I am a big fan of the VQG set of books, and this is the best value for money I have seen from them, and considering their low prices that is saying something.
You basically get two books - one on CSS and one on DHTML. They stand apart and a reader could just focus on one or the other if they needed to.
CSS is a huge part of the future of web design, it is a fairly easy subject, but that doesn't mean a bad technical writer couldn't mess it up. Teague doesn't, grabbing the reader and leading them through. I could argue with the placement of certain information, I often asked a question only to find the answer a few chapters later. That said once finished I had all the answers and am at the stage where I can (almost) confine tables to history in terms of web design. In fact the only suggestion I would have for the next addition is to cover the WASP initative proposal of using CSS to hide style from older browsers (cough Netscape 4 cough) as an option the reader should at least be aware of.
The DHTML book is bigger and Teague does a good job of focusing on all the major parts, does a bang up job of explaining the various DOMs and what they do and provides a bunch of great code to work from. There are a couple of areas that seem too general to be useful - how to make an animated gif in fireworks/photoshop etc - but I would rather a section I can skip over than missing information.
Great book, great value.

Like another reviewer, I too found the examples quite engaging (Alice in Wonderland!). This is a required text book for my advanced Web-authoring course and it's easy to see why. The section on building the cross-browswer DOM is by itself worth the price of admission. My web authoring skills and knowledge have been greatly enhanced in a very short time period. Scoop-a-rific!

Another brilliant addition to the Visual Quickstart Guide series! You simply cannot be a web developer and NOT be in possession of this and at least a half-dozen other titles from this series!

Since I own over 20 Visual Quickstart Guide titles, I feel qualified to rank DHTML & CSS for the WWW by Jason Cranford Teague among the top 5 best-of-series, right up there with Elizabeth Castro's HTML 3.2 & 4.0, Castro's PERL & CGI for the WWW, Debra and Eric Ray's UNIX, and lastly, I'll cheat by treating PHOTOSHOP 4, 5, 5.5 and 6 as one book because of the consistent and informative efforts by authors, Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas. (I hear the DREAMWEAVER 4.0 by J. Tarin Powers is pretty awesome as well!) In my experience, all, but for a couple of marginal misfires, are excellent.

Be forewarned, however, the Visual Quickstart books are not project or tutorial driven. These are the books to use AFTER you've cut your teeth on the application tutorial-- when you're out there in the REAL webdev world, building stuff, even if it's your first time. These books are worth 100 times their weight in gold! Think of a cookbook where brevity is key and success is guaranteed if you follow each step as directed.

Anyway, enough free advertising for Peachpit Press and back to DHTML & CSS by Jason Teague! The writing is clear and concise. All of the style and script examples are useful immediately and relevant in the real world of webdev. Each step of every script or style is prefaced by referenced snippets of code so you know exactly where you are in any particular script, which can sometimes be pages long.

Teague is also a master at anticipating problems you might encounter when deploying some of his examples. So, he includes on-the-spot browser-compatibility info, helpful hints and browser-specific workarounds, just in case woeful rendering in a misbehaving browser gives you fits! (and because he probably doesn't want to invite litigation for property damage when you throw a brick at your computer out of frustration when you can't get a script to execute properly in say, Netscape V4.715367894508061182745? Or a stylesheet doesn't render as you intended in Opera V2.0 or Explorer V3.0-if at all!!!)

Another credit to the author is that he never leaves out steps relying on the happenstance that his readers maintain a preconceived level of knowledge about what might be considered obvious (which is all relative anyway, depending upon whether the reader is left or right-brain hard-wired!). He shows respect for his readers by leaving nothing to chance, while appealing to all levels of audience technical capability.

In short, it doesn't matter whether you are a newbie or a seasoned coder. You WILL find a treasure trove of useful information and a bountiful number of useful scripts and style examples for just about anything interactive you could ever hope to add to your web site. GUARANTEED!

And, now? TA-DAH!!! I saved the best for last! The prized characteristic of this book? When you need to zero in on a particular task, style or script, the index is magnificent! The subject, phrase or task you are looking for in the index corresponds directly to a page containing the information you need. So when you go to the page noted in the index, THE INFORMATION IS REALLY THERE--FIRST TIME AROUND!!! No guessing games or a dozen hit-and-miss trips back to the index to unlock some kind of elusive clue or national security clearance code known only to the author, that reveals the secret location of the information you seek, the exposure of which carries the obligatory condition of having to kill you! The index, on its own merit, is quite the workhorse that more than justifies the modest cost of the book in time saved, BEFORE you ever key in the first character of code!

No, I'm not a representative for Peachpit Press, nor do I play one on TV!!! I'm just a hardworking web developer trying to keep up with ever-changing technology in the blazing speed of internet time. Anyone who contributes to the shortening of my learning curve is my best friend for life! Thanks, Jason. Your book rocks!!

This book is very good at carefully explaining how to code cross-browser and cross-platform DHTML. It's not only a good book to read and try to understand and absorb, but also a really good reference to help you get started right away with some very cool DHTML tricks.

I figure a book on web design needs to be pretty good to be worth bypassing the million and one online tutorials. This one works for me on several counts -such as extent of information, usability and clarity of content.

I like the book - it was pitched at the level I needed; - competent coding HTML and basic JS - but shaky with CSS.

It starts with detailed look at CSS - controlling and modifying html tags at tag, page and site level.

I found this section a model of clarity - very well explained and laid out.
Addresses numerous areas where the CSS can add power and flexibility to the formatting of a web site. Clearly explains the "cascading" nature of style sheets, and the class, id, tag modification, and contextual selectors - all of which were somewhat mysterious to me beforehand, in spite of already using and creating some of them via editors. Would be especially good for someone just starting to look at these.

Consistent lay out in the book helps you scan for the relevant attributes for the CSS keywords -I will use the book as a reference as well.

It then proceeds to introduce the interplay between JavaScript and CSS in DHTML.
This is done carefully with detailed examination of cross browser issues. It explains the differences in document object model used by different browsers, including NS6. It provides and explains generic code to help alleviate cross browser incompatibility and to identify and use the relevant DOM, including "feature sensing" and "browser sensing".

This is clear enough that it can be followed in detail, or just implemented by downloading the templates and examples on the companion web site.

The examples proceed from rollovers, layer manipulation, to navigation systems - drop down links, expanding breadcrumbs and other nav systems. I was familiar with similar scripts for all these but had never seen them explained so thoroughly in the context of CSS and cross browser Javascript.

There is more in here I haven't digested yet about dynamically adding CSS rules

Also succinctly surveys some other aspects of the web (Flash, SVG, XML, XHTML) and summarises some s/w (eg Dreamweaver) and graphic manipulation issues.

It has some self confessed "gimmicks" as well - swirling text, moving pictures, "fridge magnets" etc.

Good index of further resources at the end.

Companion web site contains lots of examples, all the code, and prebuilt (but customisable) nav systems etc -scripts are clear enough to easily modify.

I like the fact that cross browser issues are consistently and thoroughly addressed.

There is a lot of well presented technical info in here on CSS, good DHTML code and examples, sound cross browser stuff, some good design advice, bug info, lots of hints and cautions, and interesting reading - so yeah, I liked it.