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

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")

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. It is not a book about learning CSS. 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.

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. 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 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.

This is a well laid-out, concise reference for CSS. I use it a lot to quickly look up things I don't recall. If you are using CSS successfully and would like a quick reference to properties and such, this small book should fit the bill.

This book is not a tutorial and it's not a good choice for learning the basics of CSS.

Ideally you should have a more complete guide available for when you want more detail.

Want more? See my Somewhat Longer Review.

George Woolley of Oakland.pm and Camelot.pm

This is a well laid-out, concise reference for CSS. I use it a lot to quickly look up things I don't recall. If you are using CSS successfully and would like a quick reference to properties and such, this small book should fit the bill.

This book is not a tutorial and it's not a good choice for learning the basics of CSS.

Ideally you should have a more complete guide available for when you want more detail.

Want more? See my somewhat longer review on Oakland Perl Mongers.

George Woolley of Oakland.pm and Camelot.pm

This is a good book, but certain types of user may find it a little frustrating.

Regular or advanced users of CSS will find it very convenient. It contains a lot of useful information and, when you need to check the syntax of a particular property, the information is easy to find, clearly written and very comprehensive.

The problem arises when you don't remember all the basics. The index structure contains references to property names, but not applications. For example, suppose you want to put some text in italics and justify the paragraph, there is no entry in the index that says "italic" or "justify". You need to know which properties to use, or scan the index until you see properties that might be relevant (in this case, the properties you need are 'font-style' for italics and 'text-align' for justify).

So, it is a good book, but I would like to echo the message of Joshua Cogliati's review: it would be a much better reference with the addition of some basic information in the index.

I am a big fan of O'Reilly's "Pocket Reference" books and this one was no disappointment. In fact, this guide by Eric Meyer is exceptionally well written with clear explanations of CSS terminology. The first few sections on rules, precedence, positioning, layouts, etc. helped me - fairly new to CSS - grasp the gist of CSS better than more extensive tutorials because of Meyer's concise explanations and well-conceived illustrations. Of course, the long-term value of these reference books is the alphabetical list of terms with definitions, applications, syntax and examples.

As with the other Pocket Reference books, a beginner should not come to this book for an introduction to CSS. There are many great books (some by Meyer) and web sites that get you up and running quickly. But even the beginner will find this invaluable as a quick reference book throughout the learning process. I keep it right next to my screen when doing any web work. Highly recommended.

The majority of the book consists of an alphabetical guide to CSS properties. If you need to look up what a particular property does this would be quite useful. However, if you are trying to find a property to use and you do not know the name, this does not help. The book is entirely lacking any catagorical index to the CSS properties. Had CSS Pocket Reference 2nd Edition contained a two to four page index of the properties grouped by catagories such as text, layout, borders and so forth, I would have rated it better, but alas, it does not.

This is the companion to the CSS Cookbook. The pocket guide is pretty much an index of classes, elements, and allowed values, with descriptions of each. Of particular interest, though, is the front section which deals with some common layout and compatibility issues, as well as soem definitions that are used as conventions within CSS.

There's not much to say about this guide expect that it lives up to its name - Pocket Reference. As a quick reference to CSS, I haven't found anything easier and better equipped, and Eric Meyer is still the guru, as far as I'm concerned. Buy a couple of copies, dogear some pages, and make your own notes on the margins. Keep one at your desk, and one in your laptop case - you'll use it more than you think!

A mistake so often made is judging a pocket reference guide in the same way you would judge a full size text. Pocket guides should only provide a quick reference for a technology you already know, and not be looked at as a learning tool. This reference is a boil-down of selected sections from the author's larger definitive title on Cascading Style Sheets, and there is no question that the information provided within is as informative and exact as is covered in the larger book; the light-weight pocket guide is much easier to carry when you need to verify something with CSS.

The guide is designed well, with a structured table of contents which breaks the styles up into logical groups, and even an index for those quick find needs. Each style entry provides the information needed without wasting space on the cautions and extras that a larger text typically provides.

If you already own "Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition" (ISBN: 0596005253) that this pocket guide companions, this is a good addition to the set. If not, obtain both as there are no better references.

[ I have the 2nd Edition, which covers CSS 2 and 2.1 ]

Probably not enough explanation for beginners and not enough detail for experts. If you're looking for explanation or detail, I'd suggest either the CSS Cookbook or CSS - The Definitive Guide.

This would be useful for someone who already knows the basics and is comfortable with CSS, but doesn't have everything memorized or is new to CSS 2. For myself, once I've learned the basics of something, it's nice to have something to flip through for reminders and simple examples.

The first 30 pages or so cover the basic rules for CSS, while the remaining pages contain brief explanations of each CSS element - grouped and arranged in alphabetical order.

(note: this review is for the 2ND edition of the book...)

I just found a new book that I'll get to wear out really quickly. It's the CSS Pocket Reference (2nd edition) by Eric A. Meyer (O'Reilly). As with all O'Reilly Pocket References, it's just the core information formatted so you can find it quickly for reference.

Chapter Breakout: Adding Styles to HTML and XHTML; Rule Structure; Style Precedence; Element Classification; Element Display Roles; Basic Visual Layout; Floating Rules; Positioning Rules; Table Layout; Values; Selectors; Pseudo-Classes and Pseudo-Elements; Property Reference; Tables; Paged Media; Dropped From CSS2.1; Visual Styles; Paged Media; Aural Styles; Index

For all the Amazon reviewers complaining about this book not being up-to-date... You need to get the 2nd edition. It's got the latest on what you need.

Now, this is not a training manual or something you're going to be able to use to pick up CSS. Rather, like all Pocket Guides, it's the distilled essence of the reference material that you need on a daily basis. Rather than dig through a large book looking for stuff, you can use the pocket guide to get the answer quickly. I'm at the stage in my CSS learning where I understand what I can and can't do, but I don't always know the exact syntax or options available to me in a particular parameter. I've grown quite fond of the larger CSS book from Meyer and O'Reilly, and in fact I've memorized certain page numbers that I continually go back to. This pocket reference will replace much of the wear and tear on that book, and allow me to save it for when I need explanations on concepts.

Another keeper to add to my programming bookshelf...

For those fretting about the lack of CSS2 support in this book, fear not! The second edition was just released, and covers through CSS 2.1

I have the older edition, and can't wait to get my hands on the new one. Very handy if you're working on a website but not actually online at the time. (If I'm online I just "Google it" and generally get it faster that _any_ paper book could!)

This book is truly a reference for people who already know CSS -- it is not great for teaching you if you're not already familiar. But for what it is, it is very nicely done.

How can poeple have reviewed this book when it hasn't been released yet? I think they have been confusing this new 2nd edition with the first edition, which even the author Eric Meyer admits 'has taken some flak for being obsolete; this new edition should address those concerns'.

This new edition is promised to include 'all of the CSS2 and CSS2.1 properties and values, information and algorithms covering the box model, table layout, font selection, and more. It's almost 130 pages, and that's without a single page of it taken up by support charts'.

Also, this is a REFERENCE book not a TUTORIAL. Not the best place for a beginner to learn CSS.

For those in the know, Meyer is kinda God when it comes to CSS. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this, and I'm quite happy to pay little attention to the mis-informed reviews I've read here.

This book is good for the basics but it does not cover CSS2 so If your looking for an advanced css reference, this isnt it. It really needs to be updated with a new edition since this one is from 2001.

this is a great book if you are looking for a CSS1 reference. as other reviewers have mentioned here, this predates the CSS2 specification and will not be as helpful for more advanced web designers/coders. however most modern browsers now have a near-complete implementation of CSS1, so if you are just learning CSS or want your websites to have older browser compatibility, this will be very handy.

The first O'Reilly Pocket Reference I owned was the HTML Pocket Reference, and it's excellent. I figured since I'm starting to use CSS more & more it would be nice to have a quick handy guide, and I figured since the HTML reference was so good, why not go for the CSS reference.

I do not like it at all. At risk of repeating other problems already noted I'll give my biggest gripes. There is almost no mention of CSS2. Although browser support is not very extensive yet, the standard has been defined, so why not include it?

Compatibility charts do not have any mention of Internet Explorer 6. Granted, the book may have been published before it's release, but I have not been able to find one with a print date newer than May, 2001. Two years is a long time in the world of web design.

The properties for various selectors are not organized in a way that maked them easy to find. I'm not saying that I know a better way to organize them, but unless you already know the name of the property you're looking for you have to flip through the book guessing at it until you find what you're looking for.

If you're in the market for a cheap pocket CSS reference, stay away from this one. There has to be something better.

I will, however, recommend a full-fledged CSS book from O'Reilly: CSS- The Definitive Guide.

An excellent guide to CSS-1 that's starting to show its age. Browsers covered go as far as IE5.5 and NN6.0, but it can almost be taken for granted that newer variations do a better job.

For what it is, this book is invaluable. Support charts tell you what works and what doesn't, example code is enough to fill in questions about syntax, and the book is designed to make each CSS property easy to find with a quick flipping through the pages.

Meyer knows his CSS. Make sure you have this book on your desk.

This book does not cover CSS2 nor any of the new versions of the most popular browsers: IE 6, Opera 6, and Netscape 7. Because of these omissions, a significant amount of CSS functionality that is available on most users' browsers is not even mentioned. My advice: find a book that is more up-to-date and buy it instead of this one.

This is a good pocket reference that will give you the syntax for defining your Style sheet elements. Don't look for pictures in the book because it's mostly just syntax. If you need to look something up quickly than just flip thru the alphabetized list of elements. I like the browser compatibility charts that are included for CSS.

As a web developer, I've been involved with doing more coding work using CSS in my pages as browsers such as Mozilla have come on the scene. So far, I've relied on Danny Goodman's book "Dynamic HTML", also published by O'Reilly. It has a chapter on CSS, and its coverage, while covering all attributes in CSS1 and CSS2, was a bit lacking in some details. (It was published in 1998.) Dynamic HTML is also a 1000+ page Bible of sorts, and felt unwieldy to refer to often. I wanted something lighter and more up-to-date.

Thus, I bought this book, not realizing that it only covers CSS1... surprising since it was published less than a year ago, nearly three years AFTER Goodman's book was published. Dynamic HTML already has excellent treatment of CSS1, and I was really more after a guide on the exciting features to be found in CSS2. I promptly returned the book.

I'd still only give the guide 4 out of 5 stars if it had the CSS2 attributes. Half of the book is devoted to tables showing the support for each attribute in about 10 different browsers; excuse me, but are there _that_ many users of Opera that we need to know the differences between Opera 4 and 5, on the Windows and Mac platforms? It's a bit too overwhelming, using up space which would have been better used on more examples and tricks.

The fast food for web developers, A MUST HAVE!! This is yet another indespensible book in the Pocket Reference series. As with all of the other Pocket books this is best for people who have basic knowledge with subject matter (in this case Style sheets). However, if you are not familiar with the subject matter, the publisher of this series puts out the Definative Guide series as well which works hand in hand with the Pocket sized version. I have the HTML, XML, JavaScript and CSS pocket references, which always sit close by when I'm at work.

I've refered to this little gem many times while designing web pages in XHTML 1.0 Transitional and Strict. It has been great in exploring alternative ways of formatting the display of data using boxes and float instead of tables. Though tables are ofcourse still a good way to go.

If you're looking for quick information in a size that's easy to carry around, purchase this book. It's an excellent addition to the O'Reilly Pocket Reference series.

When I'm trying to remember the format for a particular style or how well it's supported by the various browser versions, I don't want to have to dig through a large reference manual. Instead, I reach for this book, quickly look up the style (listed alphabetically), get the information I'm looking for, and continue working. This is the reference I carry between work and home.

The book starts with a condensed description of how CSS1 works and how to use it. The majority of the reference describes the CSS1 properties, pseudo-elements, and pseudo-classes. Each entry includes the allowed values, a description, a few examples, and browser support for both Windows and Mac browsers. Additional notes describe any browser-specific issues. A browser support summary chart completes the book.

Even if you have Eric Meyer's Cascading Style Sheets, The Definitive Guide, you will still find his CSS Pocket Reference a useful addition to your bookshelf.